Cal Tears Away to Surprise Lead on Day 1 at Men’s NCAA’s

This Recap was originally updated live, and then finalized after the session.

Night 1 is complete from Federal Way, Washington at the 2012 Men’s NCAA Swimming Championships. Despite a lot of frustrations from the fans with live video feeds and empty seats in the natatorium, the swimming was undeniably fast. Cal make the biggest statement with some huge momentum on day 1. This smells like trouble for the rest of the field, who will now have to try and make up ground on the Bears on Friday, which is probably their strongest day of this meet.

Men’s 200 Free Relay

It didn’t take very long for this meet to get hot in a hurry. That’s because Cal, swimming from an outside lane, blew some outside smoke with a win in 1:16.58. That picks up huge points for them compared to their seed after prelims, and gave them an early lead in the meet. What’s even better is that they didn’t do what they were expected to do and actually ended up leaving Tom Shields, their best swimmer, off of this relay. The same four swimmers from the morning prelims took this victory, with shades of what the Cal women’s team did without Liv Jensen. This meet got really interesting.

The group of Tyler Messerschmidt (19.37), Shayne Fleming (18.94), Fabio Gimondi (19.27), and Seth Stubblefield (19.00) took this win. For those keeping score, that’s three freshmen and a sophomore. I’d say the Bears’ “rebuilding” is complete.

As the Golden Bears climbed, the meet favorite Texas Longhorns slid, all the way to 4th in fact, in 1:16.72. That’s slower than they were in prelims, in fact; no one swimmer was responsible, it was just  a few hundreths added here-and-there. Jimmy Feigen led off in a 19.10.

Meanwhile Auburn swept all the way back to 2nd in a come-from-behind swim thanks to a 19.02 anchor from Marcelo Chierighini. They also got a great 2nd-leg from Karl Krug of 18.95. Their final mark was 1:16.67, so they almost ran down Cal too at the touch, but were about three strokes (and one tenth of a second) short. Chierighini, though a relatively fast split,  Arizona was just behind in 1:16.71.

Stanford took 5th in 1:17.14, and with a relay order got a better 19.0 split from David Nolan.

Much as it was seeded, this 200 free relay came down to mere tenths from first-to-fourth. Those tenths are going to have a huge impact on this team battle.

Florida State won the B-Final in 1:18.34, with another very tight finish ahead of Michigan (1:18.36) and Ohio State (1:18.41), and Minnesota (1:18.47).

Men’s 500 Free

Georgia’s Martin Grodzki took the men’s 500 free title in 4:12.95, which is a far-cry faster than the 4:18 that he used to place 10th at last year’s meet.

Though that swim was much slower than Matt McLean’s winning time from 2011, everywhere else in the A and B Finals of this 500 was much faster. USC’s freshman Cristian Quintero took 2nd in 4:13.07. And he closed SO fast – almost two seconds better than Grodzki – so the pacing in this event that he’s only swum a handful of times seems to still be coming. He’s turned into a monster mid-season pickup for Salo and the Trojans, and could take a legitimate run at Larsen Jensen’s school record in the event (4:09).

Third place went to Chad la Tourette in 4:13.92, which is yet another best time for him. He’s on a big-time roll, and now he and Grodzki look like they could have a huge battle in that mile. Both swimmers made big strides in their speed this year, as evidenced by these 500’s, so expect that 1650 to go out harder than normal.

Auburn’s Zane Grothe shaved another tenth off of his school record in the 500 free with a 4:15.42, showing that Brett Hawke can coach more than sprinters. Michigan sophomore Connor Jaeger, the top seed after prelims, added two seconds and fell back to 5th in 4:15.67, followed by his teammate Sean Ryan. Michael McBroom of Texas (5:20.11) and Bobby Bollier of Stanford (4:22.80) didn’t really look like they were putting full effort in this race. Unless it’s part of some greater plan, that 500 by Bollier is disappointing, as he was the runner-up at last year’s meet.

