California’s Tom Shields Ties American Record in 200 Fly

Editorial coverage sponsored by SpeedoUSA

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, March 30. CALIFORNIA's Tom Shields raced his way to his sixth NCAA title with an NCAA and American-record tying performance in the men's 200-yard fly at the NCAA Division I Men's Championships.

Shields turned in a scintillating swim with a 1:39.65 to win the longer distance fly as he split the race 22.27, 48.04 (25.77), 1:13.79 (25.75), 1:39.65 (25.86). That time not only beat Shields' NCAA record of 1:40.31 from 2011, it also beat his lifetime best of 1:40.24 set last November while taking the semester off from the California Golden Bear collegiate squad. The performance matched Michael Phelps' American record set in March 2010.

Shields gave the Golden Bears their eighth 200 fly title in NCAA history, joining previous winners Par Arvidsson (1979, 1980), Ugur Taner (1994, 1995, 1996), Patrick O'Neil (2007) and Will Hamilton (2012).

Florida's Marcin Cieslak turned in a sterling time of his own with a blazing 1:40.62 to take second. He's now the fourth-fastest swimmer ever in the event. Michigan's Dylan Bosch turned in a third-place effort of 1:41.37.

Florida's Sebastien Rousseau (1:42.20), North Carolina's Tom Luchsinger (1:42.95), Florida's Cameron Martin (1:43.35), Wisconsin's Dan Lester (1:43.60) and Michigan's Kyle Whitaker (1:43.84) rounded out the championship field. Ohio State's Tamas Gercsak topped the B final in 1:43.54.

Michigan moved into the platform event with 446 points. California pushed its tally to 388.5 points, while Arizona remained third with 278.5 points. Florida (261.5) and Southern California (249) held fourth and fifth.

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