Predictions: Who Wins What at the Men’s NCAA Championships

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Editorial content for the 2018 NCAA DI Championship coverage is sponsored by TritonWear. Visit TritonWear.com for more information on our sponsor. For full Swimming World coverage, check event coverage page.

Heading into last week’s women’s meet, most swimming experts felt good about their predicted winners in more than half of the individual events on the slate. Not so with the men’s NCAA championships in Minneapolis. Outside of Caeleb Dressel’s individuals events, no event (including relays) has an obvious favorite.

It’s never as simple as picking the top three entrants on the psych sheet (especially when teams like Texas, Cal and others tend to post big drops at NCAAs). Swimming World experts David Rieder and Andy Ross returned again to make their best guesses.

Psych sheet
Meet preview

Wednesday, March 21

4×200 Free Relay

David’s Picks:
1. NC State
2. Texas
3. Florida

Andy’s Picks:
1. Florida
2. NC State
3. Texas

Thursday, March 22

4×50 Free Relay

David’s Picks:
1. Cal
2. NC State
3. Texas

Andy’s Picks:
1. NC State
2. Cal
3. Texas

500 Free

David’s Picks:
1. Townley Haas, Texas
2. Felix Auböck, Michigan
3. Grant Shoults, Stanford

Andy’s Picks:
1. Felix Auböck, Michigan
2. Fynn Minuth, South Carolina
3. Townley Haas, Texas

200 IM

David’s Picks:
1. Mark Szaranek, Florida
2. Abrahm DeVine, Stanford
3. Hugo Gonzalez, Auburn

Andy’s Picks:
1. Mark Szaranek, Florida
2. Andreas Vazaios, NC State
3. Hugo Gonzalez, Auburn

50 Free

David’s Picks:
1. Caeleb Dressel, Florida
2. Ryan Held, NC State
3. Joseph Schooling, Texas

Andy’s Picks:
1. Caeleb Dressel, Florida
2. Ryan Held, NC State
3. Santo Condorelli, USC

4×100 Medley Relay

David’s Picks:
1. Cal
2. Indiana
3. Texas

Andy’s Picks:
1. Indiana
2. USC
3. Cal

Friday, March 23

400 IM

David’s Picks:
1. Hugo Gonzalez, Auburn
2. Andrew Seliskar, Cal
3. Mark Szaranek, Florida

Andy’s Picks:
1. Mark Szaranek, Florida
2. Andrew Seliskar, Cal
3. Jay Litherland, Georgia

100 Fly

David’s Picks:
1. Caeleb Dressel, Florida
2. Joseph Schooling, Texas
3. Ryan Held, NC State

Andy’s Picks:
1. Caeleb Dressel, Florida
2. Joseph Schooling, Texas
3. Vini Lanza, Indiana

200 Free

David’s Picks:
1. Townley Haas, Texas
2. Blake Pieroni, Indiana
3. Cameron Craig, Arizona State

Andy’s Picks:
1. Blake Pieroni, Indiana
2. Townley Haas, Texas
3. Dylan Carter, USC

100 Breast

David’s Picks:
1. Ian Finnerty, Indiana
2. Connor Hoppe, Cal
3. Jacob Montague, Michigan

Andy’s Picks:
1. Connor Hoppe, Cal
2. Ian Finnerty, Indiana
3. Conner McHugh, Minnesota

100 Back

David’s Picks:
1. John Shebat, Texas
2. Coleman Stewart, NC State
3. Javier Acevedo, Georgia

Andy’s Picks:
1. Coleman Stewart, NC State
2. Robert Glinta, USC
3. Andreas Vazaios, NC State

4×50 Medley Relay

David’s Picks:
1. Cal
2. Florida
3. Texas

Andy’s Picks:
1. Cal
2. Indiana
3. Florida

Saturday, March 24

1650 Free

David’s Picks:
1. Felix Auböck, Michigan
2. Akram Mahmoud, South Carolina
3. Anton Ipsen, NC State

Andy’s Picks:
1. Akram Mahmoud, South Carolina
2. Felix Auböck, Michigan
3. Anton Ipsen, NC State

200 Back

David’s Picks:
1. John Shebat, Texas
2. Dean Farris, Harvard
3. Patrick Mulcare, USC

Andy’s Picks:
1. Austin Katz, Texas
2. Patrick Mulcare, USC
3. Ryan Harty, Texas

100 Free

David’s Picks:
1. Caeleb Dressel, Florida
2. Ryan Held, NC State
3. Blake Pieroni, Indiana

Andy’s Picks:
1. Caeleb Dressel, Florida
2. Ryan Held, NC State
3. Blake Pieroni, Indiana

200 Breast

David’s Picks:
1. Andrew Seliskar, Cal
2. Mauro Castillo, Texas A&M
3. Ian Finnerty, Indiana

Andy’s Picks:
1. Andrew Seliskar, Cal
2. Mark Szaranek, Florida
3. Conner McHugh, Minnesota

200 Fly

David’s Picks:
1. Joseph Schooling, Texas
2. Zheng Quah, Cal
3. Gunnar Bentz, Georgia

Andy’s Picks:
1. Joseph Schooling, Texas
2. Zheng Quah, Cal
3. Justin Wright, Arizona

4×100 Free Relay

David’s Picks:
1. NC State
2. Texas
3. Cal

Andy’s Picks:
1. Texas
2. NC State
3. Florida

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