NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships: Day One Prelims

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FEDERAL WAY, Washington, March 22. THE 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships kicked off with day one prelims in Federal Way, Wash.

200 free relay
The day opened up with controversy as a video review occurred on the first heat, double checking a potential disqualification from a relay exchange. However, all exchanges were cleared upon further review.

Texas' Jimmy Feigen, James Cooper, Charles Moore and Dax Hill led the way with a 1:16.58, with Feigen clocking a 19.05 relay leadoff for the top 50 free in all the college ranks this year. Indian River's Bradley Tandy had owned the best 50 free in the country out of the NJCAA ranks with a 19.06 leadoff on the NJCAA title 200 free relay. Texas is looking for its fifth title in the event, but first since Brian Esway, Sean McGrath, Steve Martyak and Neil Walker clocked a 1:17.90 for the win in 1996. Texas also won three straight from 1989 to 1991.

Stanford's David Nolan, Aaron Wayne, Andrew Saeta and Geoffrey Cheah placed second in 1:17.01, and are looking to defend the Cardinal title from 2011. Stanford owns the NCAA record for most wins in the event with nine to its credit.

Arizona's Adam Small, Kelley Wyman, Nicholas Popov and Thomas Gutman finished third in 1:17.12. Auburn (1:17.44), Louisville (1:17.62), Southern California (1:17.65), Florida (1:17.67) and California (1:17.74) made up the rest of the championship heat.

Florida State (1:17.92), Michigan (1:18.29), Iowa (1:18.30), North Carolina (1:18.61), Purdue (1:18.63), Texas A&M (1:18.67), Minnesota (1:18.77) and Ohio State (1:18.83) earned the consolation spots.

500 free
Michigan's Connor Jaeger clocked the swiftest time in the preliminary qualifying round with a 4:13.78, while Georgia's Martin Grodzki joined him under 4:14 with a second-place 4:13.80. Jaeger will be looking to return the title to Michigan for the first time since Peter Vanderkaay owned it from 2004-06, and also joined former Wolverines Marcel Wouda (1993), Tom Dolan (1995, 1996) and John Piersma (1997) as 500 free victors. Grodzki, meanwhile, would become only the second Bulldog to win besides Sebastien Rouault, who clocked a 4:09.48 for the 2008 title.

Stanford's Chad La Tourette (4:14.65), Southern California's Cristian Quintero (4:14.89), Auburn's Zane Grothe (4:15.55), Texas ' Michael McBroom (4:15.99), Stanford's Bobby Bollier (4:16.27) and Michigan's Sean Ryan (4:16.28) also made the A finale.

Stanford's David Mosko (4:16.91), Florida State's Mateo De Angulo (4:17.10), Arizona's Matthew Barber (4:17.23), Stanford's Andrew Cosgarea (4:17.24), Southern California's Chad Bobrosky (4:17.26), Wisconsin's Michael Weiss (4:17.29), California's Will Hamilton (4:17.39) and Indiana's James Barbiere (4:17.45) picked up the consolation heat spots.

Stanford and Michigan will make the biggest moves in the event, as Stanford went two up and two down, while Michigan went two up.

Average Scoring Projections For Event*:
Stanford (38.75), Michigan (29.5), Southern California (19.375), Georgia (14.75), Auburn (14.75), Texas (14.75), Florida State (4.625), Arizona (4.625), Wisconsin (4.625), California (4.625), Indiana (4.625)

200 IM
Stanford's David Nolan, who posted a national high school record last year with a 1:41.39 for Hershey High that would have won the NCAA title a year ago, cruised into the top spot tonight with a 1:42.70. Should he win tonight, it would give Stanford its 10th title in the event in NCAA history, and defend Austin Staab's title from last year. Other Stanford swimmers to win are George Harrison (1959), Dick Roth (1967), Pablo Morales (1985, 86, 87), Jeff Rouse (1992), Tom Wilkens (1998) and Markus Rogan (2002).

California's Marcin Tarczynski earned the second seed in 1:43.15, while Michigan's Kyle Whitaker placed third in 1:43.20. Florida's Marcin Cieslak (1:43.27), California's Martin Liivamagi (1:43.38), Arizona's Woody Joye (1:43.46), Auburn's Kyle Owens (1:43.71) and Arizona's Austen Thompson (1:43.72) placed fourth through eighth.

Texas' Austin Surhoff, the 2010 champion, took ninth in 1:43.81, while teammate Nick D'Innocenzo placed 10th in 1:44.06. Arizona's Cory Chitwood (1:44.14), California's Ben Hinshaw (1:44.66), Indiana's Cody Miller (1:44.66), Michigan's Dan Madwed (1:44.87), California's Nolan Koon (1:44.88) and Southern California's Alex Lendrum (1:45.09) also made the consolation heat.

California and Arizona will pile up the points tonight as Cal went two up, two down and Arizona earned two up, one down.

