NCAA Division I Men’s Champs: Day Three Prelims; Cesar Cielo Breaks U.S. Open, NCAA Record in 100 Free; On Demand Video Available

FEDERAL WAY, Washington, March 29. WITH Arizona ahead by nearly 100 points heading into the third day of prelims at the NCAA Division I Men's Championships, the Wildcats have a strong shot to give Frank Busch his second career title in a week.

At the end of individual events, Arizona went two up and six down, while Texas went four up and four down. With diving and the 1650 free left to go, it will take a lot for Texas to overcome the gap.

200 back
Penn State's Pat Schirk, who already owns the 13th-fastest time in the event's history with a 1:40.87 from Big Tens, posted the top qualifying time in the 200 back with a 1:41.02. He will be looking to be Penn State's first NCAA champion in swimming and diving, and will hope to keep the title in the Big Ten as Northwestern's Matt Grevers took the crown last year with a 1:38.71.

Arizona newcomer Cory Chitwood will try to become his school's first 200 back titlist after qualifying second with a time of 1:41.34, while California's Mark Eckert touched third in 1:41.69.

Other top eight qualifiers include Texas' Sean Patton (1:41.98), Florida's Roland Rudolf (1:42.05), Oakland's Marcin Unold (1:42.33), Stanford's Eugene Godsoe (1:42.38) and Michigan's Andre Schultz (1:42.40).

Texas will look to make up a bit of ground in the team battle with one up and two down, while Arizona went one up and one down. Florida also qualified one up and two down.

Event results

ON DEMAND VIDEO

100 free
Auburn's Cesar Cielo clipped his U.S. Open and NCAA record in the 100 free with an incredible swim of 41.12 in prelims. What does he have in store for us during finals? Will 40 be assured?

Cielo previously held the record with a 41.17 from last year's NCAA championships and will be looking to defend his title in the event. It would be Auburn's fourth win ever in the 100 free, but the first since Rowdy Gaines went back-to-back in 1980-81. The last person to defend the 100 free successfully came when California's Anthony Ervin went three straight from 2000-02.

Yale's Alex Righi recorded a strong swim to tie Garrett Weber-Gale for ninth all time in the event when he notched a time of 41.94 for second place.

Tennessee's Jonas Persson placed third in 42.26, while Arizona's Nicolas Nilo and Auburn's Alexei Puninski tied for fourth with matching 42.42s.

Other championship finalists will be California's William Copeland (42.44), Texas' Matt McGinnis (42.44) and Northwestern's Kyle Bubolz (42.45).

Arizona qualified one up and three down, while Texas qualified one up and one down. Auburn also went two up in the team race.

Event results

ON DEMAND VIDEO

200 breast
Michigan's Scott Spann, who already is the fifth-swiftest in the event all time with a 1:53.17 from Big Tens, posted the 13th-best time ever with a 1:53.76 to qualify first. Should he win this evening, he would be the first Wolverine to win since Eric Wunderlich won in 1993. Prior to that, Mike Barrowman ran off three straight titles from 1989 to 1991 for Michigan.

California's Sean Mahoney finished second with a time of 1:54.14 to become the 11th-fastest swimmer of all time.

Stanford's Paul Kornfeld, last night's 100 breast winner, qualified third in 1:54.87. He will look to be the first person to sweep the breaststroke events since California's Henrique Barbosa won both in 2006.

Florida's Clark Burckle (1:55.02), Stanford's John Criste (1:55.46), Texas' Austin Magruder (1:55.80), Stanford's Chris Ash (1:55.93) and California's Martti Aljand (1:56.17) will also vie for the national title in finals.

Too bad for Stanford that the NCAA doesn't have an 800 breaststroke relay as the Cardinal went three up and one down in the event. Arizona qualified two down, while Texas went one up and one down. California also went two up and one down.

Event results

ON DEMAND VIDEO

200 fly
Georgia's Gil Stovall came within .08 seconds of wiping out Mel Stewart's 17-year-old NCAA record of 1:41.78 when he ripped off a 1:41.86 during prelims. Stovall is now the fourth-fastest swimmer in the event of all time behind Michael Phelps (1:39.70), Stewart (1:41.78) and Davis Tarwater (1:41.84).

Stovall will attempt to be the first Bulldog to win the event ever. Teammate Mark Dylla will be trying the same as he qualified second in 1:42.90.

Stanford's Danny Beal placed third in 1:43.05, while Princeton's Doug Lennox took fourth in 1:43.06.

Texas' Ricky Berens (1:43.49), UC Irvine's Eddie Erazo (1:43.71), Florida's Shaune Fraser (1:43.83) and Tennessee's Michael Wolfe (1:43.83) comprise the rest of the big final.

In the team race, Arizona did not qualify anyone while Texas went one up. Georgia picked up two spots in the big final, while Florida went one up and one down.

Event results

ON DEMAND VIDEO

400 free relay
California's quartet of Jernej Godec, Dominik Meichtry, Joe Whittington and William Copeland led qualifying by a small margin with a 2:51.73. The Golden Bears are looking to bring the 400 free relay title back to Berkeley for the first time since 2005.

Arizona's foursome of Albert Subirats, Nicolas Nilo, Jordan Smith and Darian Townsend qualified second in 2:51.78, while Auburn's Alexei Puninski, Steve Scheren, Kohlton Norys and Cesar Cielo grabbed the third seed with a 2:52.26.

Tennessee (2:52.50), Texas (2:52.60), Stanford (2:52.88), Minnesota (2:53.92) and Northwestern (2:54.55) rounded out the top eight.

Puninski had the fastest leadoff with a 42.89, while Tennessee's Jonas Persson had the best leg with a 41.47 as the anchor for the Vols.

Event results

ON DEMAND VIDEO

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