Matt Sates Opts Out Of IMs, Chooses 200/500 Free And 200 Fly For NCAAs

2022 MEN’S NCAA SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, March 23 – Saturday, March 26, 2022
• McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, Georgia
• Pre-Selection Psych Sheets

The pre-selection psych sheets have been released for the upcoming men’s NCAA Championships, giving us our first look at the event lineups for the meet. Georgia freshman Matt Sates has elected to race the 500 freestyle, 200 freestyle, and 200 butterfly, giving himself one individual event per day.

That means that he’ll race the same three events that he raced last month at the SEC Championships where he took gold in both freestyle events and silver in the 200 fly.

While it’s not too surprising that he’ll stick with what he did at SECs, Sates’ recent 400 IM swim at the Bulldog Last Chance meet could have opened the door for him to add that event instead. Sates posted a 3:41.85 at that meet in late February, which would have made him #14 on the pre-selection psych sheets.

Sates has also opted out of the 200 IM here after swimming a 1:44.83 at that same meet. Sates is notably the short course meters World Junior Record holder in the 200 IM, having swum a 1:51.45 in the event in October 2021.

In the absence of IM, Sates will be on the hunt for his first-ever national title on night 2 of the meet in the 500 freestyle where he’s the top seed with a 4:09.06. He swam that time at SECs to win gold and is joined in the top 2 by fellow freshman Luke Hobson of Texas. Hobson is also under 4:10 this year with a 4:09.72 but they will be faced with a dangerous lineup of NCAA medalists Kieran Smith, Jake Magahey, Brooks Fails, and many more.

In the 200 freestyle, his 1:31.16 makes him the third-ranked swimmer behind Arizona State’s Grant House who threw down a 1:30.23 at Pac-12s, and Kieran Smith who is #2 in a 1:30.42. The 200 butterfly has Sates right outside of the top 5 with a 1:39.88 behind leading man Nicolas Albiero (1:37.92), Luca Urlando (1:39.00), Trenton Julian (1:39.66), Antani Ivanov (1:39.73), and Brendan Burns (1:39.81).