Connor Jaeger Sweeps Distance Freestyles With Strong Mile

Editorial coverage sponsored by SpeedoUSA

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, March 30. MICHIGAN's Connor Jaeger added the 1650-yard freestyle title to his 500-yard free title from night one during the final session tonight at the NCAA Division I Men's Championships.

Jaeger hung with Texas' Michael McBroom throughout the first half of the race before pulling away for the win in a strong time of 14:27.18. That performance is the seventh-fastest mile of all time, moving Jaeger up to seventh on the all-time performers list.

The win gave Michigan its seventh victory in the mile in NCAA history, including triumphs from Fritz Myers (1957), Marcel Wouda (1993), Tom Dolan (1995, 1996), Chris Thompson (2001) and Peter Vanderkaay (2004).

Michigan put the final nail in the coffin in terms of team scoring with a monster 1-4-6 finish by its top milers. Sean Ryan finished fourth in 14:46.29, while Ryan Feeley raced to sixth in 14:49.05.

Texas' McBroom turned in a second-place time of 14:32.75, just clipping his previous lifetime best of 14:32.86 from his NCAA victory in 2011. Georgia's Matias Koski finished third out of the early heats with a swift 14:42.09.

Georgia's Andrew Gemmell (14:46.95), LSU's Craig Hamilton (14:49.12) and Stanford's Daniel Thomson (14:49.62) rounded out the top eight. Defending champion Martin Grodzki of Georgia wound up 11th with a 14:53.62 after setting the fastest time ever last year with a 14:24.08. Having to post a qualifying time for his home country Germany at sectionals just a few weeks ago likely hurt his preparation.

Michigan nearly jumped to 400 points with 393 after the mile. California remained a firm second with 301.5 points, while Arizona (234.5), Southern California (215) and Texas (209) all broke 200 points to round out the top five.

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