NCAA Division I Men’s Championships: Stanford Sets American Record During Day One Prelims

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MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, March 24. THE first day of preliminary action is complete at the NCAA Division I Men's Championships held on the campus of the University of Minnesota.

200 free relay
Auburn's foursome of Adam Brown, Kohlton Norys, Chris Manning and Macelo Chierighini threw down a 1:15.50 for the top time heading into prelims. That swim would have won NCAAs last year, with California winning in 1:15.71 in 2010. Brown's leadoff 50 free of 18.93 put him into a 10th-place tie all time in the event's history. Auburn will be looking to break a tie with Stanford for the most 200 free NCAA relay titles as both have won eight times.

Stanford's Alex Coville (19.28), Aaron Wayne (18.95), Jakob Allen (18.88) and Austin Staab (18.73) set the American record with a second-seeded time of 1:15.84. That swim broke the 1:15.90 set by Texas at the 2009 NCAA Division I Championships. Texas' Jimmy Feigen, Charlie Moore, Austin Surhoff and Dax Hill qualified third in 1:16.66.

California (1:16.67), Arizona (1:16.89), USC (1:17.30), Minnesota (1:17.58) and Virginia (1:17.70) comprised the rest of the top eight.

Clemson (1:17.79), Ohio State (1:17.81), Texas A&M (1:17.86), Michigan (1:18.22), UNLV (1:18.23), Florida (1:18.59), Tennessee (1:18.61) and North Carolina (1:18.88) made up the consolation heat.

500 free
Virginia's Matt McLean, who is known to put up a strong time during prelims, did just that in the middle distance event with a 4:12.26 for the top seed. He will be vying for Virginia's first title in the 500 free. He's been much faster with a seventh-ranked 4:10.00 set back in 2009. McLean's time today would have won last year's title as Conor Dwyer pocketed the victory with a 4:13.64.

Stanford's Bobby Bollier turned in a 4:14.84 to earn the second seed, while Florida's Conor Dwyer qualified third in 4:15.55.

Texas' Michael McBroom (4:16.14), Auburn's Zane Grothe (4:16.57), Michigan's Sean Ryan (4:16.84), Stanford's Cha La Tourette (4:17.51) and Texas' Jackson Wilcox (4:17.60) also earned spots in the A final.

South Carolina's Michael Flach (4:17.76), Michigan's Ryan Feeley (4:18.25), Georgia's Martin Grodzki (4:18.39), California's Sam Metz (4:18.98), Southern California's Richard Charlesworth (4:19.18), Indiana's Ryan Hinshaw (4:19.25), Michigan's Hassaan Abdel Khalik (4:19.57) and Virginia's Jan Daniec (4:19.59) snagged the transfer spots into the B final.

Top 10 Average Scoring Running Projections*:
Stanford (59), Texas (59), Virginia (48.875), Auburn (44.25), California (34.125), USC (34.125), Michigan (33.25), Arizona (29.5), Minnesota (29.5), Florida (24)

200 IM
Stanford's Austin Staab paced prelims with a 1:42.91, another time which would have won a title last year. Texas' Austin Surhoff captured the 2010 NCAA title with a 1:42.95. Staab will be looking to break a tie between Stanford and Southern California as both programs have eight 200 IM titles each.

Georgia's Bill Cregar clocked a 1:43.21 for the second seed, while Arizona's Cory Chitwood demonstrated some range with a third-seeded 1:43.55. Chitwood is a dominant force in the backstroke events. Michigan's Kyle Whitaker (1:43.80), Surhoff (1:44.12), Arizona's Austen Thompson (1:44.24), Florida's Marcin Cieslak (1:44.24) and California's Martin Liivamagi (1:44.27) earned the rest of the lanes in the big final. Surhoff will be looking to be the first man to defend the NCAA 200 IM title since Ryan Lochte went back-to-back in 2005 and 2006.

Texas' Nick D'Innocenzo (1:44.30), Florida's Sebastien Rousseau (1:44.38), Virginia's Matt Houser (1:44.51), California's Nolan Koon (1:44.56), Louisville's Carlos Almeida (1:44.56), Georgia's Mark Dylla (1:44.58), California's Marcin Tarczynski (1:44.62) and Northwestern's Alex Tyler (1:44.64) made the consolation final.

While this evening should be an exciting race, it will receive a shot of adrenalin next year when high school star David Nolan joins the fray at Stanford. He set a national high school record last week with a 1:41.39 to move to fourth all time in the event.