Cal continued their streak of getting their hands on the wall, as freshman Will Hamilton took the B-Final in 4:15.04. He did the same thing at Pac 12’s – kept moving up, and moving up, every single swim, in every single event. He waited until exactly the right moment to come on strong this year. He dropped 6 seconds at the conference meet, and now 2 at NCAA’s. That serves as an awesome springboard into his sophomore season.

For those who missed how fast this 500 free was top-to-bottom, Hamilton won the B-Final in a time two seconds faster than last year. The time it took to make this year’s B-Final would’ve just snuck in to last year’s A-Final. That’s a huge change.

Competitors in the 500 free look to the scoreboard to see results as Georgia's Martin Grodzki (black cap) won. (Photo Courtesy: ©Tim Binning/TheSwimPictures.com)

Men’s 200 IM

The Cal men kept their roll going by winning another race (their third in three events), thanks to a great victory from Marcin Tarczynski in 1:41.97. We got the 1:41 we were looking for, but just not from the swimmer we thought it would come from. Tarczynski waited until very late to take over this race – he was 4th at the halfway mark, and a full second behind then-leader David Nolan of Stanford. But the Cal sophomore was solid enough through the closing 50 to pull past Nolan, and hold off Florida’s Marcin Cieslak, for the win.

Cieslak, to win this race knew he needed to have a lead going into the breaststroke to have a chance, as Tarczynski is a very good breaststroker (in IM terms). Not Caitlin Leverenz good (Cal connection), but still very good. Cieslak did have that edge, but it was only .03, which left himself in too much of a hole.

Cieslak was 2nd in 1:42.26.

Nolan (1:42.85), determined to improve his morning time, was out in 46.06 – almost two seconds ahead of the field. But that kind of opening speed had disaster written all over it. He fell way back on the breaststroke, and even further on the freestyle. This means he’ll end his freshman season with a slower time than he ended his senior year of high school. But the silver lining here is that he went out a half fly/half back first 100 in 46.0. The only swimmer whose ever gone out that fast in this 200 IM is former Gator Brad Ally. Even Lochte and Phelps didn’t go out that fast. That could bode well for his 100 back.

Another Cal bear, Martin Liivamagi, took 4th in 1:42.90. That’s a great swim for him, and I think he’s going to be disappointed that he chose against the 400 IM this season, as he likely would have been a medalist. Still huge points for Cal. He was followed by Austen Thompson of Arizona in 5th (1:43.16). Kyle Whitaker from Michigan was 6th, but even that’s a spot higher than last year (he was 3rd in prelims this morning). He’s waiting for the 400 IM.

Cory Chitwood did what he needed to as the leader of the Arizona team and stepped up to win the B-Final in 1:43.11, though it’s still disappointing that he wasn’t in the A. He now has a chance to really ride off of that swim into the 100 and 200 backstrokes on Friday and Saturday.

Men’s 50 Free

In this men’s 50 free, Jimmy Feigen won in a 19.01 for his first career National Championship after being stuck behind a group of great sprinters for the first three years of his career. The time, though good enough for gold (and that’s what counts) still felt a bit deflating, as the winners last season went 18.6-18.7-18.9 (Feigen was 3rd), and then this year nobody broke 19-second. Vlad Morozov stepped up big in this final to take 2nd in 19.08; he used a quick start to actually lead Feigen at the turn, but the much-bigger Feigen powered home.

This sets up an extremely interesting 100 free battle – last year Morozov was much closer to Feigein in the 100 than the 50, so that becomes a winnable event for him on Saturday.

The rest of this final got caught in the wake, and was well back, with Ohio State’s Jason Schnur taking 3rd in 19.46. Aaron Wayne was 4th in 19.47, and Cal’s Seth Stubblefield was 5th in 19.57.

