Men’s NCAA Div. I Championships: Arizona Outsprints Auburn to Take the 400 Free Relay, but Auburn Wins Its Fourth Straight Team Title

By Phillip Whitten

ATLANTA, Georgia, March 25. THE team battle was decided, but there was still one relay to swim, and no one was conceding anything to anyone. With Auburn in lane 3 and Arizona in 4, the stage was set for a titanic 400 freestyle relay battle. It turned out to be all that…and more.

In an incredible, thrilling finish to a superb meet, Arizona nipped Auburn, 2:48.39 to 2:48.89.

Simon Burnett led off for the Zonies in 42.06, a time that would have won the 100. Florida’s Ryan Lochte clocked 42.44 while Auburn’s Jakob Andkjaer was 42.85.

Lyndon Ferns extended Arizona’s lead to over a second, 1:23.79 to 1:24.87 as he split 41.73 to Cesar Cielo’s 42.02.

Matt Targett brought the Tigers back with a furious 41.68 split to Albert Subirats’ 42.54. But Adam Ritter would not allow Auburn’s George Bovell to get any closer, as he outsplit Bovell 42.06 to 42.34. Interestingly, three of the four Arizona swimmers and all four Auburn swimmers are foreigners.

Texas was third in 2:51.56.

Auburn won the men’s title with (480.5), to complement its women’s title from last week. Arizona (440.5) actually outscored Auburn by 12 points in swimming, but Auburn blanked Arizona 52-0 in diving.

Stanford was third with 362.5 points, Texas a surprise fourth (307) and Florida fifty (268.5). Of the 62 teams represented at this meet, 49 scored points.

NCAA Division I Champ. Meet 3/25/2006 – 21:26PM
NCAA Men's D1 Championships – 3/23/2006 to 3/25/2006

Event 21 Men 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
================================================================================
NCAA: N 2:47.70 2005 California, California
American: A 2:49.80 2001 Texas, Texas
US Open: O 2:47.70 2005 California, California
GTAC Pool: P 2:57.26 2/26/2005 Florida State University
J Roycik, A Kennon, M Averett, E Denton
School Prelims Finals Points
================================================================================
=== Championship ===

1 Arizona 2:52.24 2:48.39A
1) *Burnett, Simon SR 2) Ferns, Lyndon SR
3) Subirats, Albert SO 4) Ritter, Adam SO
20.22 42.06 (42.06)
1:01.64 (19.58) 1:23.79 (41.73)
1:43.67 (19.88) 2:06.33 (42.54)
2:26.23 (19.90) 2:48.39 (42.06)
2 Auburn 2:52.44 2:48.89A
1) Andkjaer, Jakob FR 2) *Cielo, Cesar FR
3) Targett, Matt SO 4) Bovell, George SR
20.56 42.85 (42.85)
1:02.66 (19.81) 1:24.87 (42.02)
1:44.19 (19.32) 2:06.55 (41.68)
2:26.74 (20.19) 2:48.89 (42.34)
3 Texas 2:53.49 2:51.56P
1) McGinnis, Matthew SO 2) McDermott, Caleb SO
3) Harris, Jeremy SO 4) Weber-Gale, Garrett JR
20.66 43.02 (43.02)
1:03.65 (20.63) 1:26.21 (43.19)
1:46.54 (20.33) 2:09.48 (43.27)
2:28.97 (19.49) 2:51.56 (42.08)
4 Cal. Berkeley 2:53.59 2:52.37P
1) Tilly, Jonas JR 2) Cavic, Milorad SR
3) Copeland, William SO 4) Wagner, Garrett SO
20.46 43.46 (43.46)
1:03.29 (19.83) 1:26.27 (42.81)
1:46.39 (20.12) 2:09.34 (43.07)
2:29.80 (20.46) 2:52.37 (43.03)
5 Stanford 2:54.36 2:52.47P
1) Dunford, Jason FR 2) Wildman-Tobriner, BE JR
3) Crowe, Matt JR 4) Grant, Andy JR
20.65 43.28 (43.28)
1:03.54 (20.26) 1:25.96 (42.68)
1:46.29 (20.33) 2:09.64 (43.68)
2:29.91 (20.27) 2:52.47 (42.83)
6 Florida 2:52.35 2:53.56P
1) Lochte, Ryan SR 2) Townsend, Darian JR
3) Penniman, Daniel SO 4) Borreca, Nicholas SR
20.18 42.44 (42.44)
1:03.01 (20.57) 1:26.58 (44.14)
1:47.15 (20.57) 2:10.23 (43.65)
2:30.55 (20.32) 2:53.56 (43.33)
7 Northwestern 2:55.26 2:54.02P
1) Grevers, Matt JR 2) Bubolz, Kyle SO
3) Nilsson, Eric FR 4) Alexandrov, Mike JR
20.23 42.80 (42.80)
1:02.82 (20.02) 1:25.71 (42.91)
1:46.72 (21.01) 2:10.28 (44.57)
2:30.74 (20.46) 2:54.02 (43.74)
8 Minnesota 2:55.08 2:54.64P
1) Cerensek, Igor JR 2) Mitchell, Adam SR
3) Volcansek, Ales JR 4) Schmidt, Tyler SO
21.10 43.82 (43.82)
1:04.47 (20.65) 1:27.43 (43.61)
1:48.16 (20.73) 2:11.15 (43.72)
2:31.94 (20.79) 2:54.64 (43.49)

