2019 Men’s NCAA Swimming Championships Day Four Prelims: Cal Poised for NCAA Title (RACE VIDEOS)

andrew seliskar, 2019 men's ncaa swimming championships

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Editorial content for the 2019 NCAA DI Championship coverage is sponsored by SwimOutlet.com. See full event coverage.

The final morning of the men’s NCAA championships featured impressive top-seeded efforts from Dean Farris in the 100 free and Andreas Vazaios in the 200 fly, while Andrew Seliskar and Ian Finnerty set up a 200 breast showdown. As for the team race, Cal virtually put away a national championship.

Cal currently holds a 43-point lead in the team race, with four-time defending champion Texas, Indiana, NC State and Louisville rounding out the top five. The Golden Bears should only extend their lead in the finals after placing two swimmers in each of the four individual A-finals on the final day. No other team had more than three A-finalists. Full ups and downs for individual events are available below.

Cal – 8 up, 2 down
Texas – 3 up, 5 down
Indiana – 3 up, 1 down
NC State – 3 up, 1 down
Georgia – 2 up, 1 down
Minnesota – 2 up, 0 down
Louisville – 1 up, 2 down
Texas A&M – 1 up, 2 down
Georgia Tech – 1 up, 1 down
Hawaii – 1 up, 1 down
Florida – 1 up, 1 down
Ohio State – 1 up, 1 down
Arizona State – 1 up, 0 down
Alabama – 1 up, 0 down
Harvard – 1 up, 0 down
Virginia – 1 up, 0 down
Towson – 1 up, 0 down
Arizona – 0 up, 2 down
Michigan – 0 up, 2 down
Tennessee – 0 up, 2 down
USC – 0 up, 1 down
Denver – 0 up, 1 down
Florida State – 0 up, 1 down
Missouri – 0 up, 1 down
South Carolina – 0 up, 1 down
Stanford – 0 up, 1 down
Virginia Tech – 0 up, 1 down
Wisconsin – 0 up, 1 down

Early heats of the 1650 free will begin at 4 p.m. CT. Read below for an event-by-event recap of the session.

Full results

200 Back

The Texas duo of Austin Katz and John Shebat picked up the top two seeds in the men’s 200 back, with defending champion Katz touching in 1:37.72 and Shebat taking second in 1:37.97. But Texas’ outside hopes of catching Cal for the NCAA title took a hit when top seed Ryan Harty finished 10th in prelims in 1:39.53 and two Cal Bears qualified for the A-final.

Watch Katz and Shebat in heat three:

For Cal, Daniel Carr got through his prelims swim without incident this time after a backstroke wedge mishap in Friday’s 100 back, qualifying third in 1:38.56, and teammate Bryce Mefford took fourth in 1:38.95. Arizona State’s Zachary Poti was fifth in 1:39.09, followed by Hawaii’s Kane Follows (1:39.15), NC State’s Coleman Stewart (1:39.29) and Florida’s Clark Beach (1:39.37).

Event 16  Men 200 Yard Backstroke
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 1:35.73  26-Mar-16 Ryan Murphy, California
         Meet: M 1:35.73  26-Mar-16 Ryan Murphy, California
     American: A 1:35.73  26-Mar-16 Ryan Murphy, California
   U. S. Open: O 1:35.73  26-Mar-16 Ryan Murphy, California
         Pool: P 1:38.15  29-Nov-12 Ryan Murphy, California
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Katz, Austin           SO Texas             1:39.33    1:37.72P 
    r:+0.67  22.97        47.72 (24.75)
        1:12.84 (25.12)     1:37.72 (24.88)
  2 Shebat, John           SR Texas             1:39.55    1:37.97P 
    r:+0.62  22.77        47.48 (24.71)
        1:12.87 (25.39)     1:37.97 (25.10)
  3 Carr, Daniel           SO California        1:39.43    1:38.56  
    r:+0.58  23.01        47.74 (24.73)
        1:12.98 (25.24)     1:38.56 (25.58)
  4 Mefford, Bryce         SO California        1:39.13    1:38.95  
    r:+0.72  23.27        47.80 (24.53)
        1:13.11 (25.31)     1:38.95 (25.84)
  5 Poti, Zachary          JR Arizona St        1:39.88    1:39.09  
    r:+0.64  23.28        48.77 (25.49)
        1:14.25 (25.48)     1:39.09 (24.84)
  6 Follows, Kane          JR Hawaii            1:40.65    1:39.15  
    r:+0.68  23.71        48.29 (24.58)
        1:13.49 (25.20)     1:39.15 (25.66)
  7 Stewart, Coleman       JR NC State          1:39.10    1:39.29  
    r:+0.74  23.61        48.69 (25.08)
        1:13.84 (25.15)     1:39.29 (25.45)
  8 Beach, Clark           SO Florida           1:39.95    1:39.37  
    r:+0.54  23.49        48.40 (24.91)
        1:13.72 (25.32)     1:39.37 (25.65)

