NCAA Men’s Championships: As Cal and Texas Battle, Bears’ Bjorn Seeliger Snares Top Seed in 100 Freestyle

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NCAA Men’s Championships: As Cal and Texas Battle, Bears’ Bjorn Seeliger Snares Top Seed in 100 Freestyle

One of the best parts of the Day Four preliminaries at the NCAA Championships is the jockeying for position for the last session of finals, and how the morning will impact the chase for the team title. The 100-yard freestyle provided the perfect example for how critical each qualifying slot can be.

With Cal and Texas battling – once again – for the championship, Golden Bear Bjorn Seeliger came through with a superb performance. The sophomore claimed the top seed for the final behind a clocking of 40.75, the only sub-41 outing of qualifying. Seeliger’s top-seeded showing followed Cal’s three-up effort in the 200 backstroke, which was the opening event of prelims.

Although Seeliger earned the top seed, Texas received a boost when the Longhorns advanced Drew Kibler (41.45) and Danny Kruger (41.46) to the final and added Cameron Auchinachie to the consolation final. Auchinachie was ninth in the morning, missing the championship final by one place.

Louisiana State’s Brooks Curry, who captured the title in the 50 freestyle earlier in the meet, will look to complete the sprint double after earning the third seed for the night session. Curry was timed in 41.19, which was just .03 off the 41.16 that Tennessee freshman Jordan Crooks delivered for the second seed. The fourth seed is Stanford’s Andrei Minakov (41.29), who is coming off a victory in the 100 butterfly.

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Live Results

 Event 17  Men 100 Yard Freestyle
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 39.90  3/24/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
         Meet: M 39.90  3/24/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
     American: A 39.90  3/24/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
   U. S. Open: O 39.90  3/24/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
         Pool: P 40.46  3/26/2016 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Seeliger, Bjorn        SO California                     40.75  
    r:+0.65  19.13        40.75 (21.62)
  2 Crooks, Jordan         FR Tennessee                      41.16  
    r:+0.61  19.41        41.16 (21.75)
  3 Curry, Brooks          JR LSU                            41.19  
    r:+0.61  19.66        41.19 (21.53)
  4 Minakov, Andrei        SO Stanford                       41.29  
    r:+0.59  19.44        41.29 (21.85)
  5 Kibler, Drew           SR Texas                          41.45  
    r:+0.61  19.73        41.45 (21.72)
  6 Krueger, Danny         SR Texas                          41.46  
    r:+0.71  19.86        41.46 (21.60)
  7 King, Matt             SO Virginia                       41.48  
    r:+0.62  19.82        41.48 (21.66)
  8 Brownstead, Matt       SO Virginia                       41.52  
    r:+0.61  19.73        41.52 (21.79)
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
  9 Auchinachie, Cameron   5Y Texas                          41.62  
    r:+0.67  19.68        41.62 (21.94)
 10 Miroslaw, Rafael       FR Indiana                        41.63  
    r:+0.62  19.84        41.63 (21.79)
 11 House, Grant           SR ASU                            41.67  
    r:+0.62  20.00        41.67 (21.67)
 12 Farris, Dean           SR Harvard                        41.68  
    r:+0.64  19.86        41.68 (21.82)
 13 Blaskovic, Bruno       5Y Indiana                        41.72  
    r:+0.57  19.77        41.72 (21.95)
 14 Gaziev, Ruslan         SO Ohio St                        41.79  
    r:+0.64  19.87        41.79 (21.92)
 15 Ramadan, Youssef       SO VT                             41.80  
    r:+0.59  20.10        41.80 (21.70)
 16 Armstrong, Hunter      JR Ohio St                        41.92  
    r:+0.62  20.28        41.92 (21.64)

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