Flash! NCAA Div. I Men’s Champs, Day 1 Finals: Lochte Resets Own American Record in 200 I.M.

By Kevin Noth, SwimInfo Special Correspondent
Photos by Tim Morse

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., March 24. FLORIDA junior Ryan Lochte broke his own American record en route to his victory in the 200 individual medley at the NCAA Championships.

Lochte, who last month set the NCAA and American records during the SEC Championships, was actually seeded second in the finals after being nipped by Auburn’s Eric Shanteau in the prelims. But Lochte returned with a vengeance, wasting the field by more than 2.5 seconds and finishing in 1:41.71.

Lochte’s 50 butterfly split was 22.50. He followed with a 50 backstroke of 47.46, well ahead of his record split of 48.19 seconds. Lochte then touched in at 1:18.03 after the breaststroke leg, still .05 ahead of record pace. He maintained the .05 margin to the finish and lowered his record time of 1:41.76.

Shanteau was runner-up in the event in a time of 1:44.15 and Arizona’s Dave Rollins took third after clocking 1:44.42. Auburn’s Doug Van Wie placed fourth giving the Tigers 32 team points in the event.

Louis Paul (Purdue) finished fifth, John Dorr (Cal) took sixth, Tobias Oriwol (Stanford) placed seventh, and Adam Mitchell (Minnesota) rounded out the field in eighth.

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