100 Free

Harvard’s Dean Farris looks set to challenge for a second NCAA title after he qualified first by four tenths for the 100 free final. Farris put up a time of 41.00, well ahead of second seed Bowe Becker of Minnesota (41.44). Third went to Texas’ Daniel Krueger in 41.49, followed by Indiana’s Zach Apple (41.59) and Alabama’s Robert Howard (41.69).

NC State’s Justin Ress took sixth in 41.74, and Cal swimmers Pawel Sendyk and Ryan Hoffer tied for seventh in 41.76. Notably, top seed Tate Jackson of Texas finished 25th in 42.44, while teammates Townley Haas (14th, 42.02) and Drew Kibler (15th, 42.17) will be in the B-final.

Event 17  Men 100 Yard Freestyle
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 39.90  24-Mar-18 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
         Meet: M 39.90  24-Mar-18 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
     American: A 39.90  24-Mar-18 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
   U. S. Open: O 39.90  24-Mar-18 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
         Pool: P 41.06  01-Dec-18 Tate Jackson, Texas
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Farris, Dean           JR Harvard             41.42      41.00P 
    r:+0.69  19.62        41.00 (21.38)
  2 Becker, Bowe           SR Minnesota           41.53      41.44  
    r:+0.61  19.68        41.44 (21.76)
  3 Krueger, Daniel        FR Texas               42.31      41.49  
    r:+0.78  19.93        41.49 (21.56)
  4 Apple, Zach            SR Indiana             41.81      41.59  
    r:+0.67  19.91        41.59 (21.68)
  5 Howard, Robert         SR Alabama             41.57      41.69  
    r:+0.73  20.16        41.69 (21.53)
  6 Ress, Justin           SR NC State            42.25      41.74  
    r:+0.67  19.89        41.74 (21.85)
  7 Sendyk, Pawel          JR California          41.95      41.76  
    r:+0.64  19.83        41.76 (21.93)
  7 Hoffer, Ryan           SO California          42.40      41.76  
    r:+0.62  19.88        41.76 (21.88)

200 Breast

Many of the principle figures in the 200 breast prelims swam in separate heats, but they will go head-to-head in the final. Cal’s Andrew Seliskar will go for his third national title of the meet after qualifying first in prelims at 1:51.19. But just five hundredths behind was Indiana’s Ian Finnerty, who held off Seliskar on the last 50 to win last year’s NCAA title.

A pair of impressive freshman were the next two qualifiers, with Minnesota’s Max McHugh finishing just behind Finnerty in their heat at 1:51.36, and Cal’s Reece Whitley, who won heat five in 1:51.59. Georgia Tech’s Caio Pumputis took fifth in 1:52.40.

Ohio State’s Paul DeLakis (1:52.56), Texas A&M’s Benjamin Walker (1:52.58) and Georgia’s James Guest (1:52.75). Guest got into the final by one hundredth over Michigan’s Tommy Cope (1:52.76).

