NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships: Day Two Prelims; Kevin Cordes Sets American Record

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

200 medley relay
Arizona's Mitchell Friedemann, Kelley Wyman, Giles Smith and Nicholas Popov led the way in the relay with a 1:24.23. Arizona is looking for its third victory in the event, having won in 1993 with the foursome of Todd Newman, Robert Abernethy, Seth Pepper and Mike McQuitty as well as in 2006 with Albert Subirats, Dave Rollins, Lyndon Ferns and Simon Burnett.

California's Mathias Gydesen, Nolan Koon, Tom Shields and Shayne Fleming took second in 1:24.51, and hope to push the Golden Bear win streak in the event to three years. Stanford's David Nolan, Curtis Lovelace, John Lane and Aaron Wayne took third in 1:24.62.

Auburn (1:24.80), Texas (1:25.71), Michigan (1:25.79), Louisville (1:25.81) and Penn State (1:26.06) rounded out the championship heat.

Ohio State (1:26.27), Southern California (1:26.59), Texas A&M (1:26.62), Princeton (1:27.10), Indiana (1:27.10), Virginia (1:27.46), Florida (1:27.52) and North Carolina (1:30.58) comprised the consolation heat, while Tennessee drew a disqualification.

Nolan had the top backstroke leadoff with a 21.22 against Friedemann's 21.26. Wyman had the best breaststroke with a 23.41, while Smith crushed the butterfly leg for Arizona with a 20.02. Jason Schnurr clocked the fastest anchor for Ohio State with an 18.46.

400 IM
Arizona's Austen Thompson topped qualifying with a time of 3:43.31, and will be attempting to become the first Wildcat to ever win the distance medley title in NCAA history. Michigan's Kyle Whitaker qualified second in 3:44.33, and will look to return the title to the Wolverines after a one-year stay in Georgia with Bill Cregar. Overall, Michigan has won the title 10 times, second most behind Southern California's 12. Previous Michigan winners are Carl Robie (1965), Tom Dolan (1995, 96), Tim Siciliano (1999, 00, 01), Alex Vanderkaay (2007, 08) and Tyler Clary (2009, 10).

Indiana's Sam Trahin put forth a huge effort in an earlier heat to surge to third with a 3:44.49. If Trahin pulled off the upset, it would be the first time since 1970-72 for a Hoosier to win the crown as Gary Hall earned a threepeat then.

Wisconsin's Michael Weiss (3:44.63), California's Adam Hinshaw (3:44.83), Stanford's Drew Cosgarea (3:44.93), Florida's Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez (3:45.21) and Texas' Nick D'Innocenzo (3:45.30) also made the finale.

Stanford's Matt Thompson (3:45.38), Georgia's Andrew Gemmell (3:45.68), Florida's Dan Wallace (3:46.15), Georgia's Peter Benner (3:46.96), California's Ben Hinshaw (3:47.02), North Carolina's Thomas Luchsinger (3:47.24), Penn State's Scott Marino (3:47.98) and Texas' Austin Surhoff (3:48.26) snared the consolation heat lanes.

No single team will be able to make a huge break in the event, as four teams went one up, one down.

Average Scoring Projections For Event*:
California (19.375), Stanford (19.375), Florida (19.375), Texas (19.375), Arizona (14.75), Michigan (14.75), Indiana (14.75), Wisconsin (14.75), Georgia (9.25), North Carolina (4.625), Penn State (4.625)

100 fly
California's Tom Shields wants his 2010 title back after losing it to Stanford's Austin Staab last year. Shields clocked a 45.58 during prelims to lead the way. Should he win, he will become just the 15th swimmer to ever win multiple titles in the event. California has won four 100 fly titles with triumphs from Par Arvidsson in 1979 and 1980 as well as Duje Draganja in 2005.

