Dean Farris To Swim 50 Free, 100 Back, 100 Free at NCAAs, Opts Out of 200 Free

2022 MEN’S NCAA SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

The NCAA released pre-selection psych sheets for the men’s NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships, revealing the event lineup for the nation’s top swimmers. Harvard fifth-year senior Dean Farris will swim the 50 free, 100 back, and 100 free at this year’s championships.

  • For SwimSwam’s recap of the pre-selection psych sheets, click here.
  • For our projected cut line recap, click here.

Farris’s lineup mirrors the one he went with at 2019 NCAAs, in which he was a champion in the 100 free and 100 back and finished sixth in the 50 free. This year, he is seeded 42nd in the 50 free, 14th in the 100 back, and 14th in the 100 back.

Most notably, Farris opted for the 100 back over the 200 free on day two of the meet. He won the latter event at Ivy League Championships in a 1:32.67, but has a best time of 1:29.15, which is an American, US Open, and NCAA record. If Farris were to swim the event, he would have to face stars like Kieran Smith, Grant House, and Matt Sates, who could all potentially challenge his record. However, we will still potentially get a chance to see Farris swim the 200 at NCAAs, as Harvard is qualified to compete in the 800 free relay.

Although Farris’s seed times of 41.97 in the 100 free and 45.39 in 100 back are far from the best this year, he has been as fast as 40.80 and 43.66 in each event respectively, which are both quicker than the top seeds this year. If he can get back to his 2019 form, he is very well a threat for the title in both events. In the 50 free, he has a seed time of 19.37, but his best time stands at a 18.92 from 2019 NCAAs. 

Another feasible but very unlikely option for Farris would be the 200 back. He swam the event at NCAAs in 2017 and 2018, and has a best time of 1:38.99 that would have seeded him third this year. However, he has not swum the event at a major meet since 2018, and it would have forced him to do a double with the 100 free–an event that he has much more experience in.

This year, Farris won Ivy League titles in the 100 and 200 free, and finished second in the 50 free to his teammate Mahlon Reihman. He also swam his seed time in the 100 back in a time trial at Ivies. Farris is swimming in his first NCAA season since 2018-19, as he decided to redshirt the 2019-20 season to train for the Olympics in Texas under Eddie Reese, and the Ivy League canceled all sports in the 2020-21 season due to COVID-19.

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Wanna Sprite?
2 years ago

I heard a rumor he went out 42.1 anchoring the 8free relay (I haven’t checked), and then died. If that’s true then he definitely still has the speed and might be a lot faster at Ncaas then he has been all season

Fean Darris
2 years ago

Damn Dean

Caleb Montrealez
2 years ago

Doesn’t Dean go to Harvard. Omg when will this guy understand that he has a bigger shot in the 2free instead of the 1back

Ricky Fuentez
Reply to  Caleb Montrealez
2 years ago

43.6 best time, next fastest guys are 44.3 versus his 1:29.1 200 free when Kieran has been sub 1:30 and Drew and Sates are likely to also go sub 1:30

Snarky
2 years ago

considering he hasn’t shaved yet this year I think he’s fine.

bob
2 years ago

Dean finished second to Mahlon Reihman in the 50 at Ivies

Joe
Reply to  bob
2 years ago

Caeleb Dressel came in like 5th in the 100 free at some random pro meet in Iowa this past weekend

bob
Reply to  Joe
2 years ago

the original version had a minor mistake, stating that Dean finished second to Umit Gures.

you’ll also recall that caeleb had a 40-pound dumbbell hidden in his stache.

Big Mac #1
2 years ago

All part of the plan, he will be ready

Some Guy
2 years ago

Real ones know this is how Dean ‘Chuck Norris’ Farris broke the 200 free record last time and aren’t worried whatsoever

Jay Ryan
2 years ago

I remember when he swam the 200 Bk 100 Free double at IUPUI when Dean was a freshman in 2017. The timing of the two events was very close and it seemed to affected him a lot. It is unfortunate that his best events fall on days 3 and 4 (200fr/100bk and 100fr/200bk) so he needs to swim the 50 on day 2 in which he is very good but not as awesome as in his other 4 events. At least he gets to swim the 200fr on the relay on day 1 as leadoff.

About Yanyan Li

Yanyan Li

Although Yanyan wasn't the greatest competitive swimmer, she learned more about the sport of swimming by being her high school swim team's manager for four years. She eventually ventured into the realm of writing and joined SwimSwam in January 2022, where she hopes to contribute to and learn more about …

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