Event 18  Men 200 Yard Breaststroke
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 1:47.91  25-Mar-17 Will Licon, Texas
         Meet: M 1:47.91  25-Mar-17 Will Licon, Texas
     American: A 1:47.91  25-Mar-17 Will Licon, Texas
   U. S. Open: O 1:47.91  25-Mar-17 Will Licon, Texas
         Pool: P 1:48.66  27-Mar-14 Kevin Cordes, Arizona
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Seliskar, Andrew       SR California        1:49.80    1:51.19  
    r:+0.63  24.74        52.69 (27.95)
        1:21.71 (29.02)     1:51.19 (29.48)
  2 Finnerty, Ian          SR Indiana           1:50.30    1:51.24  
    r:+0.68  24.68        52.51 (27.83)
        1:21.21 (28.70)     1:51.24 (30.03)
  3 McHugh, Max            FR Minnesota         1:52.40    1:51.36  
    r:+0.75  25.51        53.98 (28.47)
        1:22.52 (28.54)     1:51.36 (28.84)
  4 Whitley, Reece         FR California        1:50.62    1:51.59  
    r:+0.75  24.89        53.04 (28.15)
        1:21.82 (28.78)     1:51.59 (29.77)
  5 Pumputis, Caio         SO Georgia Tech      1:51.46    1:52.40  
    r:+0.67  24.94        53.53 (28.59)
        1:22.68 (29.15)     1:52.40 (29.72)
  6 DeLakis, Paul          SO Ohio St           1:53.57    1:52.56  
    r:+0.69  25.45        53.73 (28.28)
        1:22.87 (29.14)     1:52.56 (29.69)
  7 Walker, Benjamin       JR TA&M              1:52.55    1:52.58  
    r:+0.69  25.30        54.00 (28.70)
        1:23.32 (29.32)     1:52.58 (29.26)
  8 Guest, James           SR Georgia           1:53.11    1:52.75  
    r:+0.64  25.53        54.15 (28.62)
        1:23.22 (29.07)     1:52.75 (29.53)

200 Fly

NC State’s Andreas Vazaios was the only swimmer to break 1:40 in the 200 fly prelims, coming in at 1:39.54 to secure lane four for the final. Louisville’s Nicolas Albiero took second in 1:40.16, while Vini Lanza, the 100 fly national champion Friday evening for Indiana, tied with Virginia’s Zach Fong for third in 1:40.18.

Watch Vazaios swim in heat five of the 200 fly:

Cal put two swimmers into the A-final to put a stamp on the Golden Bears’ all-but-certain national title, with Zheng Quah taking fifth (1:40.21) and Trenton Julian finishing eighth (1:40.94). Also qualifying for the A-final were Towson’s Jack Saunderson (1:40.44) and Georgia’s Camden Murphy (1:40.72).

Notably, Texas failed to score for the second straight event, while Louisvile’s Zach Harting, the Pan Pacs bronze medalist in the 200 fly, was 19th in 1:42.17.

Event 19  Men 200 Yard Butterfly
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 1:37.35  25-Mar-17 Jack Conger, Texas
         Meet: M 1:37.35  25-Mar-17 Jack Conger, Texas
     American: A 1:37.35  25-Mar-17 Jack Conger, Texas
   U. S. Open: O 1:37.35  25-Mar-17 Jack Conger, Texas
         Pool: P 1:39.17  25-Feb-17 Jack Conger, Texas
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Vazaios, Andreas       SR NC State          1:41.03    1:39.54  
    r:+0.73  23.05        48.15 (25.10)
        1:13.82 (25.67)     1:39.54 (25.72)
  2 Albiero, Nicolas       SO Louisville        1:40.70    1:40.16  
    r:+0.63  22.69        48.36 (25.67)
        1:14.15 (25.79)     1:40.16 (26.01)
  3 Lanza, Vini            SR Indiana           1:39.28    1:40.18  
    r:+0.66  21.83        47.17 (25.34)
        1:13.22 (26.05)     1:40.18 (26.96)
  3 Fong, Zach             SR Virginia          1:41.39    1:40.18  
    r:+0.64  23.61        48.50 (24.89)
        1:14.18 (25.68)     1:40.18 (26.00)
  5 Quah, Zheng            JR California        1:39.29    1:40.21  
    r:+0.58  22.43        47.77 (25.34)
        1:13.53 (25.76)     1:40.21 (26.68)
  6 Saunderson, Jack       SR Towson            1:40.63    1:40.44  
    r:+0.64  22.89        48.64 (25.75)
        1:14.27 (25.63)     1:40.44 (26.17)
  7 Murphy, Camden         SO Georgia           1:40.62    1:40.72  
    r:+0.69  22.41        47.87 (25.46)
        1:13.90 (26.03)     1:40.72 (26.82)
  8 Julian, Trenton        SO California        1:41.74    1:40.94  
    r:+0.67  22.79        48.32 (25.53)
        1:13.89 (25.57)     1:40.94 (27.05)

