NCAA Division I Men’s Championships: Clark Smith Moves to 6th All Time in 500 Free

Photo Courtesy: David Farr

Editorial content for the NCAA Division I Championships is sponsored by Nike Swim. For full Swimming World coverage, check out our coverage page.

Texas’ Clark Smith dropped the hammer with a 24.03 final split to become the first Longhorn ever to win the men’s 500-yard free at the NCAA Division I Men’s Championships.

Smith scorched the finale with a time of 4:09.72, vaulting him to sixth all time in the event’s history.

All Time 500 Free

Rank	Name	Time
1	Peter Vanderkaay	4:08.54
2	Tom Dolan	4:08.75
3	Jean Basson	4:08.92
4	Michael Klueh	4:09.32
5	Sebastien Rouault	4:09.48
6	Clark Smith	4:09.72
7	Larsen Jensen	4:09.80
8	Matt McLean	4:10.00

Although Smith won, Texas was unable to maximize point scoring from three A finalists as Sam Lewis (4:16.75) and Jonathan Roberts (4:16.89) took seventh and eighth.

Florida’s Dan Wallace wound up second in 4:10.48 to move up to 11th all time in the event’s history, while USC’s Reed Malone earned third in 4:11.94.

Defending champion Cristian Quintero of USC finished fifth in 4:13.21, while Georgia’s Matias Koski would have finished third overall with his 4:11.83 to win the B final.

   1 Smith, Clark     SO Texas             4:11.17    4:09.72         20  
    r:+0.69  22.69        47.35 (24.66)
        1:12.54 (25.19)     1:38.02 (25.48)
        2:03.47 (25.45)     2:28.97 (25.50)
        2:54.51 (25.54)     3:20.11 (25.60)
        3:45.69 (25.58)     4:09.72 (24.03)
  2 Wallace, Dan     SR Florida           4:12.52    4:10.48         17  
    r:+0.69  22.88        47.76 (24.88)
        1:13.00 (25.24)     1:38.61 (25.61)
        2:04.07 (25.46)     2:29.41 (25.34)
        2:54.65 (25.24)     3:19.90 (25.25)
        3:45.20 (25.30)     4:10.48 (25.28)
  3 Malone, Reed     SO Southern Califor  4:13.07    4:11.94         16  
    r:+0.73  22.85        47.67 (24.82)
        1:12.72 (25.05)     1:38.46 (25.74)
        2:04.38 (25.92)     2:29.87 (25.49)
        2:55.26 (25.39)     3:20.88 (25.62)
        3:46.63 (25.75)     4:11.94 (25.31)
  4 Nielsen, Anders  JR Michigan          4:13.65    4:12.16         15  
    r:+0.73  23.13        48.36 (25.23)
        1:13.86 (25.50)     1:39.49 (25.63)
        2:05.38 (25.89)     2:31.27 (25.89)
        2:56.79 (25.52)     3:22.67 (25.88)
        3:47.83 (25.16)     4:12.16 (24.33)
  5 Quintero, Crist  SR Southern Califor  4:13.24    4:13.21         14  
    r:+0.67  22.44        47.21 (24.77)
        1:12.42 (25.21)     1:38.40 (25.98)
        2:04.37 (25.97)     2:30.15 (25.78)
        2:55.68 (25.53)     3:21.49 (25.81)
        3:47.59 (26.10)     4:13.21 (25.62)
  6 D'Arrigo, Mitch  SO Florida           4:12.72    4:14.30         13  
    r:+0.72  23.52        48.83 (25.31)
        1:14.44 (25.61)     1:40.05 (25.61)
        2:05.76 (25.71)     2:31.36 (25.60)
        2:56.66 (25.30)     3:22.18 (25.52)
        3:48.08 (25.90)     4:14.30 (26.22)
  7 Lewis, Sam       JR Texas             4:12.44    4:16.75         12  
    r:+0.67  23.00        47.96 (24.96)
        1:13.30 (25.34)     1:39.13 (25.83)
        2:05.16 (26.03)     2:31.41 (26.25)
        2:57.71 (26.30)     3:24.28 (26.57)
        3:51.06 (26.78)     4:16.75 (25.69)
  8 Roberts, Jonath  FR Texas             4:13.10    4:16.89         11  
    r:+0.75  23.54        48.72 (25.18)
        1:14.24 (25.52)     1:39.99 (25.75)
        2:06.05 (26.06)     2:32.25 (26.20)
        2:58.68 (26.43)     3:24.98 (26.30)
        3:51.31 (26.33)     4:16.89 (25.58)

  1. Texas                              83   2. Southern Cali                      58
  3. Florida                            45   4. Michigan                           39
  5. California                         34   6. Auburn                             32
  7. Alabama                            30   8. Missouri                           26
  9. Arizona                            18  10. Georgia                          12.5
 11. Unlv (M)                           12  12. Ohio St                             9
 12. Louisville                          9  14. UNC                               7.5
 15. NC State                            7  16. Wisconsin                           6
 16. Stanford                            6  18. Univ of Utah                        5
 19. Northwestern                        2  19. Tennessee                           2

2015 NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships, Live Results – Results

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

Name*

Email*

6 Comments

Oldest

Newest Most Voted

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

Robert Nowak

9 years ago

Hook em

Dunc1952

9 years ago

Was he the best swimmer out of his high school his senior year?

Dunc1952

9 years ago

Reply to Dunc1952

Also a 2014 graduate of Regis Jesuit in Denver — Missy Franklin.

Dunc1952

9 years ago

Reply to Dunc1952

2013 rather

Dunc1952

9 years ago

This is strange yet Longhorn perfection. In the last several years everyone has gone to Texas and BECOME a butterflyer; Clark was Junior National Champion in 200 fly while in High School and one of the top HS 100 flyers. Now he wins the 500. Is in 200 Free also and is seeded 4th in 200 fly. Jack, Joseph and Dylan better watch out. Longhorn perfection in that prior generation was one of the most valuable Longhorns in his era, dad John, and Mom Tori (Trees) was a US 1984 Olympian. Truly Hook’em.

Dunc1952

9 years ago

Reply to Dunc1952

For example, John was anchor on Texas winning 400 Medley Relay in 1984.