2022 NCAA Men’s Championships: Matthew Sates Crushes 4:08 in 500 Freestyle Prelims

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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The 2022 NCAA Men’s Division I Swimming and Diving Championship continued with the prelims of the 500-yard freestyle from McAuley Aquatic Center on the campus of Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

Georgia looked to land a couple in the finals with top-seeded Matthew Sates and teammate Jake Magahey. Meanwhile, Arizona’s Brooks Fail, Texas’ Luke Hobson and Florida’s Kieran Smith all had something to say about it as well.

In heat 4, Florida’s Bobby Finke went a 4:11.77 from Lane 1 to put in the best time of the first few heats. But it was only fast enough to take the ninth seed and land in the B final.

In the next heat, Florida’s Kieran Smith held off Ross Dant in a close heat. Smith touched in 4:10.53, while Dant touched in 4:10.66.

In heat 6, Texas’ Luke Hobson pulled away to touch the wall in 4:10.38. Teammate David Johnston was next in 4:10.96.

In the final heat, Georgia’s Matthew Sates cranked it into another level about the 350 mark and catapulted past a couple of swimmers. He kept up the pace and won the heat in 4:08.73. Teammate Jake Magahey was next at 4:09.22 and Florida’s Alfonso Mestre touched in 4:09.464

The NCAA Finalists
1. Matthew Sates, Georgia, 4:08.73
2. Jake Magahey, Georgia, 4:09.22
3. Alfonso Mestre, Florida, 4:09.74
4. Luke Hobson, Texas, 4:10.38
5. Kieran Smith, Florida, 4:10.53
6. Ross Dant, NC State, 4:10.66
7. David Johnston, Texas, 4:10.96
8. Brooks Fail, Arizona, 4:11.27

NCAA DIVISION I TOP SEEDS COMING INTO MEET

500 Freestyle: Matthew Sates, Georgia, 4:09.06
200 IM: Leon Marchand, Arizona State, 1:39.65
50 Freestyle: Jordan Crooks, Tennessee, 18.53
400 IM: Leon Marchand, Arizona State, 3:34.45
100 Butterfly: Andrei Minakov, Stanford, 43.90
200 Freestyle: Grant House, Arizona State, 1;30.23
NCAA 100 Breaststroke: Max McHugh, Minnesota, 50.58
100 Backstroke: Brendan Burns, Indiana, 44.31
1650 Freestyle: Bobby Finke, Florida, 14:27.70
200 Backstroke: Destin Lasco, Cal, 1:38.81
100 Freestyle: Brooks Curry, LSU, 40.99
200 Breaststroke: Max McHugh, Minnesota, 1:49.45
200 Butterfly: Nick Albiero, Louisville, 1:37.92