400 Free Relay

Cal put a wrap on a dominant mornin gsession by claiming the top seed for finals in the 400 free relay. The foursome of Michael Jensen (42.50), Pawel Sendyk (42.34), Ryan Hoffer (42.16) and Andrew Seliskar (41.38) combined to swim a time of 2:48.38.

Indiana’s Zach Apple, Bruno Blaskovic, Mohamed Samy and Jack Franzman qualified second in 2:48.67, and Texas won heat three to qualify third in 2:49.07 with Drew Kibler, Jake Sannem, Matthew Willenbring and Daniel Krueger. Both Townley Haas and Tate Jackson could be options for the Longhorns in the final.

NC State qualified fourth for the final in 2:49.11 after Justin Ress anchored in 41.26, and the rest of the final will include Florida State (2:49.22), Ohio State (2:49.39), Louisville (2:49.64) and Arizona State (2:49.67).

Event 21  Men 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
====================================================================
         NCAA: N 2:44.31  24-Mar-18 NC State
                          R Held, J Ress, J Molacek, C Stewart
         Meet: M 2:44.31  24-Mar-18 NC State
                          R Held, J Ress, J Molacek, C Stewart
     American: A 2:44.31  24-Mar-18 NC State
                          R Held, J Ress, J Molacek, C Stewart
   U. S. Open: O 2:44.31  24-Mar-18 NC State
                          R Held, J Ress, J Molacek, C Stewart
         Pool: P 2:48.33  27-Mar-14 Auburn
                          Chierighini, Disney-May, Mendes, Darmody
    School                                 Seed    Prelims        
====================================================================
                       === Preliminaries ===                        
 
  1 California                          2:48.44    2:48.38  
     1) Jensen, Michael JR            2) r:0.29 Sendyk, Pawel JR      
     3) r:0.17 Hoffer, Ryan SO        4) r:0.27 Seliskar, Andrew SR   
    r:+0.66  20.44        42.50 (42.50)
        1:02.18 (19.68)     1:24.84 (42.34)
        1:44.80 (19.96)     2:07.00 (42.16)
        2:26.75 (19.75)     2:48.38 (41.38)
  2 Indiana                             2:48.67    2:48.67  
     1) Apple, Zach SR                2) r:0.38 Blaskovic, Bruno SO   
     3) r:0.32 Samy, Mohamed JR       4) r:0.20 Franzman, Jack FR     
    r:+0.63  19.88        41.84 (41.84)
        1:01.80 (19.96)     1:24.33 (42.49)
        1:44.31 (19.98)     2:06.44 (42.11)
        2:26.38 (19.94)     2:48.67 (42.23)
  3 Texas                               2:47.79    2:49.07  
     1) Kibler, Drew FR               2) r:0.22 Sannem, Jake SO       
     3) r:0.31 Willenbring, Mathew FR 4) r:0.38 Krueger, Daniel FR    
    r:+0.61  20.30        42.54 (42.54)
        1:02.48 (19.94)     1:24.51 (41.97)
        1:44.95 (20.44)     2:07.41 (42.90)
        2:27.25 (19.84)     2:49.07 (41.66)
  4 NC State                            2:48.71    2:49.11  
     1) Korstanje, Nyls FR            2) r:0.23 Izzo, Giovanni SO     
     3) r:0.16 McGlaughlin, Mark JR   4) r:0.01 Ress, Justin SR       
    r:+0.63  20.32        42.50 (42.50)
        1:02.16 (19.66)     1:24.97 (42.47)
        1:45.10 (20.13)     2:07.85 (42.88)
        2:27.17 (19.32)     2:49.11 (41.26)
  5 Florida St                          2:48.51    2:49.22  
     1) Pisani, Will SR               2) r:0.04 Ksiazek, Jakub FR     
     3) r:0.22 Muratovic, Emir SR     4) r:0.14 Kaleoaloha, Kanoa SR  
    r:+0.67  20.02        42.53 (42.53)
        1:02.55 (20.02)     1:25.07 (42.54)
        1:44.72 (19.65)     2:07.05 (41.98)
        2:26.58 (19.53)     2:49.22 (42.17)
  6 Ohio St                             2:48.75    2:49.39  
     1) Loy, Andrew JR                2) r:0.17 DeLakis, Paul SO      
     3) r:0.18 Abeysinghe, Matthew JR 4) r:0.17 Gaziev, Ruslan FR     
    r:+0.66  20.19        42.13 (42.13)
        1:02.47 (20.34)     1:24.59 (42.46)
        1:44.55 (19.96)     2:07.35 (42.76)
        2:27.03 (19.68)     2:49.39 (42.04)
  7 Louisville                          2:48.35    2:49.64  
     1) Albiero, Nicolas SO           2) r:0.20 Barna, Andrej JR      
     3) r:0.30 Piszczorowicz, Bart FR 4) r:0.21 Harting, Zach SR      
    r:+0.62  20.63        42.49 (42.49)
        1:02.36 (19.87)     1:25.02 (42.53)
        1:45.56 (20.54)     2:07.83 (42.81)
        2:27.94 (20.11)     2:49.64 (41.81)
  8 Arizona St                          2:50.51    2:49.67  
     1) Swift, Carter SO              2) r:0.20 Carlson, Evan SO      
     3) r:0.27 Poti, Zachary JR       4) r:0.18 House, Grant SO       
    r:+0.59  20.38        42.48 (42.48)
        1:02.00 (19.52)     1:24.68 (42.20)
        1:44.74 (20.06)     2:07.39 (42.71)
        2:27.52 (20.13)     2:49.67 (42.28)

