2022 NCAA Men’s Championships: Stanford’s Andrei Minakov ‘Honored to Have Such Great Teammates’; Dedicates 100 Butterfly Win to Them (VIDEO)

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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The 2022 NCAA Men’s Division I Swimming and Diving Championships continued with the 100-yard butterfly finals from McAuley Aquatic Center on the campus of Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

The prelims saw a second difference from first to eighth and only a half-second difference from second to eighth as a slew of competitors, led by Stanford’s Andrei Minakov, took aim at Caeleb Dressel’s 42.80 NCAA record.

Minakov took an early lead with a 20.12 split.

Despite hard charging efforts on either side of him, Minakov won in 43.71, holding off the challengers on all sides, which wasn’t easy to do.

“I knew everyone was going to be incredibly fast and you can’t make any mistakes,” Minakov said. “I feel like racing started yesterday after the finals because we needed to recovery, and recovery starts as soon as you finish the race. Coming into prelims, I knew it would be hard. We knew that we needed to go fast in the prelims and be as fast as we could in the finals.”

He didn’t make any mistakes, at least none big enough to relinquish the lead.

Minakov said his teammates motivated him during the race and knowing the journey he has been on from Russia to college in the U.S.

“This movement to the United States with a completely different environment, completely different society. These are my first in-person classes since 2019 when I graduated from high school. I’m privileged to have such a great team to help me in the water, in class and be as efficient as possible,” Minakov said. “We are privileged to have such great people on the team. Not all of them made it here to NCAAs, but they are completely supporting us. We are honored to have such great teammates. They motivate us because they know that we are young and humble and we need the push. We just help us getting better.”

Luca Urlando of Georgia made a huge move in the final 25 and touched in 43.88 to finish second as he was closing in hard on the wall.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Minakov, Virginia Tech’s Youssef Ramadan also made a late charge and touch in 43.90, just behind Urlando.

NC State junior Nyls Korstanje took fourth in 44.17, followed by Indiana sophomore Tomer Frankel (44.56), Louisville fifth-year’s Nicholas Albiero (44.61), NC State freshman Aiden Hayes (44.75) and Harvard junior Umitcan Gures (44.88).

Indiana’s Brendan Burns, swimming the first of his Friday night double, won the NCAA B final to finish ninth overall in 44.54.

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NCAA Event 9  Men 100 Yard Butterfly
=========================================================================
         NCAA: N 42.80  3/23/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
         Meet: M 42.80  3/23/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
     American: A 42.80  3/23/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
   U. S. Open: O 42.80  3/23/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
         Pool: P 43.77  3/25/2022 Andrei Minakov, Stanford
    Name                 Year School            Prelims     Finals Points 
=========================================================================
                       === Championship Final ===                        
 
  1 Minakov, Andrei        SO Stanford            43.77      43.71P  20  
    r:+0.59  20.12        43.71 (23.59)
  2 Urlando, Luca          SO Georgia             44.24      43.80   17  
    r:+0.64  20.19        43.80 (23.61)
  3 Ramadan, Youssef       SO VT                  44.21      43.90   16  
    r:+0.56  20.25        43.90 (23.65)
  4 Korstanje, Nyls        JR NCSU                44.43      44.17   15  
    r:+0.61  20.30        44.17 (23.87)
  5 Frankel, Tomer         SO Indiana             44.38      44.56   14  
    r:+0.59  20.60        44.56 (23.96)
  6 Albiero, Nicolas       5Y Louisville          44.61      44.61   13  
    r:+0.59  20.74        44.61 (23.87)
  7 Hayes, Aiden           FR NCSU                44.78      44.75   12  
    r:+0.61  20.62        44.75 (24.13)
  8 Gures, Umitcan         JR Harvard             44.63      44.88   11  
    r:+0.59  20.98        44.88 (23.90)
 
                        === Consolation Final ===                        
 
  9 Burns, Brendan         JR Indiana             44.81      44.54    9  
    r:+0.62  20.80        44.54 (23.74)
 10 Cohen Groumi, Gal      FR Michigan            44.96      44.82    7  
    r:+0.58  20.83        44.82 (23.99)
 11 Quach, Alex            FR Ohio St             44.93      45.10    6  
    r:+0.62  21.06        45.10 (24.04)
 12 Van Zandt, Zac         SO Texas               45.07      45.21    5  
    r:+0.60  21.07        45.21 (24.14)
 13 Rose, Dare             SO California          45.16      45.37    4  
    r:+0.61  21.10        45.37 (24.27)
 14 Kovac, Danny           SR Missouri            45.05      45.57    3  
    r:+0.58  21.33        45.57 (24.24)
 15 Ivanov, Antani         SR VT                  44.98      45.64    1.5
    r:+0.67  21.45        45.64 (24.19)
 15 Jiang, Alvin           5Y Texas               45.00      45.64    1.5
    r:+0.62  21.18        45.64 (24.46)

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