2024 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships
Deep breaths everyone – it's the first night of the 2024 NCAA Men's Division I Swimming and Diving Championships. How lucky are we to have another week of fast swimming after all the action we saw at the women's meet last week?
It's a simple session tonight with only two events: timed finals of the 200m medley and 800m freestyle.
Order of events:
- 200 medley relay (1st seed: Arizona State, 1:20.55)
- 45 minute break
- 800 free relay (1st seed: Arizona State, 6:06.14)
After a season of swimming fast every time they dive, the Sun Devils take first place in both phases tonight. They broke the NCAA and US Open records at the PAC-12s by 1:20.55. And the most exciting (terrifying?) part of those shows was just that Leon Marchand About five tenths of the fastest 50 split was in his breaststroke. As newly minted NCAA record holders with more room for improvement, Arizona State is the clear favorite heading into the meet.
But there are rivals: NC State broke the American record in the event in the ACC, only to be bested minutes later by the Florida quartet. There are questions about the two relay lineups, particularly how the Gators will choose to spread out Josh Lindo Tonight. Then there are the Golden Bears, who will be at full strength for the first time in the postseason after dispatching the likes of (but not limited to) Jack Alexie And Destin Lasko To Westmont Pro Swimming.
Also remaining up in the air – will we see a sub-20 back-to-back lead this year after being so close the past two seasons?
There are similar questions surrounding the 800 freestyle relay. The Texas powerhouse's time of 6:03.42 looks safe, but will Marchand make it? Luke Hobson, Chris Giuliano, Or another swim break Knight's religion'200 free record leading? Texas, the defending champion, faces early competition, and clean water could play to its advantage.
Arizona State is the top seed in the 800 freestyle relay as well, but Florida and Georgia are also seeded within 6:06 of second and third, signaling another close race.
200 Medley Relay – Timed Final
NCAA record: 1:20.55 – Arizona State (J. Dolan, L. Marchand, I. Kharun, J. Kulow), 2024Meet record: 1:20.67 — NC State (K. Stokowski, M. Hunter, N. Korstanje, D. Curtiss), 2023American record: 1:21.66 – Florida (A. Chaney, J. Smith, S. Bove, M. McDuff), 2024US Open record: 1:20.55 – Arizona State (G. Dolan, L. Marchand, I. Kharon, G. Colo), 2024- 2023 Champion: 1:20.67 – NC State (K. Stokowski, M. Hunter, N. Korstanje, D. Curtiss), 2023
Top 8:
- Florida (A. Chaney, J. Smith, J. Lindo, M. McDuff) – 1:20.15 *NCAA, MEET, US OPEN RECORD*
- Arizona State (J. Dolan, L. Marchand, I. Kharon, J. Colo) – 1:20.55
- NC State (A. Hayes, S. Hoover, L. Miller, Q. McCarty) – 1:20.98 *US registry*
- Cal – 1:21.01
- Tennessee – 1:21.91
- Indiana – 1:22.10
- Stanford – 1:22.43
- Auburn – 1:22.57
What a race to start these tournaments; We have only been through one event and have already seen our first NCAA record. Coming into this race, Arizona was the heavy favorite. But the first half of the race showed that Florida, NC State and Cal were not content to let this story go.
Last year's 200 fly champion Aiden Hayes He dropped the fastest 50 backstroke in history to start the Wolfpack, clocking 20.07 seconds to eclipse it Bjorn Seeliger20.08 of 2022. This made the Wolfpack firmly dominate the last timed final match ahead of Flordia, who had a 20.29 lead of Adam Chaney and Cal 20.39 from Seliger.
The Golden Bears took the lead at the halfway point, thanks to another of the fastest splits in history, this leg of Year 5 Liam Bell. Bell's split is 22.25, exceeding Marchand's split from 2023 by two hundredths. Marchand, who was in the water at the time, split a 22.59 to pull the Sun Devils from fourth to third.
The Gators earned a split of 22.255 from Julian Smith To keep them in second place. then, Josh Lindo— who held off that relay in the SECs — had a thrilling, breakout exchange that pushed the Gators into the lead for the rest of the race. Liendo split the fly of 18.97, making him only the second man to split under 19. His split is now the second fastest of all time.
As we are accustomed to seeing, it was so McGuire Macduff On the Gators anchor. He split 18.34 stops Johnny ColoBlazing 17.94 and McCarty 18.16 to take the win. The Gators swam 1:20.15, taking four tenths off the NCAA and US Open records set by ASU at the PAC-12s.
