Caeleb Dressel scorches field as Freshman Phenom wins 50 (Video Interview)

Video produced by Coleman Hodges.

Reported by Jared Anderson. 

50 FREESTYLE – FINALS

• NCAA – 18.47 – Cesar Cielo, Auburn – 2008
• Championship – 18.47 – Cesar Cielo, Auburn – 2008
• American – 18.66 – Nathan Adrian – 2011
• US Open – 18.47 – Cesar Cielo – 2008
• 2014 Champion – Kristian Gkolomeev, Alabama & Brad Tandy, Arizona – 18.95

Arizona’s Brad Tandy rocked his typical fast start from lane 1, and looked like he’d have a shot to repeat as a title winner. But in the middle of the pool, Florida’s Caeleb Dressel and Alabama’s Kristian Gkolomeev surged out of the turn, with Dressel using his big-time underwaters and Gkolomeev electing to pop up early and swim on top of the water.

At the wall, it was Dressel, who hit a new 17-18 National Age Group record for the third time today with a big-time 18.67. Not only was that a new NAG record, it nearly broke the American record set by Olympian Nathan Adrian back in 2011. Dressel was just .01 off that mark.

Gkolomeev settled for second, unable to repeat his SEC Championship performance and going 18.74 – Gkolomeev, who tied Tandy for the win last year, was exactly one tenth off his SEC time, which would have won a national title here.

For the second-straight year, Tandy tied another swimmer in this event. The Arizona Wildcat senior was 18.91, tying NC State’s Simonas Bilis. That’s some redemption for Bilis, a new lifetime-best after the junior saw his NCAA title-winning relay disqualified earlier in the night.

Georgia Tech senior Andrew Kosic went 19.18 for 5th, touching out Cal’s Tyler Messerschmidt (19.19).

Michigan took the final two spots in the championship heat, with senior Bruno Ortiz going 19.32 and freshman Paul Powers 19.44.

Missouri’s Michael Chadwick touched out Auburn’s Kyle Darmody to win the B final, 19.27 to 19.33.