Arizona's Giles Smith continued a breakthrough meet with a strong second-seeded time of 45.63, while Michigan's Dan Madwed qualified third in 46.04. California's Mathias Gydesen (46.20), Texas' Jimmy Feigen (46.21), Florida's Marcin Cieslak (46.21), Texas' Neil Caskey (46.29) and Duke's Ben Tuben (46.35) each picked up spots in the championship finale.

Michigan's Sean Fletcher (46.49), Georgia's Doug Reynolds (46.57), Texas A&M's Boris Loncaric (46.59), Arizona's Woody Joye (46.60), Georgia's Michael Arnold (46.69), Michigan State's Jacob Jarzen (46.75), Alabama's Alex Coci (46.87) and Stanford's Geoffrey Cheah (46.92) made their way into the B final.

California and Texas each went two up, while Arizona and Michigan qualified one up, one down.

Average Scoring Projections For Event*:
California (29.5), Texas (29.5), Arizona (19.375), Michigan (19.375), Florida (14.75), Duke (14.75), Georgia (9.25), Texas A&M (4.625), Michigan State (4.625), Alabama (4.625), Stanford (4.625)

200 free
Depending on if Texas doesn't win a title earlier in the evening, Texas' Dax Hill could win the Longhorns their 100th NCAA title in program history tonight after leading qualifying with a 1:33.43. Only four schools have cracked 100 titles in NCAA history: Michigan (160), Stanford (142), Ohio State (118) and Southern California (112).

On the opposite side of the spectrum, Notre Dame's Frank Dyer also broke 1:34 this morning with a 1:33.94 for the second seed. The Irish have never won an NCAA Swimming and Diving title.

Southern California's Dimitri Colupaev (1:34.12), Louisville's Joao De Lucca (1:34.14), Stanford's Robert Andrews (1:34.36), Michigan's Michael Wynalda (1:34.37), Virginia's David Karasek (1:34.42) and Texas' Clay Youngquist (1:34.44) secured the rest of the championship lanes.

Kentucky's Tyler Reed (1:34.98), Southern California's Cristian Quintero (1:35.07), Auburn's Zane Grothe (1:35.16), California's Will Hamilton (1:35.16), California's Tyler Messerschmidt (1:35.22), Texas' Kyle McNeilis (1:35.28), Virginia's Peter Geissinger (1:35.30) and Auburn's James Disney-May (1:35.43) made up the consolation field.

Texas should make a serious run at California in this event with two up, and one down. California only qualified two down, while Southern California and Virginia went one up, one down.

Average Scoring Projections For Event*:
Texas (34.125), Southern California (19.375), Virginia (19.375), Notre Dame (14.75), Louisville (14.75), Stanford (14.75), Michigan (14.75), Auburn (9.25), California (9.25), Kentucky (4.625)

100 breast
Arizona's Kevin Cordes surprised the crowd with an American record time of 51.32 during prelims. That effort clipped the American record of 51.35 set by Mike Alexandrov while representing Tucson Ford at in Dec. 2010. Cordes jumped from a 51.76 best to become the second-fastest swimmer ever in the event. Damir Dugonjic owns the NCAA and U.S. Open record with a 50.86 from his 2009 NCAA title-winning swim. With this morning's swim, Cordes is a heavy favorite to become the first Wildcat to win an NCAA title in the event, as Alexandrov represented Northwestern collegiately before moving to Tucson to train as a pro.

Louisville's Carlos Almeida turned in a sterling second-place time with a 51.85 to move to seventh all time in the event's history, while Arizona's Carl Mickelson turned in a 51.86 to tie Jeremy Linn of Tennessee for eighth-best all time. California's Martin Liivamagi completed the sub-52-second swims from prelims with a fourth-place 51.88 to grab 10th all time in what is likely the fastest preliminary session of all time in the event.

Texas' Eric Friedland (52.46), Indiana's Cody Miller (52.78), California's Nolan Koon (52.82) and California's Trevor Hoyt (52.95) finished fifth through eighth.

