Auburn Makes Statement With Stellar Final Day of Prelims

By Jason Marsteller

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, March 17. AUBURN came out and took care of business in the last day of preliminary qualifying at the men's NCAA Division I Championships in Minneapolis, Minn. Auburn finished the day with 11 individual swims (five up, six down) in evening competition, while Florida registered the second-most with nine (five up, four down).

200 backstroke
Florida will look to gain some major points in the 200 back with two up and one down as Lucas Salatta (1:41.86) and Roland Rudolf (1:42.60) made the big final and Omar Pinzon qualified 12th.

Northwestern's Matt Grevers (1:41.55) clocked the fastest time, while Auburn's James Wike (1:41.93), Stanford's Hongzhe Sun (1:42.27), Indiana's Ben Hesen (1:42.37), Minnesota's David Plummer (1:42.41) and Arizona's Jake Tapp (1:42.75) will comprise the rest of the championship heat.

Florida led with three swimmers qualifying for an extra swim, while California put three swimmers into the consolation final.

100 freestyle
Auburn guaranteed another huge event with five swimmers (two up, three down), making it to tonight in the 100 free. Cesar Cielo (42.07), became the seventh-fastest performer all time, while Matt Targett (42.44) will join his teammate in the battle for the title.

Stanford's Ben Wildman-Tobriner clocked the fastest time with a 42.05 to become the fifth-quickest swimmer in the event all time, while Arizona's Adam Ritter (42.45), Texas' Garrett Weber-Gale (42.55), California's Nathan Adrian (42.57), Arizona's Nick Nilo (42.71) and Northwestern's Bruno Barbic (42.79) will make up the rest of the A final.

At the end of the event, Auburn owned the most final swims with six (three up, three down), with Arizona (three up, one down) and California (one up, three down) tied for second with four each.

200 breaststroke
The biggest news of the 200 breast prelims is the incoming favorite, Mike Alexandrov of Northwestern, will not be competing tonight after being disqualified due to a one-hand touch. This after clocking a 1:55.26 that would have put him third.

Alabama's Vlad Polyakov will enter the favorite with the top time of 1:54.82, while Georgia's Neil Versfeld (1:55.23), Stanford's Nate Cass (1:55.25) and Paul Kornfeld (1:55.43), Florida's Bill Mrazek (1:55.84), Alabama's Hunor Mate (1:55.95), Michigan's Scott Spann (1:56.00) and Florida's Bradley Ally (1:56.17) will take their shots at the title.

Florida did well for itself again with four swimmers (two up, two down) in the event, while Auburn remained in the overall lead with eight swims (three up, five down). Florida is second with seven (four up, three down), while Stanford is third with six (four up, two down).

200 butterfly
Auburn moved its total to 11 overall individual swims (five up, six down) with two up and one down in the 200 fly. John Scott (1:43.72) and Logan Madson (1:44.15) qualified top eight, while Tyler McGill took 11th.

Georgia's Gil Stovall touched first in 1:43.66, while California's Patrick O'Neil (1:43.77), Florida's Shaune Fraser (1:43.95), Stanford's Hongzhe Sun (1:44.09), UC-Santa Barbara's Patrick Cary (1:44.15) and Michigan's Curtis Dauw (1:44.37) close out the championship heat.

Florida registered the second-most swims of the night with nine (five up, four down), while Stanford has seven (five up, two down) and Michigan has six (two up, four down).

400 freestyle relay
California's relay of Jernej Godec (43.61), Dominik Meichtry (42.55), Nathan Adrian (42.11) and William Copeland (43.01) posted the top time in 2:51.28.

Auburn (2:52.19), Texas (2:52.44), Northwestern (2:52.48), Arizona (2:52.72), Stanford (2:52.87), Florida (2:53.12) and Tennessee (2:54.50) also made the championship heat.

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