NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships: Day Three Prelims

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FEDERAL WAY, Washington, March 24. THE third, and final, day of preliminary qualification at the NCAA Division I Men's Championships kicked off today in Federal Way, Wash.

200 back
Stanford's David Nolan (1:40.54) and two-time defending champion Cory Chitwood of Arizona (1:40.75) both cleared 1:41 to lead the way in the preliminary session. Nolan is looking to extend Stanford's NCAA-leading 11 victories in the event's history, while Chitwood is shooting to become just the sixth man ever to win the 200 back title three or more times. While John Naber of USC and Yoshi Oyakawa of Ohio State completed career sweeps, Texas' Rick Carey, Indiana's Charlie Hickcox and Stanford's Sean Murphy won a trio of titles.

Stanford's Matthew Swanston (1:41.23), Stanford's Matt Thompson (1:41.43), USC's Alex Lendrum (1:42.06), Eastern Michigan's Jacob Hanson (1:42.11), California's Mathias Gydesen (1:42.13) and Auburn's Max Murphy (1:42.14) grabbed the rest of the A final transfer spots.

California's Marcin Tarczynski (1:42.16), Ohio State's Andrew Elliott (1:42.18), Arizona's Michael Sheppard (1:42.23), Texas' Kip Darmody (1:42.29), Michigan State's Jacob Jarzen (1:42.34), Texas' Cole Cragin (1:42.39), Texas' Austin Surhoff (1:42.47) and Virginia Tech's Zachary McGinnis (1:42.57) comprised the consolation heat field.

While Stanford will do the most damage as a team with an astounding three swimmers qualifying for the A final, California should extend its lead over Texas in the event with one up, one down compared to Texas' three down.

Average Scoring Projections For Event*:
Stanford (44.25), Arizona (19.375), California (19.375), USC (14.75), Eastern Michigan (14.75), Auburn (14.75), Texas (13.875), Ohio State (4.625), Michigan State (4.625), Virginia Tech (4.625)

100 free
USC's Vlad Morozov surged to the top of qualifying with a time of 42.13. Should he earn the victory this evening, he would be the first Trojan to top the 100 free since Joe Bottom won in 45.067 back in 1974. Only one other Trojan has won the event as well, as Per Ola Lindberg clocked a 47.1 for the 1963 crown.

Auburn's Marcelo Chierighini posted a 42.31 for second seed, while Stanford's Aaron Wayne placed third in 42.48. Louisville's Joao De Lucca qualified fourth in 42.59, while California's Tyler Messerschmidt (42.78) is the lone hope to keep the title in the Golden Bear family. Nathan Adrian, who is here as an alum this week, won the previous three titles. Texas' Jimmy Feigen (42.81), North Carolina's Steven Cebertowicz (42.87) and Kentucky's Tyler Reed (42.94) placed sixth through eighth.

Ohio State's Jason Schnur (42.98), Texas A&M's John Dalton (43.04), Virginia's Peter Geissinger (43.06), Alabama's Bjoern Hornikel (43.08), Texas' Dax Hill (43.09), USC's Dimitri Colupaev (43.10), Florida's Bradley deBorde (43.14) and Arizona's Giles Smith (43.20) picked up the B final lanes.

Texas will chip away at California's lead in the event after going one up, one down compared to Cal's one up.

Average Scoring Projections For Event*:
USC (19.375), Texas (19.375), Auburn (14.75), Stanford (14.75), Louisville (14.75), California (14.75), North Carolina (14.75), Kentucky (14.75), Ohio State (4.625), Texas A&M (4.625), Virginia (4.625), Alabama (4.625), Florida (4.625), Arizona (4.625)

200 breast
California's vaunted breaststroke group amassed some serious team points with a sterling outing this morning, claiming three big final spots as Martin Liivamagi (1:53.23), Trevor Hoyt (1:53.34) and Nolan Koon (1:54.43) each qualified into the championship finale.

Louisville's Carlos Almeida earned the top seed with a 1:52.82 to move up to 13th all time in the event's history. Arizona's Kevin Cordes, fresh off an American record in the 100 breast prelims yesterday, took second in 1:53.19. Arizona's Carl Mickelson (1:53.50), Princeton's Jonathan Christensen (1:54.80) and Texas' Eric Friedland (1:54.91) also made the championship heat.

Arizona's Austen Thompson (1:55.35), Arizona's Kevin Munsch (1:55.50), Texas' Nick D'Innocenzo (1:55.56), Georgia's Nicholas Fink (1:55.63), Wisconsin's Michael Weiss (1:55.78), Penn's Brendan McHugh (1:56.06), Indiana's Cody Miller (1:56.10) and Stanford's Curtis Lovelace (1:56.10) claimed the B final spots.