Princeton's Jonathan Christensen (53.00), Penn's Brendan McHugh (53.03), Old Dominion's Arni Arnason (53.07), Duke's Piotr Safronczyk (53.11), Auburn's Stuart Ferguson (53.12), California's Christian Higgins (53.15), Stanford's Curtis Lovelace (53.17) and Arizona's Kevin Munsch (53.48) completed the B final field.

California and Arizona will dominate the points acquired from the breaststroke event, as Cal could break 50 points in the event with three up and one down. Arizona is looking at nearly 40 points this evening with two up and one down.

Average Scoring Projections For Event*:
California (48.875), Arizona (34.125), Louisville (14.75), Texas (14.75), Indiana (14.75), Princeton (4.625), Penn (4.625), Old Dominion (4.625), Duke (4.625), Auburn (4.625), Stanford (4.625)

100 back
Texas' Cole Cragin produced the top time of the morning with a 45.95, and hoes to join the likes of Clay Britt (1980, 81, 82), Rick Carey (1983, 84), Neil Walker (1997, 98) and Matt Ulrickson (2000) as Longhorns to have won the 100 back title at NCAAs.

Auburn's Kyle Owens placed second in 46.02, while Arizona's Mitchell Friedemann took third in 46.05. Stanford's David Nolan (46.21), Texas' Kip Darmody (46.28), California's Tom Shields (46.41), California's Marcin Tarczynski (46.45) and Penn State's Nathaniel Savoy (46.69) also earned their way into the championship heat.

California's Mathias Gydesen (46.79), Indiana's James Wells (46.85), Tennessee's Ricky Henahan (46.86), Auburn's Max Murphy (46.94), Ohio State's Andrew Elliott (46.97), Stanford's Matthew Swanston (47.03), Michigan's Miguel Ortiz (47.07) and Louisville's Brendon Andrews (47.08) rounded out the consolation heat.

California will make another run at major points in the event with two up, one down, while Texas will pick up plenty of points as well with two up.

Average Scoring Projections For Event*:
California (34.125), Texas (29.5), Auburn (19.375), Stanford (19.735), Arizona (14.75), Penn State (14.75), Indiana (4.625), Tennessee (4.625), Ohio State (4.625), Michigan (4.625), Louisville (4.625)

Three-Meter Diving
Stanford's Kristian Ipsen topped qualifying with 464.15 points, and is poised to become Stanford's first three-meter diving champion. Indiana's Zach Nees took second with 432.40 points, while Texas' Drew Livingston stands third with 421.25 points.

Virginia Tech's Logan Shinholser (408.40), Ohio State's Shane Miszkiel (402.65), Tennessee's Ryan Helms (402.35), Indiana's Darian Schmidt (396.95) and Missouri's David Bonuchi (395.80) dove their way to the championship finale.

Arizona's Ben Grado (387.30), North Carolina's David MacDonald (378.35), Texas' Matthew Cooper (376.45), Kentucky's Greg Ferrucci (375.70), Texas A&M's Grant Nel (375.55), Ohio State's Christian Holstein (370.80), BYU's Brandon Watson (370.00) and Arizona State's Constantin Blaha (361.65) will dive for the consolation title this afternoon.

Meanwhile, one of the most common jokes at an NCAA swim meet is that the lifeguards have the most boring job. That wasn't the case during three-meter diving prelims today as Indiana's Michael DellOrco II smashed his legs into the board during his final dive. One of the attending lifeguards was immediately in the water, attending to DellOrco as he surfaced, while medical professionals immediately responded with a backboard in case it proved to be a serious injury. DellOrco was able to walk off under his own power, heading to the back to get checked by the medical professionals in attendance.

Indiana personnel told Swimming World that DellOrco is on his way to the hospital for precautionary x-rays, and will not compete during the platform tomorrow.

Indiana will maximize team points with two divers making the championship finale. Texas and Ohio State both went one up, one down.

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

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

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