Tom Shields was so busy on Friday night he could only find time for an interview while getting a message after the session concluded. He scored points for Cal as a member of both the 200 Medley and 800 Free Relays and he finished 2nd in the 100 back and won the 100 fly. For a full recap from Braden Keith: Night 2 of the 2013 Men’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.
200 Medley Relay
Cal was 2nd in a new American Record of 1:23.17, with Tony Cox, Trevor Hoyt, Tom Shields, and Seth Stubblefield. Stubblefield, recovering from an early-season injury, split 18.64 on the freestyle leg. Cal’s Tom Shields split 19.71, not as fast as expected: not that it would have made a difference in the final outcome.
100 Fly
Tom Shields successfully navigated the first half of his 100 fly/100 back double with a 44.59, which is .17 seconds faster than he was at last year’s meet. Shields looked very good through this 100 fly, showing no apparent signs of fatigue that would hit him perhaps a little later in the session.
100 Back
On Friday, he won his second NCAA championship of the meet, beating the defending champion Tom Shields, and became just the 7th man in history under 45 seconds: and the dissenters rested. David Nolan is the real deal, winning the 2013 national title in the 100 back in 44.99.
He went out extremely fast in this race, something that Shields didn’t match. Though the Cal bear rocketed off of his final wall to make a big charge, he fell short of his rival from Stanford in 45.21.
Tom will never admit it, but he was severely hurt by the new rule that finals swimmers must take the podium. Normally he would have been in the warm down pool the entire finals session of day two, with someone else on the Cal team accepting the awards. I understand that the rule is “fair” in that everyone abides by it, but from a perspective of fast swimming it sucks. Shields was absolutely fried by the 800 FR and was already suffering by the 100 Back
Died laughing when the camera shifted to under the table. I request more massage table interviews. Great multitasking and swimming, Tom!
I love this guy’s attitude. Could he look more relaxed? I wish all swimmers could approach their times with this perspective.
Totally agreed. Those were some really awesome, insightful answers.
Though the last minute or so was pretty hilarious, if only for how Garrett framed it.
Love the answer “that’s what SC Nats is for”…