Event 3  Men 500 Yard Freestyle
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 4:06.32  2/19/2020 Kieran Smith, Florida
         Meet: M 4:07.97  3/25/2021 Jake Magahey, Georgia
     American: A 4:06.32  2/19/2020 Kieran Smith, Florida
   U. S. Open: O 4:06.32  2/19/2020 Kieran Smith, Florida
         Pool: P 4:08.60  12/5/2008 Peter Vanderkaay, Club Wolverine
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Sates, Matthew         FR Georgia                      4:08.73  
    r:+0.62  22.35        47.63 (25.28)
        1:13.12 (25.49)     1:38.94 (25.82)
        2:04.83 (25.89)     2:30.46 (25.63)
        2:54.88 (24.42)     3:19.35 (24.47)
        3:44.21 (24.86)     4:08.73 (24.52)
  2 Magahey, Jake          SO Georgia                      4:09.22  
    r:+0.68  22.95        48.03 (25.08)
        1:13.43 (25.40)     1:39.11 (25.68)
        2:04.70 (25.59)     2:30.20 (25.50)
        2:55.26 (25.06)     3:20.12 (24.86)
        3:44.75 (24.63)     4:09.22 (24.47)
  3 Mestre, Alfonso        JR Florida                      4:09.74  
    r:+0.66  22.54        47.49 (24.95)
        1:12.82 (25.33)     1:38.32 (25.50)
        2:03.81 (25.49)     2:28.93 (25.12)
        2:54.39 (25.46)     3:19.90 (25.51)
        3:45.20 (25.30)     4:09.74 (24.54)
  4 Hobson, Luke           FR Texas                        4:10.38  
    r:+0.77  23.33        48.30 (24.97)
        1:13.73 (25.43)     1:39.37 (25.64)
        2:05.07 (25.70)     2:30.52 (25.45)
        2:55.59 (25.07)     3:20.80 (25.21)
        3:45.85 (25.05)     4:10.38 (24.53)
  5 Smith, Kieran          SR Florida                      4:10.53  
    r:+0.70  22.18        46.90 (24.72)
        1:11.83 (24.93)     1:37.20 (25.37)
        2:02.67 (25.47)     2:28.19 (25.52)
        2:53.86 (25.67)     3:19.76 (25.90)
        3:45.73 (25.97)     4:10.53 (24.80)
  6 Dant, Ross             JR NCSU                         4:10.66  
    r:+0.59  22.70        47.52 (24.82)
        1:12.62 (25.10)     1:37.97 (25.35)
        2:03.29 (25.32)     2:28.75 (25.46)
        2:54.30 (25.55)     3:19.88 (25.58)
        3:45.62 (25.74)     4:10.66 (25.04)
  7 Johnston, David        SO Texas                        4:10.96  
    r:+0.69  22.98        47.88 (24.90)
        1:12.94 (25.06)     1:38.23 (25.29)
        2:03.47 (25.24)     2:29.01 (25.54)
        2:54.59 (25.58)     3:20.27 (25.68)
        3:46.01 (25.74)     4:10.96 (24.95)
  8 Fail, Brooks           5Y Arizona                      4:11.27  
    r:+0.69  22.93        48.03 (25.10)
        1:13.68 (25.65)     1:39.48 (25.80)
        2:05.54 (26.06)     2:31.41 (25.87)
        2:56.89 (25.48)     3:22.06 (25.17)
        3:46.88 (24.82)     4:11.27 (24.39)
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
  9 Finke, Bobby           SR Florida                      4:11.77  
    r:+0.73  23.31        48.40 (25.09)
        1:14.00 (25.60)     1:39.58 (25.58)
        2:05.14 (25.56)     2:30.67 (25.53)
        2:55.98 (25.31)     3:21.33 (25.35)
        3:46.93 (25.60)     4:11.77 (24.84)
 10 Carrozza, Coby         SO Texas                        4:12.09  
    r:+0.73  22.66        47.37 (24.71)
        1:12.81 (25.44)     1:38.38 (25.57)
        2:04.26 (25.88)     2:30.27 (26.01)
        2:55.69 (25.42)     3:21.29 (25.60)
        3:46.62 (25.33)     4:12.09 (25.47)
 11 Forst, Preston         SO Stanford                     4:12.41  
    r:+0.65  23.42        48.49 (25.07)
        1:13.99 (25.50)     1:39.89 (25.90)
        2:05.78 (25.89)     2:31.43 (25.65)
        2:57.13 (25.70)     3:22.59 (25.46)
        3:47.61 (25.02)     4:12.41 (24.80)
 12 Soloveychik, Bar       FR Minnesota                    4:12.76  
    r:+0.67  23.15        48.38 (25.23)
        1:13.83 (25.45)     1:39.42 (25.59)
        2:05.19 (25.77)     2:30.95 (25.76)
        2:56.80 (25.85)     3:22.66 (25.86)
        3:48.54 (25.88)     4:12.76 (24.22)
 13 Freeman, Trey          JR Florida                      4:12.80  
    r:+0.63  22.80        47.60 (24.80)
        1:13.04 (25.44)     1:38.77 (25.73)
        2:04.67 (25.90)     2:30.82 (26.15)
        2:56.89 (26.07)     3:22.86 (25.97)
        3:48.55 (25.69)     4:12.80 (24.25)
 14 Plage, James           SO NCSU                         4:12.88  
    r:+0.64  23.82        49.11 (25.29)
        1:14.54 (25.43)     1:40.06 (25.52)
        2:05.56 (25.50)     2:31.06 (25.50)
        2:56.37 (25.31)     3:21.84 (25.47)
        3:47.69 (25.85)     4:12.88 (25.19)
 15 Shoults, Grant         5Y Stanford                     4:13.14  
    r:+0.64  22.96        48.42 (25.46)
        1:14.07 (25.65)     1:39.75 (25.68)
        2:05.54 (25.79)     2:31.25 (25.71)
        2:56.94 (25.69)     3:22.69 (25.75)
        3:48.23 (25.54)     4:13.14 (24.91)
 16 Hill, Julian           JR ASU                          4:13.81  
    r:+0.65  23.25        48.57 (25.32)
        1:14.38 (25.81)     1:40.21 (25.83)
        2:06.01 (25.80)     2:31.78 (25.77)
        2:57.29 (25.51)     3:22.85 (25.56)
        3:48.51 (25.66)     4:13.81 (25.30)
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
 17 Zettle, Alex           SR Texas                        4:13.88  
    r:+0.76  23.58        49.11 (25.53)
        1:14.68 (25.57)     1:40.45 (25.77)
        2:06.13 (25.68)     2:31.86 (25.73)
        2:57.61 (25.75)     3:23.18 (25.57)
        3:48.74 (25.56)     4:13.88 (25.14)
 18 Gallant, Will          SO NCSU                         4:13.99  
    r:+0.63  23.38        48.61 (25.23)
        1:14.04 (25.43)     1:39.46 (25.42)
        2:05.26 (25.80)     2:30.98 (25.72)
        2:56.79 (25.81)     3:22.62 (25.83)
        3:48.62 (26.00)     4:13.99 (25.37)

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