Cal kept their streak of winning at least one heat of each event when Tyler Messerschmidt won the B in 19.45. That would have been third in the A, which highlights how important it is to get juiced up for prelims in this 50. Arizona’s Adam Small (19.46) and Auburn’s Karl Krug (19.49) took 10th and 11th. Overall, Auburn didn’t score as many points as they needed to in this race (though ironically it was a Tiger distance swimmer in Grothe’s 500 that picked up most of that slack).

Men’s 1-Meter

Drew Livingston kept Texas in the hunt with a monster 448 -point win on the men’s 1-meter. He was actually on record place through three (of six) dives, but a bit of a misstep on his 4th dive  (a back 2.5 somersault tuck – ironically his easiest dive) cost him a shot at that. Still, he had a huge cushion, and came right back with his highest-scoring dive in round four to secure the victory.

Stanford freshman Kristian Ipsen finished great in the final round, with a monster score of 84 on his last dive, on his way to a 410.15 overall score and 17 huge points for the Cardinal. That pulled them within shouting distance of the Wildcats for 3rd.

Arizona State, the best diving group at this meet, took 3rd (Cameron Bradshaw) and 4th  (Constantin Blaha). Texas A&M’s Grant Nel, who was the runner-up last season, finished 5th.

Men’s 400 Medley Relay

The Cal Bears kept their streak alive of winning a race in every swimming event in this finals session by taking the 400 medley relay in 3:03.24.

Whereas the always-brilliant Cal coach Dave Durden left the 200 free relay lineup alone (after an 8th-seed in prelims), he tinkered with this 400 medley (after a 3rd seed in prelims), and either way came out to gold. He swapped Tom Shields to the butterfly leg. Gydesen would split a solid 46.07 on the backstroke, but it was shield with an absolutely ridiculous 43.56 fly leg that pulled them past the Wildcats, making up a full second on the back-half of Shields’ swim alone. Tyler Messerschmidt (41.68) stepped up and, unintimidated, put an even bigger gap on the field, and the Bears rolled to a 3:03.24.

Shields’ leg is just .01 behind the fastest 100 fly split we’ve ever seen, from Austin Staab in 2009. Staab would break the NCAA Record later that meet, which now officially puts the mark on notice.

Arizona can’t be disappointed about their swim though. They swapped freshman Kevin Cordes onto the finals relay, and he stepped up big with a 50.93 breaststroke split for the Wildcats. They dropped over a second from prelims, and took 2nd in 3:04.83. Texas, swapping Jimmy Feigen onto the anchor for Dax Hill, also dropped a second and was in 3rd place in 3:05.68, with a 41.64 anchor from Feigen. Cole Cragin was also much better in this final, splitting a 45.9 on his backstroke.

Stanford, with a 45.33 backstroke from Nolan (that’s what we’ve been waiting for!) took 4th in 3:06.41. Marcelo Chierighini had a much better swim in this medley than he did in the earlier relay, and anchored the Tigers to a 5th-place finish with a 41.63 closing split of his own. There were a whole lot of 41.6/41.7 anchors in this race, which should make a great individual 100 free final.

Texas A&M, thanks to a strong fly split from senior Boris Loncaric of 45.74, won the B-Final in 3:09.09.

Tyler Messerschmidt celebrates Cal's victory in the 400 medley relay to cap an amazing first night for the Golden Bears. (Photo Courtesy: ©Tim Binning/TheSwimPicturs.com)

Full Live Meet Results available here.

Team Standings

Here’s the top 12 after one day. The big surprise is Cal, but other than that things sit about how you’d expect them to after one day of swimming. We’ll post a full breakdown of how teams are doing as compared to scores momentarily.

1. Cal Berkeley 157.5
2. Stanford 140
3. Texas 128.5
4. Arizona 118
5. Auburn 106.5
6. Michigan 84
7. USC 79
8. Florida 58
9. Louisville 46
10. Texas A&M 43
11. Ohio St 42
12. Indiana 40
13. Arizona State 31
14. Georgia 25.5
15. Florida St 25