Kevin Cordes First Under 1:50 in 200-Yard Breast for American, NCAA Record

Editorial coverage sponsored by SpeedoUSA

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, March 30. AFTER unifying the NCAA, U.S. Open and American records last night in the 100-yard breast, Arizona's Kevin Cordes demolished the 1:50 barrier in the 200-yard breast this morning at the NCAA Division Men's Championships.

Cordes crushed the longer breaststroke with a time of 1:49.79. That swim cut nearly a second from his American and NCAA record of 1:50.73 set last November. He split the race 24.86, 52.82, 1:21.27, 1:49.79 after splitting his previous record at 24.92, 53.37, 1:21.86, 1:50.73.

Cordes will be vying for his first 200 breast title after taking down the 100 in both his freshman and sophomore years. He could become just the second Wildcat to ever win the event, joining current training partner Clark Burckle (2010) as Arizona winners in the 200 breast.

Cordes may also demolish the margin of victory record after qualifying more than three seconds ahead of teammate Carl Mickelson (1:53.10) this morning. Stanford's John Hencken owns that record with a 3.66-second victory ahead of Alabama's Kevin Williams in 1975, 2:00.83 to 2:04.49.

Dartmouth's Nejc Zupan picked up the third seed with a 1:53.29, while California's Trevor Hoyt clocked a fourth-place 1:53.56.

Florida's Matt Elliott (1:53.88), Michigan's Richard Funk (1:54.06), Indiana's Cody Miller (1:54.16) and California's Josh Prenot (1:54.23) comprised the rest of the championship heat heading into the finale.

California bounced back with a two up, one down event, while Michigan only put one swimmer into the A final.

Other event recaps
200 back
Wisconsin's Andrew Teduits made some serious noise this morning in the distance dorsal, dropping a strong 1:39.19 to lead the way. That swim jumped him to 12th all time in the event's history, nearly become just the 12th swimmer to break 1:39 in the event's history. Teduits could earn Wisconsin just its third NCAA title in program history this evening.

Notably, Teduits' time pushed Michael Phelps' lifetime best of 1:39.72 out of the top 15 all time in the event's history. Phelps clocked that time for North Baltimore in December 2011 in the lead up to his historic 2012 London Olympics.

California's Jacob Pebley raced to second this morning with a 1:39.82, while Indiana's Eric Ress qualified third in 1:40.26.

The event will have a new champion after three straight wins for Arizona's Cory Chitwood from 2010-12. Chitwood is in attendance as an assistant coach with the LSU Tigers.

Stanford's David Nolan, who already has wins in the 200 IM and 100 back from earlier this week, could be in position to win a third crown after qualifying fourth in 1:40.82. His teammate Matt Swanston earned fifth in 1:41.09, while Texas' Austin Surhoff placed sixth in 1:41.16.

Eastern Michigan's Jacob Hanson (1:41.44) and Texas' Kip Darmody (1:41.45) also made their way into the championship finale.

In the team race between Michigan and California, the Golden Bears went one up, while Michigan did not qualify a point-scorer in the event.

100 free
Southern California's Vlad Morozov, the 50-yard free victor already, stormed to the top prelim time in the 100-yard free this morning.

Morozov scorched the pool with a 41.88, and has plenty in the tank with a fourth-ranked lifetime best of 41.38 from earlier this month at the Pacific 12 Championships. He's definitely eyeing a special time that could compete with the likes of Cesar Cielo's 40.92 and Nathan Adrian's 41.08.

USC has only had two previous winners in the event, and Morozov could make it a trifecta. Paul Wolf won for USC in 1939 with a 52.9, while Joe Bottom clinched the 1974 title in 45.067.

Stanford's Aaron Wayne raced to second in 42.26, while Auburn's Marcelo Chierighini qualified third in 42.42. Stanford has ever won the 100-yard free, while Auburn owns four previous titles.

Louisville's Joao De Lucca, the 200-yard free winner, earned fourth with a 42.61. California's Seth Stubblefield (42.68), Alabama's BJ Hornikel (42.69), Texas' Dax Hill (42.70) and Michigan's Bruno Ortiz (42.74) also earned transfer spots into the finale.

Between Michigan and California, Michigan went one up, one down; while California only put one into the A final.

200 fly
Michigan likely made the team race academic with a one up, two down performance in the distance fly event.

Dylan Bosch, who stands eighth all time in the event's history with a 1:41.18 from last month, qualified first in 1:41.33. He could win Michigan's NCAA-leading 14th title in the event's history, joining Jack Kasley (1935, 1936, 1937), James Skinner (1941, 1942), John Davies (1952), Tony Tashnick (1958), David Gillanders (1959), Carl Robie (1966, 1967) and Davis Tarwater (2005, 2006) in the Wolverine record books.

Florida's Sebastien Rousseau, still shaking off a disqualification in the 400 IM earlier in the meet, qualified second in 1:41.52. That swim vaulted him to 13th all time in the event, knocking Tarwater out of the top 15 all time.

California's Tom Shields raced to third in 1:41.74. He has much more in the tank in terms of a potential time tonight, as he's the NCAA record holder with a 1:40.31 and also has the third-fastest time all time with a 1:40.24 from last semester when he took a hiatus from California to focus on his upcoming professional career.

Florida's Marcin Cieslak (1:42.92), North Carolina's Tom Luchsinger (1:43.06), Florida's Carmeron Martin (1:43.50), Michigan's Kyle Whitaker (1:43.51) and Wisconsin's Dan Lester (1:43.67) also earned spots in the A final this evening.

400 free relay
With California missing the A final, along with a powerful 200 fly from Michigan, the Wolverines sealed the deal for their first NCAA team title since 1995 by leading prelims of the 400-yard free relay this morning.

Michigan's Miguel Ortiz (42.72), Sean Fletcher (42.56), Zack Turk (42.55) and Bruno Ortiz (42.59) raced to a 2:50.42 for the top time this morning. The Wolverines could add to their NCAA-leading 14 wins in this event at NCAAs, but have not won this event since the 50s. Previous wins came in 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1952, 1953, 1954 and 1959. That run of dominance is impressive as no other team has come close to Michigan's 14 wins in 50+ years of competition.

Southern California's Dimitri Colupaev (43.16), Jack Wagner (43.32), Vlad Morozov (40.88!) and Cristian Quintero (43.35) qualified second in 2:50.71. USC has won this even seven times previously. Auburn's James Disney-May (43.35), Kyle Owens (41.98), TJ Leon (43.74) and Marcelo Chierighini (41.87) placed third in 2:50.94.

Defending champs Texas qualified fourth in 2:51.38, while Louisville (2:51.79), Arizona (2:51.96), Stanford (2:52.13) and Florida (2:52.45) also made the championship heat. California, meanwhile, qualified 10th in 2:52.98 as the Golden Bears' two-year reign at the top of the NCAA team rankings likely came to a final end this morning.

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