NCAA Men’s Championships: Josh Liendo Claims Third Title With Huge Final Turn in 100 Freestyle
A group of elite sprinters have competed against each other several times this week, relays, the 50 free, some the 200 free or 100 butterfly.
The top sprinters converged in the 100 freestyle on the final night of the 2024 NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships from Indianapolis, with speed and more speed.
Florida’s Josh Liendo got to the wall first with a strong back-half of the race to pull away in the final 15 yards and win in 40.20.
At the 50, it was Notre Dame’s Chris Guiliano at 19.11 just ahead Tennessee’s Jordan Crooks (19.21) and Liendo (19.28).
But with a strong final turn Liendo pushed passed the field to win his third title of the meet.
“I had to give it everything I have. It was a really fast field,” Liendo said in the on-deck interview.
Liendo won the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly earlier in the meet becoming the first Florida swimmer to sweep those events since Caeleb Dressel.
“I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel the pressure. There is definitely some pressure. I just tried not to think too much about it. Each time it was just me getting up and racing,” Liendo said. “I am pretty happy with that. Last year getting it done in the 100 free, and this year getting all three, it is really exciting to continue (from here).”
His trio of titles helped the Gators finish third as a team and actually be in the title hunt for the first time in years.
“That pressure for the relays, every time we were gunning for the win. It is awesome to see the guys you train with improve so much and it is motivating,” Liendo said. “It is really good. We can build that momentum for next year.”
Gui Caribe Santos of Tennessee took second in 40.55, just ahead of Cal’s Jack Alexy (40.59), Crooks (40.66) and Guiliano (40.66).
Virginia’s Matt Brownstead (41.40) and Arizona State’s Jack Dolan tied for sixth and Cal’s Bjorn Seeliger was eighth (41.80).
Virginia Tech’s Youssef Ramadan and NC State’s Luke Miller tied to win the NCAA consolation final in 41.27.
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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 40.00 3/25/2017 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
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=== Championship Final ===
1 Liendo, Josh SO Florida 40.73 40.20 20
r:+0.59 9.04 19.28 (10.24)
29.74 (10.46) 40.20 (10.46)
2 Santos, Guilherme SO Tennessee 41.23 40.55 17
r:+0.56 9.08 19.35 (10.27)
29.92 (10.57) 40.55 (10.63)
3 Alexy, Jack JR California 40.80 40.59 16
r:+0.66 9.23 19.56 (10.33)
30.04 (10.48) 40.59 (10.55)
4 Crooks, Jordan JR Tennessee 40.54 40.61 15
r:+0.59 9.06 19.21 (10.15)
29.86 (10.65) 40.61 (10.75)
5 Guiliano, Chris JR Notre Dame 40.77 40.66 14
r:+0.60 8.89 19.11 (10.22)
29.79 (10.68) 40.66 (10.87)
6 Brownstead, Matt SR Virginia 41.26 41.50 12.5
r:+0.64 9.21 19.79 (10.58)
30.75 (10.96) 41.50 (10.75)
6 Dolan, Jack 5Y ASU 41.29 41.50 12.5
r:+0.74 9.36 19.92 (10.56)
30.78 (10.86) 41.50 (10.72)
8 Seeliger, Bjorn SR California 41.27 41.80 11
r:+0.63 9.18 19.75 (10.57)
30.71 (10.96) 41.80 (11.09)
=== Consolation Final ===
9 Ramadan, Youssef SR VT 41.34 41.27 8
r:+0.57 9.22 19.47 (10.25)
30.30 (10.83) 41.27 (10.97)
9 Miller, Luke SR NC State 41.37 41.27 8
r:+0.61 9.42 19.95 (10.53)
30.62 (10.67) 41.27 (10.65)
11 Hobson, Luke JR Texas 41.35 41.45 6
r:+0.70 9.37 19.84 (10.47)
30.62 (10.78) 41.45 (10.83)
12 Foote, Connor SO TAMU 41.60 41.49 5
r:+0.64 9.30 19.61 (10.31)
30.53 (10.92) 41.49 (10.96)
13 Kulow, Jonny SO ASU 41.40 41.61 4
r:+0.62 9.36 19.77 (10.41)
30.60 (10.83) 41.61 (11.01)
14 Miroslaw, Rafael JR Indiana 41.66 41.75 3
r:+0.61 9.38 19.92 (10.54)
30.84 (10.92) 41.75 (10.91)
15 Jensen, Matthew SR California 41.71 41.76 2
r:+0.64 9.41 20.05 (10.64)
30.75 (10.70) 41.76 (11.01)
16 McDuff, Macguire JR Florida 41.55 41.93 1
r:+0.62 9.35 19.86 (10.51)
30.88 (11.02) 41.93 (11.05)
Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 17
1. Arizona St 418.5 2. California 345.5
3. Florida 342 4. Indiana 266
5. NC State 250 6. Tennessee 179
7. Texas 172 8. Stanford 144
9. Virginia Tech 124 10. Notre Dame 110
11. Georgia 106 12. Auburn 88
13. Louisville 80 14. Ohio St 79
15. Texas A&M 70 16. Michigan 68.5
17. Smu 54 18. Virginia 53.5
19. Alabama 50 20. Minnesota 40
21. Florida St 34 22. Southern California 24
23. Miami (Fl) 21 24. Missouri 19
24. Arizona 19 26. Towson 17
27. Wisconsin 16 28. Pittsburgh 15
29. Lsu 11 30. UNC 9
31. Penn St 8 32. Brigham Young 7
33. Utah 6 34. Purdue 5
35. GW 3 36. Northwestern 1
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For a moment I was in utter shock thinking that the 100M Freestyle had been annihilated!
But it’s merely a Yard event, only raced in North America in an obsolete archaic mode of measurement, that no one else in the World still uses!
So what is it in metres? About 40 metres?
Time the US caught up to the rest of the World and used metric rather than their nonsensical version of the Imperial System!