=== Consolation ===

9 Michigan 2:55.77 2:55.07P
1) Tarwater, Davis SR 2) Vanderkaay, Peter SR
3) Dejong, Chris SR 4) Savulich, Bobby FR
20.99 43.78 (43.78)
1:03.95 (20.17) 1:26.62 (42.84)
1:47.86 (21.24) 2:10.81 (44.19)
2:31.67 (20.86) 2:55.07 (44.26)
10 Georgia 2:57.17 2:56.60P
1) Bibliowicz, Nathan SO 2) Verhoef, Peter SR
3) Stovall, Gil SO 4) Owen, Matthew SR
21.30 44.57 (44.57)
1:05.65 (21.08) 1:29.00 (44.43)
1:49.68 (20.68) 2:12.38 (43.38)
2:33.47 (21.09) 2:56.60 (44.22)
11 Texas A&M 2:56.35 2:57.03P
1) Gardner, Ozzie JR 2) Sullivant, Andrew SR
3) Picasso, Francisco JR 4) Newmann, Scott SR
21.18 44.30 (44.30)
1:04.80 (20.50) 1:28.16 (43.86)
1:49.08 (20.92) 2:12.83 (44.67)
2:33.87 (21.04) 2:57.03 (44.20)
12 Tennessee 2:56.47 2:57.20P
1) Boswell, Brad JR 2) Murphy, Barry FR
3) Wolfe, Michael SO 4) Gustafson, Tyler SR
21.69 44.92 (44.92)
1:05.64 (20.72) 1:28.72 (43.80)
1:49.68 (20.96) 2:13.56 (44.84)
2:34.24 (20.68) 2:57.20 (43.64)
13 Southern Cal. 2:57.27 2:57.49
1) Sussex, Sean JR 2) Masson, Sam JR
3) Elser, Bryce SO 4) Mellouli, Ous SR
21.36 44.12 (44.12)
1:05.90 (21.78) 1:29.44 (45.32)
1:50.27 (20.83) 2:13.57 (44.13)
2:34.48 (20.91) 2:57.49 (43.92)
14 Florida State 2:57.27 2:57.65
1) Kennon, Alex JR 2) Connor, Stephan
3) Denton, ED SO 4) Roycik, Joel SR
21.48 44.98 (44.98)
1:06.06 (21.08) 1:29.85 (44.87)
1:50.52 (20.67) 2:13.70 (43.85)
2:34.36 (20.66) 2:57.65 (43.95)
15 Southern Method. 2:57.35 2:58.69
1) Hetland, Alex SO 2) Nylin, Per SR
3) Vrtovec, Luka FR 4) Garmendia, Emilio SR
21.63 45.23 (45.23)
1:05.13 (19.90) 1:29.04 (43.81)
1:50.22 (21.18) 2:13.86 (44.82)
2:34.77 (20.91) 2:58.69 (44.83)
— Alabama 2:55.72 DQ
Early take-off swimmer #3
1) Erasmus, Darren SR 2) Tsagkarakis, Apostol JR
3) Latone, Ryan SO 4) Bitsakis, Spiros SR

=== Preliminaries ===

17 Nevada – L.V. 2:57.64
18 South Carolina 2:57.85
19 West Virginia 2:58.08
20 Kentucky 2:58.69
21 Indiana 2:59.79
22 Virginia Polytec 3:01.25
— N. Carolina St. DFS

Men – Final Team Rankings

1. Auburn 480.5
2. Arizona 440.5
3. Stanford 362.5
4. Texas 307
5. Florida 268.5
6. California 250.5
7. Southern California 223
8. Michigan 209
9. Georgia 197
10. Northwestern 183.5
11. Minnesota 136.5
12. Indiana 115.5
13. Alabama 114.5
14. Arizona State 68
15. Tennessee 66
16. Purdue 59
17. Texas A&M 45
18. Virginia 39
19. Southern Methodist 38
20. Harvard 29.5
21. North Carolina State 28
21. Ohio State 28
21. Princeton 28
24. Kentucky 27.5
25. Oakland 22
26. Utah 21
27. Virginia Tech 19
28. Nevada, Las Vegas 18
29. California, Santa Barbara 17
30. Hawaii 16
30. West Virginia 16
32. Miami 15
33. Georgia Tech 12
33. Florida State 12
35. U.S. Air Force Academy 11
35. North Carolina, Wilmington 11
37. South Carolina 10
38. Missouri 9
39. George Mason 8
40. Louisiana State 7
41. Florida Atlantic 5
41. Brigham Young 5
41. Louisville 5
41. North Carolina 5
45. Washington 4
46. Syracuse 3
46. Cornell 3
48. Yale 2.5
49. Penn State 2

Auburn - 2006 National Champions

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