Average Scoring Projections For Event*:
California (38.75), Arizona (34.125), Michigan (19.375), Stanford (14.75), Florida (14.75), Auburn (14.75), Texas (9.25), Indiana (4.625), Southern California (4.625)

50 free
Texas' Jimmy Feigen bettered his relay leadoff of 19.05 with a strong effort of 19.03 in prelims. Feigen, who stands seventh all time with an 18.84 from 2009 NCAA Championships, hopes to become just the third Longhorn to win the sprint king title. Kris Kirchner (1981) and Shaun Jordan (1991) are the only other swimmers from UT to have captured the title.

Ohio State's Jason Schnur hopes to be another Ohio-based stunner with a second-seeded 19.30. Josh Schneider upended heavy favorite Nathan Adrian with an 18.93 in 2010 to give Cincinnati the victory in the event.

North Carolina's Steven Cebertowicz (19.34), Southern California's Vlad Morozov (19.35), Stanford's Aaron Wayne (19.36), Auburn's Drew Modrov (19.36), Clemson's Eric Bruck (19.39) and California's Seth Stubblefield (19.41) snared the other transfer spots into the championship heat.

Florida's Bradley Deborde (19.42), Texas A&M's John Dalton (19.44), Auburn's Marcelo Chierighini (19.49), Auburn's Karl Krug (19.49), Georgia's Michael Arnold (19.51), Arizona's Adam Small (19.53), California's Shayne Fleming (19.59) and California's Tyler Messerschmidt (19.62) comprised the consolation field.

California and Auburn will do the most damage in the sprint event with one up, two down each.

Average Scoring Projections For Event*:
California (24), Auburn (24), Texas (14.75), Ohio State (14.75), North Carolina (14.75), Southern California (14.75), Stanford (14.75), Clemson (14.75), Florida (4.625), Texas A&M (4.625), Georgia (4.625), Arizona (4.625)

400 medley relay
Arizona's foursome of Mitchell Friedemann, Carl Mickelson, Giles Smith and Cameron Owen topped the preliminary round with a 3:06.12. The Wildcats will be vying for their first victory since Albert Subirats, Ivan Barnes, Darian Townsend and Joel Greenshields won in 2008. The only other previous Wildcat quartet to win the event came in 2006 with Nick Thoman, Barnes, Subirats and Adam Ritter securing the victory.

Texas' Cole Cragin, Eric Friedland, Neil Caskey and Dax Hill placed second in 3:06.68, while defending champions California's Tom Shields, Trevor Hoyt, Mathias Gydesen and Fabio Gimondi took third in 3:06.70.

Stanford (3:06.94), Penn State (3:07.62), Louisville (3:07.85), Michigan (3:08.26) and Auburn (3:08.45) also grabbed A final spots.

Ohio State (3:08.68), Southern California (3:08.74), Texas A&M (3:09.32), Florida (3:09.85), Virginia (3:10.68), Georgia (3:11.93), Indiana (3:12.43) and Tennessee (3:13.38) rounded out the B final.

Shields had the fastest backstroke led with a 45.62 on the leadoff, while Mickelson posted the best breaststroke with a 51.39 for Arizona. Michigan's Fletcher turned in a 45.33 for the top butterfly leg, while Louisville's Joao De Lucca clocked the best anchor leg with a 41.49.

One-Meter Diving
Texas' Drew Livingston, who has been living in David Boudia's shadow the past two years after claiming the 2009 NCAA title in the event as a freshman, cruised to the top prelim tally with a 387.65. He will be looking to join the likes of Troy Dumais, Skippy Browning and coach Matt Scoggin as multiple-time winners of the event for the Longhorns.

Arizona State's Constantin Blaha qualified second with 379.15 points, and is looking to become the first one-meter winner for the Sun Devils since Joona Puhakka topped the 2003 and 2005 events. Missouri's David Bonuchi qualified third with 377.70 points, while Texas A&M's Grant Nel took fourth with 373.35 points.

Arizona State's Cameron Bradshaw (373.35), Stanford's Kristian Ipsen (369.45), Virginia Tech's Logan Shinholser (355.35) and Indiana's Michael DellOrco II (350.30) rounded out the top eight.

Texas' Michael Cooper (348.15), Indiana's Zachary Nees (344.40), Kentucky's Greg Ferrucci (342.55), Indiana's Darian Schmidt (342.30), Arizona's Ben Grado (337.15), BYU's Brandon Watson (335.45), Texas A&M's Hayden Jones (335.00) and Tennessee's Ryan Helms (333.30) will dive in the consolation final later this afternoon.

Indiana, who qualified four divers through zones, went one up, two down. Arizona State earned a pair of A final spots, while Texas and Texas A&M both went one up and one down.

Average Scoring Projections For Event*:
Arizona State (29.5), Indiana (24), Texas (19.375), Texas A&M (19.375), Missouri (14.75), Stanford (14.75), Virginia Tech (14.75), Kentucky (4.625), Arizona (4.625), BYU (4.625), Tennessee (4.625)

* Average Scoring Projections based on the average points allotted to an A finalist (14.75) and a B finalist (4.625).

Editorial coverage of all NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships is brought to you by our sponsor Colorado Time Systems.

Swimming World's NCAA Division I Men's Championships Notes Package Sponsored by NISCA

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