Alabama Stuns in 200 Medley Relay, Robert Howard Closes in 18.22

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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The Alabama Crimson Tide won the 200 medley relay on Friday night at the 2019 NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships in Austin, Texas with a 1:22.26. The team of Zane Waddell (20.41), Laurent Bams (23.24), Knox Auerbach (20.39) and Robert Howard (18.22) won the title for the Crimson Tide.

It came down to four teams on the final leg as the Cal Golden Bears snuck into second place at 1:22.43 thanks to an 18.17 anchor from Ryan Hoffer. Cal finished in second with Daniel Carr (20.92), Reece Whitley (23.68), Pawel Sendyk (19.66) and Hoffer (18.17) as the Golden Bears finished in second ahead of NC State (1:22.47) and Texas (1:22.58).

Coleman Stewart (20.66), Daniel Graber (23.49), Nyls Korstanje (20.06) and Justin Ress (18.26) finished third for the Wolfpack.

Texas was in the lead at the 150 after a stunning 19.83 split from John Shebat on the fly leg.

The quickest splits outside the top three came from Texas’ Ryan Harty (20.86), USC’s Carsten Vissering (22.88), Florida State’s Kanoa Kaleoaloha (19.77) and Tennessee’s Kyle DeCoursey (18.46).

Louisville (1:23.23), Tennessee (1:23.56), Florida State (1:23.81) and Southern Cal (1:23.82) also swam in the A-Final.

Alabama now has two NCAA titles in the 200 medley relay joining the 2016 winning team.

 Event 14  Men 200 Yard Medley Relay
==================================================================================
         NCAA: N 1:21.54  24-Mar-17 Texas
                          J Shebat, W Licon, J Schooling, B Ringgold
         Meet: M 1:21.54  24-Mar-17 Texas
                          J Shebat, W Licon, J Schooling, B Ringgold
     American: A 1:21.88  23-Mar-18 California
                          D Carr, C Hoppe, J Lynch, R Hoffer
   U. S. Open: O 1:21.54  24-Mar-17 Texas
                          J Shebat, W Licon, J Schooling, B Ringgold
         Pool: P 1:22.83  27-Mar-14 California
                          Murphy, Katis, Cox, Messerschmidt
    School                              Prelims     Finals Points 
==================================================================================
                            === Championship Final ===                            
 
  1 Alabama                             1:23.13    1:22.26P  40  
     1) Waddell, Zane JR              2) r:0.34 Bams, Laurent SR      
     3) r:0.18 Auerbach, Knox SR      4) r:0.23 Howard, Robert SR     
    r:+0.65  20.41        43.65 (23.24)
        1:04.04 (20.39)     1:22.26 (18.22)
  2 California                          1:23.78    1:22.43P  34  
     1) Carr, Daniel SO               2) r:0.14 Whitley, Reece FR     
     3) r:0.33 Sendyk, Pawel JR       4) r:0.07 Hoffer, Ryan SO       
    r:+0.69  20.92        44.60 (23.68)
        1:04.26 (19.66)     1:22.43 (18.17)
  3 NC State                            1:23.23    1:22.47P  32  
     1) Stewart, Coleman JR           2) r:0.17 Graber, Daniel SR     
     3) r:0.15 Korstanje, Nyls FR     4) r:0.07 Ress, Justin SR       
    r:+0.70  20.66        44.15 (23.49)
        1:04.21 (20.06)     1:22.47 (18.26)
  4 Texas                               1:23.77    1:22.58P  30  
     1) Harty, Ryan JR                2) r:0.22 Scheinfeld, Charlie FR
     3) r:0.24 Shebat, John SR        4) r:0.32 Jackson, Tate SR      
    r:+0.57  20.86        43.92 (23.06)
        1:03.75 (19.83)     1:22.58 (18.83)
  5 Louisville                          1:23.57    1:23.23   28  
     1) Whyte, Mitchell FR            2) r:0.09 Somov, Evgenii SO     
     3) r:0.12 Harting, Zach SR       4) r:0.14 Barna, Andrej JR      
    r:+0.55  21.00        44.32 (23.32)
        1:04.43 (20.11)     1:23.23 (18.80)
  6 Tennessee                           1:23.96    1:23.56   26  
     1) Garcia, Matthew JR            2) r:0.20 Houlie, Michael FR    
     3) r:0.20 Verhage, Braga JR      4) r:0.16 Decoursey, Kyle SR    
    r:+0.66  21.70        45.19 (23.49)
        1:05.10 (19.91)     1:23.56 (18.46)
  7 Florida St                          1:24.01    1:23.81   24  
     1) Muratovic, Emir SR            2) r:0.24 Bastian, Izaak FR     
     3) r:0.22 Kaleoaloha, Kanoa SR   4) r:0.15 Pisani, Will SR       
    r:+0.69  21.32        45.40 (24.08)
        1:05.17 (19.77)     1:23.81 (18.64)
  8 Southern Cali                       1:24.07    1:23.82   22  
     1) Mulcare, Patrick SR           2) r:0.25 Vissering, Carsten SR 
     3) r:0.25 Grissom, Kyle SR       4) r:0.11 Miljenic, Nikola SO   
    r:+0.70  21.82        44.70 (22.88)
        1:04.89 (20.19)     1:23.82 (18.93)

Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 14                      
 
  1. California                        372   2. Texas                             329
  3. Indiana                         277.5   4. NC State                          215
  5. Louisville                        149   6. Florida                           136
  7. Alabama                           110   8. Harvard                            98
  9. Missouri                           88  10. Tennessee                          82
 11. Virginia                           78  12. Southern Cali                      75
 13. Arizona                            72  14. Texas A&M                          71
 15. Stanford                           69  16. Florida St                         66
 17. Michigan                           62  18. Ohio St                            56
 19. Georgia                            46  20. Minnesota                          45
 21. Purdue                             38  22. Arizona St                       36.5
 23. University of Miami                30  24. Georgia Tech                       29
 25. South Carolina                     18  25. Penn                               18
 27. Duke                               17  27. Penn St                            17
 29. Grand Canyon                       16  30. Columbia University                14
 31. Kentucky                           11  32. Lsu                                 9
 33. Missouri St. (M)                    7  34. Auburn                              6
 34. Princeton                           6  34. Virginia Tech                       6
 37. Navy                                4  38. Hawaii                              3
 38. Notre Dame                          3  40. Towson                              2
 41. Denver                              1