Cal will pick up serious points with three up, while Arizona also did some major damage with two up and two down.

Average Scoring Projections For Event*:
California (44.25), Arizona (38.75), Texas (19.375), Louisville (14.75), Princeton (14.75), Georgia (4.625), Wisconsin (4.625), Penn (4.625), Indiana (4.625), Stanford (4.625)

200 fly
California's Tom Shields, who has self-reportedly been swimming outside his mind this week, topped qualifying with a 1:41.99. He will be looking to be the first Cal Golden Bear to win the title since Patrick O'Neill in 2007. Ugur Taner won three straight from 1994-96, while Par Arvidsson also won for Cal in 1979 and 1980.

Texas' Neil Caskey, last night's hero on the 800 free relay as the anchor, qualified second in 1:42.52. Stanford's Bobby Bollier (1:42.57), California's Will Hamilton (1:42.70), Florida's Marcin Cieslak (1:43.22), Stanford's David Mosko (1:43.28), Alabama's Alex Coci (1:43.42) and Michigan's Dan Madwed (1:43.45) snared the A final lanes.

Florida's Cameron Martin (1:43.90), Michigan's John Wojciechowski (1:44.14), Minnesota's Kyler Van Swol (1:44.24), California's Robert Sullivan (1:44.26), Virginia Tech's Greg Mahon (1:44.42), Brown's Tommy Glenn (1:44.44), Indiana's Stephen Schmuhl (1:44.44) and North Carolina's Tom Luchsinger (1:44.58) made up the consolation heat.

California continued its assault on the team points, following up an incredible outing in the breaststroke with a two up, one down in the butterfly, likely putting away the title barring disqualifications making an impact this evening.

Average Scoring Projections For Event*:
California (34.125), Stanford (29.5), Florida (19.375), Michigan (19.375), Texas (14.75), Alabama (14.75), Minnesota (4.625), Virginia Tech (4.625), Brown (4.625), Indiana (4.625), North Carolina (4.625)

400 free relay
USC's Vlad Morozov, Dimitri Colupaev, Cristian Quintero and Jeff Daniels turned in a 2:50.51 for the top time in prelims. USC has won the title seven times, but hasn't tasted victory in the event since Bruce Furniss, Mark Greenwood, Scott Findorff and Joe Bottom won with a 2:55.28 back in 1977.

Auburn's Karl Krug, James Disney-May, Drew Modrov and Marcelo Chierighini placed second in 2:51.06, while Stanford's David Nolan, Geoff Cheah, Andrew Saeta and Aaron Wayne took third in 2:51.49. California (2:51.61), Arizona (2:52.26), Texas (2:52.45), Florida State (2:53.34) and Texas A&M (2:53.85) will compete for the NCAA title this evening.

Louisville (2:54.06), Iowa (2:54.14), Michigan (2:54.22), Florida (2:54.28), Minnesota (2:54.30), Virginia (2:54.45), North Carolina (2:54.86) and Harvard (2:54.88) qualified ninth through 16th for the consolation heat field.

Platform Diving
Texas' Drew Livingston put himself in position to win two out of three diving titles with 447.65 points this morning. A Longhorn has never won the platform diving title since its inception in 1990. Arizona's Ben Grado finished second with 441.15 points, while Matt Cooper will give Texas some much needed points if the Longhorns have any hope of catching California tonight. Cooper took third with 424.90 points.

Virginia Tech's Logan Shinholser (421.50), Indiana's Conor Murphy (412.40), Missouri's David Bonuchi (402.70), Virginia Tech's Ryan Hawkins (381.65) and Indiana's Zach Nees (379.80) made the championship finale.

Kentucky's Greg Ferrucci (356.80), Virginia's Briggy Imbriglia (337.75), Minnesota's Michael Ross (336.65), Tennessee's Mauricio Robles Rodriguez (335.90), Stanford's Kristian Ipsen (333.05), Tennessee's Ryan Helms (329.20), Indiana's Darian Schmidt (329.15) and LSU's Daniel Helm (323.50) will dive for the consolation title later this afternoon.

Indiana will score its three remaining divers, after Michael DellOrco II withdrew from the meet after smashing his legs into the three-meter springboard yesterday.

Average Scoring Projections For Event*:
Indiana (34.125), Texas (29.5), Virginia Tech (29.5), Arizona (14.75), Missouri (14.75), Tennessee (9.25), Kentucky (4.625), Virginia (4.625), Minnesota (4.625), Stanford (4.625), LSU (4.625)

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

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