ASU repeated the 1:20.55 of the PAC-12s here, giving them second place. Elijah Kharon And Dare Rose They were touched at the same time after the fly's legs, but Colo's split helped the Sun Devils separate themselves. Colo is now the third fastest swimmer in the 50 freestyle, at the back Caleb Dressel And Vlad Morozov.
Touching third place, Hayes of North Carolina, Sam Hoover (23.40), Luke Miller (19.35 F Quentin McCarty (18.16) Reclaimed the American record. They held it briefly after swimming at the ACCs but then Florida took over after they swam about 20 minutes later at the SECs. Now back is the Wolfpack, who after replacing all four legs on the 2023 NCAA title-winning relay, still finished third in record time.
800 freestyle relay – timed final
NCAA record: 6:03.42 – Texas (L. Hobson, C. Carrozza, P. Larson, C. Foster), 2024Meet record: 6:03.42 – Texas (L. Hobson, C. Carrozza, P. Larson, C. Foster), 2024- American record: 6:03.42 – Texas (L. Hobson, C. Carrozza, P. Larson, C. Foster), 2024
US Open record: 6:03.42 – Texas (L. Hobson, C. Carrozza, P. Larson, C. Foster), 2024- 2023 Champion: 6:03.42 – Texas (L. Hobson, C. Carrozza, P. Larson, C. Foster), 2024
Top 8:
- Cal (J. Jett, D. Lasko, J. Alexie, R. Hanson) – 6:02.26 *NCAA, MEET, US OPEN RECORD*
- Arizona State (L Marchand, H Coss, P Sammon, G Hill) – 6:04.95
- Texas (L. Hobson, C. Carrozza, N. Germonprez, C. Taylor) – 6:05.33
- Florida – 6:08.00
- Georgia – 6:08.13
- Indiana – 6:08.26
- Louisville – 6:08.32
- Stanford – 6:08.77
Texas set the standard from the second final game. Moving towards the long centuries, Luke Hobson get down Knight's religion“He clocked the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:29.13, cutting two-hundredths of a mile from Knight's mark. He led the Longhorns' offense as it was, Kobe Carrozza (1:31.32), Nate Germonprez (1:32.05), and Camden Taylor (1:32.83) took advantage of the open water and ran 6:05.33. This left them top of the club with one final remaining.
Then it was Marchand's turn. Last year, he ran the Sun Devils' relay time of 1:28.43, the fastest 200 free ever. He has taken off this year, and is clearly eyeing the NCAA 200 free record. Just one heat after Hobson's swim, Marchand showed off his incredible underwater skills and clocked 1:28.97, becoming the first swimmer to break the 1:29 mark in the 200 freestyle. He has managed the NCAA and US Open records, and Hobson holds the American record.
Marchand's stunning lead gave Arizona State a huge lead heading into the second leg of the relay. but Destin Lasko Make it seem like nothing. Over the next 200 yards, Lasko took Cal's lead, running down the second swimmer Hubert Coase With a split of 1:29.60 to give the Golden Bears the lead at the halfway point.
They never looked back, either Jack Alexie Split 1:30.50 f Robin Hanson anchored in 1:31.84. The quartet earned Cal's first win in this relay since 1986 in record-breaking fashion as they broke the NCAA, meet and US Open records set by Texas just a year earlier. Texas will retain the American record as Hansson represents Sweden.
Arizona State retained second place with Koss (1:32.29), Patrick Sammon (1:31.91), and Julian Hill (1:31.78) compiled a 6:04.95 to better the ASU time of the PAC-12s. This is ASU's second silver of the session.
The Texan's time from the second heat stood in third place. After that, it was incredibly tight with fourth and ninth separated by less than a second. Florida took fourth with a time of 6:08.00, just 0.13 seconds ahead of SEC rival Georgia.
With Florida and Cal both finishing first and fourth, they sit at the top of the standings heading into Day 2 with 70 points. Arizona State University is in third place, just two points behind, with 68 points.
Results within the first day
- Florida/Cal – 70
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- Arizona State – 68
- Indiana – 52
- NC State/Texas – 50
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- Stanford – 46
- Georgia – 34
- Auburn – 30
- Virginia Tech/Tennessee – 28
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- Louisville – 24
- Michigan – 18
- Missouri/Alabama – 12
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- Florida State – 10
- Ohio State – 6
- Texas A&M/SMU – 4
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- UNC/Arizona – 2
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