Top 10 Average Scoring Running Projections*:
Texas (78.375), Stanford (73.75), Arizona (59), California (58.125), Virginia (53.5), Michigan (48), Auburn (44.25), Florida (43.375), USC (34.125), Minnesota (29.5)

50 free
California's Nathan Adrian threatened his American record of 18.71 with a sterling time of 18.76 this morning. He's looking to reclaim his 2009 NCAA title after being upset by Josh Schneider last year. Adrian's effort ties one of his relay performances and a Fred Bousquet time as the 11th-fastest performances of all time.

Auburn's Adam Brown posted his second sub-19 effort of the day for the second seed. After clocking an 18.93 relay leadoff, Brown posted an 18.91 to move out of a 10th-place tie with Schneider on the all-time performers list, and into sole possession of ninth place.

Stanford's Alex Coville (19.01), Southern California's Vlad Morozov (19.12), Texas' Jimmy Feigen (19.13), Arizona's Adam Small (19.27), Auburn's Karl Krug (19.31) and California's Graeme Moore (19.36) garnered the rest of the championship finals slots.

Auburn's Kohlton Norys (19.38), Minnesota's Michael Richards (19.43), California's Josh Daniels (19.45), Clemson's Eric Bruck (19.47), Auburn's Drew Modrov (19.48), Columbia's Adam Powell (19.55), Auburn's Marcelo Chierighini (19.58) and Auburn's Chris Manning (19.62) snared the B final lanes.

Auburn made a huge move up the team title charts with a monster two up/four down display.

Top 10 Average Scoring Running Projections*:
Texas (93.125), California (92.25), Auburn (92.25), Stanford (88.5), Arizona (73.75), Virginia (53.5), USC (48.875), Michigan (48), Florida (43.375), Minnesota (34.125)

400 medley relay
Texas' Cole Cragin, Scott Spann, Neil Caskey and Dax Hill jumped into the top seed with a strong time of 3:05.61 led by a 45.89 leadoff leg from Cragin. Should Texas win tonight, it would be the Longhorns' 12th all time in NCAA history, which would tie them with Stanford for the most ever. Texas has not won the medley relay since sporting the first three legs of Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen and Ian Crocker with back-to-back wins anchored by Chris Kemp (2003) and Garrett Weber-Gale (2004).

Florida's Marco Loughran, Conor Dwyer, Marci Cieslak and Brett Fraser qualified second in 3:07.27, while Ohio State's Andy Elliott, Elliott Keefer, Tim Phillips and Lincoln Fahrbach qualified third in 3:07.68.

California (3:08.03), Stanford (3:08.13), Virginia (3:08.45), Arizona (3:08.60) and UNLV (3:09.06) made the championship heat.

Tennessee (3:09.41), USC (3:09.42), Auburn (3:10.37), Georgia (3:10.66), Michigan (3:10.86), Louisville (3:10.96), Minnesota (3:11.00) and North Carolina (3:11.35) earned the rest of the scoring spots in the B final.

Top 10 Average Scoring Running Projections*:
Texas (122.375), California (121.5), Stanford (117.75), Arizona (103), Auburn (101.5), Virginia (82.75), Florida (72.625), USC (58.125), Michigan (57.25), Minnesota (43.375)

One-meter diving
Texas A&M's Grant Nel topped prelims with 408.35 points, while Texas' Drew Livingston qualified second with 398.00 points. Duke's Nick McCrory (386.15), Texas A&M's Cam McLean (378.50), Tennessee's Michael Wright (357.35), Purdue's David Boudia (353.10), Arizona State's Constantin Blaha (342.95) and Arizona State's Riley McCormick (342.45) made the championship finale.

USC's Harrison Jones (340.35), Missouri's Dante Jones (339.25), Ohio State's Christian Holstein (338.95), Tennessee's Ryan Helms (338.30), BYU's Brandon Watson (337.90), Florida State's Landon Marzullo (337.45), Alabama's Adam Booher (332.10) and Arizona State's Cameron Bradshaw (325.50) will dive shortly in the consolation final.

Top 10 Average Scoring Running Projections*:
Texas (137.125), California (121.5), Stanford (117.75), Arizona (103), Auburn (101.5), Virginia (82.75), Florida (72.625), Southern California (62.75), Michigan (57.25), Minnesota (43.375)

* Average Scoring Projections based on the average points allotted to an A finalist (14.75) and a B finalist (4.625). Double points for relays.

Swimming World's NCAA Division I Men's Championships Notes Package Sponsored by NISCA

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