Men’s NCAA Div. I Championships, Prelims: Auburn’s Depth Puts the Tigers in Position to Take Fourth Straight Crown

By Phillip Whitten

ATLANTA, March 25. IT’S Showdown time.

The final day of the men’s NCAA men’s championships dawned with Arizona holding a slim 5-point lead. It will be hard for the Wildcats to hold on. Auburn and Arizona are fairly evenly matched today — except in the 200 fly and the platform diving, where Arizona has no entries.

Coach Frank Busch’s Wildcats are having a phenomenal meet, but Dave Marsh has a way of getting the most out of his swimmers. Expect the Tigers to come out roaring!

We are projecting that Auburn is likely to win it all by a margin of about 40 points.

200 yard backstroke
Florida’s Ryan Lochte swam the easiest 1:40-flat 200 back you could ever hope to see, splitting 49.78 – 50.29 to qualify first. He’ll be taking aim at his own American record of 1:38.29 this evening.

Stanford’s Hongzhe Sun was second at 1:40.78 with the next five swimmers going 1:42s. Auburn placed two men in the A final, qualifying third (James Wike) and sixth (Doug Van Wie)) while Arizona’s Nick Thoman was fourth. It took a 1:43.31 to make the A final, 1:45.20 to make B.

Advantage: Auburn

100 yard freestyle
During warm-ups, the Auburn coaches told me they were hoping to place six or seven men in the A and B finals. They almost succeeded, winding up with two in the A final and three in the B. Arizona did almost as well, with two in the A final, one in the B.

This was an event in which you could swim a 42 and still not make the championship final. It took 42.91 to make the A final, 43.46 to make B.
Arizona’s Simon Burnett led the field with a 42.39 (20.19 – 22.20), with Auburn’s Cesar Cielo (42.60) and Matt Targett (42.61) second and third.

200 yard breaststroke
If Arizona was to have a chance at winning they’d have to score big points in this event, probably a long shot.

Alabama’s Vlad Polyakov, the defending champion, qualified first in 1:55.62, but the field is tightly bunched with barely a second separating the top eight men. Arizona’s Ivan Barns was fourth while Auburn’s Eric Shanteau was eighth.

It took a 1:56.56 to make the A final, 1:5.84 to make B.

200 yard butterfly
The 200 fly was Auburn’s chance to crack the meet open and position themselves to pull away from Arizona. The Tigers had four men entered to Arizona’s zero.

Michigan’s Davis Tarwater, the defending champion, qualified first in 1:43.08, about three-tenths ahead of #2 qualifier, Gil Stovall of Georgia.

Auburn took advantage of Arizona’s absence by placing on up and one down. Qualifying eighth was Rory Connell while the 12th qualifier was Mark Johnson. If they finish in those same positions this evening, that’ll mean 17 unanswered points by the Tigers.

It took a 1:45.54 to make the A final, 1:46.51 to make the B

400 yard freestyle relay
Arizona won Heat 2 with the fastest prelim time, 2:52.24, just edging Florida at 2:52.35. Auburn took Heat 3 in 2:52.44, the third fastest time.

It took 2:55.26 to make the A final, 2:57.35 to make B.

Arizona’s Simon Burnett led off in 42.57, one-hundredth ahead of Florida’s Ryan Lochte.

At the end of today's prelims, Auburn had 10 men in tonight's finals, Arizona five.

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