2023 NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- March 22-25, 2023
- Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center | Minneapolis, MN
- SCY (25 yards)
- Meet Central
- Pre-Selection Psych Sheets
- Live Results
A pair of Matts, both with NCAA title potential, are missing from the psych sheets for the 2023 NCAA Men’s Division I Swimming & Diving Championships.
Matt Fallon from Penn and Matt King from Virginia were both absent from the preselection lists on Tuesday. Barring the correction of an error, that means that neither will swim individually at the NCAA Championships.
Matt Fallon
Fallon is a sophomore at Penn who ranks 4th in the NCAA in the 200 yard breaststroke so far this season with a 1:50.28.
Top 5 Swimmers, 200 Breaststroke, 2022-2023 NCAA Season:
- Leon Marchand, Arizona State – 1:47.67
- Aleksas SAvickas, Florida – 1:50.08
- Max McHugh, Minnesota – 1:50.20
- Matt Fallon, Penn – 1:50.28
- Denis Petrashov, Louisville – 1:50.51
He also finished 3rd at last year’s NCAA Championships in the same event.
This isn’t the first big meet Fallon has missed out on. He also didn’t swim at last year’s US International Team Trials to focus on his finals at Penn. He would have been Penn’s only qualifier for the men’s NCAA Championship meet.
Penn has not responded to a request for information about Fallon’s absence, but other sources have told SwimSwam that on the Monday before the Ivy League Championships, Fallon suffered an injury to his back during in-water training that wound up putting him in the hospital for a night. That injury is why he swam the 500 free instead of the 200 IM at the Ivy League Championships, because of difficulty in doing the other strokes with his back pain.
Matt King
Virginia junior Matt King hasn’t raced since the US Open Championships in late November/early December. Earlier this semester, Virginia coaches told SwimSwam that King was dealing with a “family matter.” They said on Tuesday that he is still dealing with that family matter.
King was 7th at NCAAs last year in the 100 yard freestyle. This season, he ranks 28th in the 50 free (19.15) and 17th in the 100 free (41.93).
With the absence of king and sophomore Connor Boyle (who hasn’t raced so far this semester either with an injury), the Cavaliers have lost half of their 5th place relay from last year’s NCAA Championships – a relay that also set ACC Records last season. The Virginia men are still projected to have 6 individual NCAA Championship qualifiers, but those absences are going to make it hard to repeat or improve upon their 10th place finish from last year’s NCAA Championship meet.
Got a back injury from carrying the Quakers…
Fallon deserves some time off. I’m sure he’d kill it at NCAAs but absolutely no reason to risk hurting himself even more. Everyone needs a mental break.
I agree, but something tells me being forced medically to sit out won’t feel like much of a mental break. So much frustration and disappointment kicks in when something like this happens. I really hope I’m wrong.
I hope these guys can come back even stronger. We support you!
Dans a back injury could be major. Hope Fallon’s doing ok
Nooooo I love Fatt Mallon