Platform Diving

Miami’s David Dinsmore put up the top score in platform diving prelims at 459.90, and the only diver close to that score was Tennessee’s Zhipeng Zeng (445.65). Miami’s Zach Cooper was third (370.85)

Event 20  Men Platform Diving
==================================================================
         Meet: M 548.90  26-Mar-11 Nick McCrory, Duke
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Dinsmore, David        JR Miami                  NP     459.90  
  2 Zeng, Zhipeng          SR Tennessee              NP     445.65  
  3 Cooper, Zach           SO Miami                  NP     370.85  
  4 Bramley, Ben           FR Purdue                 NP     368.55  
  5 Windle, Jordan         SO Texas                  NP     363.90  
  6 Canova, Joseph         SO Ohio St                NP     362.80  
  7 Hernandez, Juan        JR LSU                    NP     356.20  
  8 Masterton, Sebastian   SR Kentucky               NP     340.70  
  9 Yang, Nick             SR Minnesota              NP     337.60  
 10 Cornish, Jacob         JR Texas                  NP     335.10  
 11 Somhegyi, Krisztian    SR IUPUI                  NP     331.45  
 12 Vigran, Noah           FR Stanford               NP     323.90  
 13 Fielding, Jacob        FR Ohio St                NP     323.75  
 14 Allen, Bryan           JR UNC                    NP     323.55  
 15 Selim, Youssef         JR Arizona St             NP     322.40  
 16 Daniels-Freeman, Aaro  SR Ohio St                NP     320.80

In the consolation final, Texas’ Jacob Cornish put up the top score (394.10) to secure ninth-place points.

  9 Cornish, Jacob         JR Texas              335.10     394.10  
 10 Daniels-Freeman, Aaro  SR Ohio St            320.80     346.20  
 11 Selim, Youssef         JR Arizona St         322.40     322.35  
 12 Yang, Nick             SR Minnesota          337.60     321.25  
 13 Somhegyi, Krisztian    SR IUPUI              331.45     309.80  
 14 Fielding, Jacob        FR Ohio St            323.75     309.25  
 15 Allen, Bryan           JR UNC                323.55     276.85  
 16 Vigran, Noah           FR Stanford           323.90     260.35

Watch all race videos from the Saturday morning session:

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use