NCAA Division I Men’s Championships: Texas Sets NCAA Record for A Finalists in Iowa, Birthplace of the Butterfly

jack-conger-2015
Photo Courtesy: Andy Ringgold/Aringo

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Texas absolutely unloaded on the rest of the teams with the most dominant single event in NCAA history with six A finalists in the 100-yard fly at the NCAA Division I Men’s Championships. It is fitting that butterfly made history at this meet in Iowa, as this state is the birthplace of the modern day butterfly stroke, created by former Iowa coach David Armbruster in 1935.

Joseph Schooling (45.04), Jack Conger (45.17), Tripp Cooper (45.33), Will Glass (45.40), John Murray (45.89) and Matt Ellis (45.92) treated NCAAs like the Big 12 Championships, claiming the 1-2-3-4-7-8 seeds to guarantee a huge point swing for the Longhorns.

North Carolina’s Sam Lewis (45.60) and Ohio State’s Matt McHugh (45.82) will join the Longhorns in the finale.

The previous best single event team efforts since the NCAA moved to eight lanes in 1985 were USC’s 1987 and Michigan’s 1994 and 1995 500-yard frees.

USC had four A finalists with Daniel Jorgensen (4:16.25), Thomas Fahrner (4:16.31), Mike O’Brien (4:17.01) going 1-2-3 with Chris Chalmers taking eighth in 4:21.99. Chris Hansen also took 15th overall in 4:22.50.

Michigan had four A finalists with Tom Dolan (4:08.75), John Piersma (4:16.06), Chris Rumley (4:17.35) and Owen Von Richter (4:18.34) placing 1-3-4-5 in the A final with Dolan being the first man under 4:10.  Thomas Blake, meanwhile, took fourth in the B final with a 4:22.71 for a total of five finalists.

Michigan also claimed four A finalists and a B finalist in 1994 in the 500-yard free.  Tom Dolan (4:12.30), John Piersma (4:17.13), Chris Rumley (4:19.11) and Marcel Wouda (4:25.26) placed 2-3-5-8. Rodney Van Tassell took 16th overall in 4:27.46.

1995 proved to be truly dominant for Michigan as it also claimed four A finalists in the 400-yard IM.  Tom Dolan (3:38.18), Owen Von Richter (3:44.81), Royce Sharp (3:46.27) and Marcel Wouda (3:46.45) went 1-3-4-5.

Additionally, Stanford had four A finalists in the 1992 100-yard back.  Jeff Rouse (46.12), Brian Retterer (46.51), Drew Weatherford (47.80) and Josh Mikesell (48.29) went 1-2-5-7 that year for the Cardinal. Texas had four A finalists in the 2009 200-yard free.  Dave Walters (1:32.59), Ricky Berens (1:32.74), Michael Klueh (1:34.25) and Peter Jameson (1:34.52) went 2-3-7-8 that year. Auburn also picked up four A final spots in the 50-yard free in 1997.  Nick Shackell (43.07), Brock Newman (43.23), Scott Tucker (43.35) and Brett Hawke (43.41) went 2-3-5-6 for the Tigers

Arizona also had four A finalists in the 200-yard free in 2007.  Darian Townsend (1:33.29), Adam Ritter (1:33.76), Jean Basson (1:33.85) and Nick Nilo (1:33.90) went 1-3-4-5. Stanford also had four A finalists in the 100 back in 2002. Peter Marshall (45.91), Randall Bal (46.13), Dan Westcott (46.51) and Jayme Cramer (46.95) went 1-3-4-6. Stanford had four A finalists again in the 100-yard back in 2001.  Peter Marshall (46.23), Randall Bal (46.59), Markus Rogan (46.83) and Dan Westcott (46.84) went 2-3-6-7.

Prior to the expansion to six lanes in 1985, Tennessee did have a dominant 50-yard free in 1978.  Andrew Coan (20.29), John Newton (20.41), Robert Sells (20.44) and Tom White (20.55) went 1-3-4-5 out of the top six, while John Ebuna placed second in the consolation heat with a 20.56. That happened to be one of the rare times the B finalist was faster than the A as USC’s Scott Findorff had the fastest time of the evening in 19.94.

Notably, we just did a feature on Coan’s recent health struggles.

  1 Schooling, Jose  FR Texas               44.81      45.04 q      
    r:+0.63  21.35        45.04 (23.69)
  2 Conger, Jack     SO Texas               44.78      45.17 q      
    r:+0.70  21.02        45.17 (24.15)
  3 Cooper, Tripp    SR Texas               45.79      45.33 q      
    r:+0.72  21.12        45.33 (24.21)
  4 Glass, Will      SO Texas               45.96      45.40 q      
    r:+0.71  21.28        45.40 (24.12)
  5 Lewis, Sam       JR UNC                 45.93      45.60 q      
    r:+0.62  21.46        45.60 (24.14)
  6 McHugh, Matt     SO Ohio St             45.75      45.82 q      
    r:+0.69  21.38        45.82 (24.44)
  7 Murray, John     JR Texas               46.73      45.89 q      
    r:+0.67  21.36        45.89 (24.53)
  8 Ellis, Matt      JR Texas               46.23      45.92 q      
    r:+0.70  21.59        45.92 (24.33)

2015 NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships, Live Results – Results

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Rev
Rev
8 years ago

I believe Tenn had 4 of 6 finalists in 50 Free around 1977 or so.

Mario Navarro II
8 years ago

Whoa!

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