NCAA Men’s Championships: Carson Foster Crushes Second-Fastest Time Ever in 400 IM Prelims

Carson Foster -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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NCAA Men’s Championships: Carson Foster Crushes Second-Fastest Time Ever in 400 IM Prelims

The long-awaited 400 IM showdown between Leon Marchand and Carson Foster at the NCAA Championships is set, and after Marchand showed his capabilities with a record-smashing swim in the 200 IM final Thursday evening, Foster responded in prelims. The Texas sophomore dominated his heat and produced a time of 3:33.79. That was less than four tenths off Chase Kalisz’s 2017 American and NCAA record of 3:33.42 and the second-fastest time in history.

Foster was under American-record pace through 200 yards before falling off slightly on breaststroke, where Kalisz excels, but then the Texas sophomore unleashed an excellent closing kick on the freestyle. The end of the race has been problematic for Foster in the past he surrendered leads at both last year’s NCAA Championships (to Bobby Finke) and in the long course version of the event at Olympic Trials (to Chase Kalisz and Jay Litherland), but Foster looked phenomenal coming home in this qualifying swim.

But will it be enough to fend off Marchand in the final? Marchand swam a time of 3:34.45 in the event at the Pac-12 Championships three weeks ago, and he took down Caeleb Dressel’s NCAA and U.S. Open records in the 200 IM by almost a half-second Thursday night. In Friday’s 400 IM prelims, Marchand cruised to a comfortable time of 3:37.97, good enough to win his heat and earn lane five for the final.

Also showing out in prelims was Cal’s Hugo Gonzalez. Gonzalez posted the top time of the meet in the 400 IM last year, but that swim came in the consolation final. He will be in no such position this year as his prelims effort of 3:34.88 made him the No. 4 performer in history behind Kalisz, Foster and Marchand.

Qualifying third was Texas’ Jake Foster, Carson’s older brother, and he moved to 16th all-time in the event with his 3:37.33. Finke, representing Florida, placed fourth in 3:37.84. Finke was seeded last in the event after not recording any strong performances in-season, but he pulled away from his heat by splitting 50.53 on the closing freestyle.

Texas got a third swimmer into the A-final with David Johnston (sixth, 3:38.90), while Arizona’s Brooks Fail (3:39.10) and Cal’s Sean Grieshop (3:39.62) also made the top-eight.

Event 8  Men 400 Yard IM
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 3:33.42  3/24/2017 Chase Kalisz, Georgia
         Meet: M 3:33.42  3/24/2017 Chase Kalisz, Georgia
     American: A 3:33.42  3/24/2017 Chase Kalisz, Georgia
   U. S. Open: O 3:33.42  3/24/2017 Chase Kalisz, Georgia
         Pool: P 3:35.82  3/24/2016 Josh Prenot, California
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Foster, Carson         SO Texas                        3:33.79P 
    r:+0.62  22.65        48.43 (25.78)
        1:15.41 (26.98)     1:41.74 (26.33)
        2:11.85 (30.11)     2:42.63 (30.78)
        3:08.86 (26.23)     3:33.79 (24.93)
  2 Gonzalez, Hugo         SR California                   3:34.88P 
    r:+0.61  22.83        48.90 (26.07)
        1:16.61 (27.71)     1:43.57 (26.96)
        2:12.69 (29.12)     2:42.56 (29.87)
        3:08.94 (26.38)     3:34.88 (25.94)
  3 Foster, Jake           JR Texas                        3:37.33  
    r:+0.63  23.30        49.25 (25.95)
        1:17.15 (27.90)     1:44.89 (27.74)
        2:14.13 (29.24)     2:44.60 (30.47)
        3:11.55 (26.95)     3:37.33 (25.78)
  4 Finke, Bobby           SR Florida                      3:37.84  
    r:+0.76  23.58        50.51 (26.93)
        1:18.32 (27.81)     1:45.30 (26.98)
        2:16.00 (30.70)     2:47.31 (31.31)
        3:13.06 (25.75)     3:37.84 (24.78)
  5 Marchand, Leon         FR ASU                          3:37.97  
    r:+0.66  22.65        48.49 (25.84)
        1:16.12 (27.63)     1:43.91 (27.79)
        2:13.99 (30.08)     2:45.01 (31.02)
        3:12.08 (27.07)     3:37.97 (25.89)
  6 Johnston, David        SO Texas                        3:38.90  
    r:+0.68  23.58        49.96 (26.38)
        1:18.02 (28.06)     1:45.62 (27.60)
        2:16.22 (30.60)     2:47.41 (31.19)
        3:13.65 (26.24)     3:38.90 (25.25)
  7 Fail, Brooks           5Y Arizona                      3:39.10  
    r:+0.71  23.07        49.22 (26.15)
        1:17.34 (28.12)     1:44.18 (26.84)
        2:15.86 (31.68)     2:48.49 (32.63)
        3:14.31 (25.82)     3:39.10 (24.79)
  8 Grieshop, Sean         5Y California                   3:39.62  
    r:+0.64  23.46        50.27 (26.81)
        1:17.91 (27.64)     1:45.15 (27.24)
        2:16.24 (31.09)     2:47.97 (31.73)
        3:14.36 (26.39)     3:39.62 (25.26)

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