NCAA Men’s Championships: Luke Hobson Adds 200 Free Title; Maintains Texas Excellence in Event

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

NCAA Men’s Championships: Luke Hobson Adds 200 Free Title; Grant House Pushes Arizona State into Lead

For a moment, it seemed like Grant House might pull off something special Friday night. Then the watch remembered what kind of dominant Luke Hobson has been this week. But House got a decent consolation price.

The Texas sophomore surged late and took control of the 200 free in the final 100, winning in 1:30.43. He held off a charge by Cal’s Gabriel Jett, who finished second in 1:30.74. They were separated by .08 in the morning. It’s slightly slower than the 1:29.63 that Hobson used off the front of Texas’ winning 800 free relay, but he’s at peace with that.

“It was really good,” Hobson said. “Wanted to be a little bit faster; 29 would’ve been great again, but I’ll take the win and get the points on the board for our team.”

House, who was the top seed entering the meet and finished seventh in the morning, brought some outside smoke. He was ahead at the halfway point out of lane 1, but Hobson worked the third 50 to get in front of him. He ended up third in 1:31.12, still vital points for ASU, with teammates Julian Hill sixth and Patrick Sammon seventh. That was enough to surge the Sun Devils into the lead on Day 3 of the meet, with 245 points, ahead of Cal (239) and Texas (235).

Brooks Curry likewise tried to get a jump on the field and run away. They reeled the LSU senior back in, though he was a tidy fourth in 1:31.30. Jack Dahlgren of Missouri scored in fifth. Texas rounded out the A final with Coby Carrozza in fifth.

Hobson, who maintained Texas’ tradition in the event, had the idea that Curry and House might try to take it out. And while he didn’t have an eyeball on them necessarily, his race plan dictated a strong back half anyway, befitting his distance pedigree.

“I knew that they’d be out quick, and I was out a little slower than I was on Wednesday,” he said. “I could kind of see them but I couldn’t really tell. I knew I was patient and I’d have the back half and be able to bring it home.”

Only two of the finalists this year were in the final eight a year ago – House as the runner-up and Curry in sixth. Hobson, the winner of the 500 free, had been 16th, but the sophomore has shown tremendous growth in the last year. Ditto Jett, who was 18th last year, while Hill was all the way back in 31st in an event that is on the fringes of the 500/miler’s specialty area.

Notre Dame’s Chris Guliano won the B final, exemplifying how tight the field is. His time of 1:32.31 was just .05 up on Jake Mitchell of Florida and by .16 on Arizona State’s Andrew Gray. The eight B finalists were separated by 1.06 seconds. Gray jumped from 13th in prelims and Mitchell from 14th, bolstering their teams in the race for the podium.

Event 10  Men 200 Yard Freestyle
=========================================================================
         NCAA: N 1:29.15  3/27/2019 Dean Farris, Harvard
         Meet: M 1:29.15  3/27/2019 Dean Farris, Harvard
     American: A 1:29.15  3/27/2019 Dean Farris, Harvard
   U. S. Open: O 1:29.15  3/27/2019 Dean Farris, Harvard
         Pool: P 1:29.50  3/22/2018 Townley Haas, Texas
    Name                 Year School            Prelims     Finals Points 
=========================================================================
                       === Championship Final ===                        
 
  1 Hobson, Luke           SO Texas             1:30.78    1:30.43   20  
    r:+0.73  21.31        43.86 (22.55)
        1:07.03 (23.17)     1:30.43 (23.40)
  2 Jett, Gabriel          SO California        1:30.86    1:30.74   17  
    r:+0.63  21.16        44.29 (23.13)
        1:07.63 (23.34)     1:30.74 (23.11)
  3 House, Grant           5Y ASU               1:32.12    1:31.12   16  
    r:+0.64  20.78        43.53 (22.75)
        1:07.08 (23.55)     1:31.12 (24.04)
  4 Curry, Brooks          SR LSU               1:31.94    1:31.30   15  
    r:+0.63  20.59        43.78 (23.19)
        1:07.32 (23.54)     1:31.30 (23.98)
  5 Dahlgren, Jack         5Y Missouri          1:32.06    1:32.00   14  
    r:+0.61  21.06        44.50 (23.44)
        1:08.27 (23.77)     1:32.00 (23.73)
  6 Hill, Julian           SR ASU               1:31.74    1:32.25   13  
    r:+0.61  21.47        44.78 (23.31)
        1:08.25 (23.47)     1:32.25 (24.00)
  7 Sammon, Patrick        SO ASU               1:32.28    1:32.61   12  
    r:+0.69  21.39        44.72 (23.33)
        1:08.73 (24.01)     1:32.61 (23.88)
  8 Carrozza, Coby         JR Texas             1:32.06    1:32.67   11  
    r:+0.74  21.40        44.75 (23.35)
        1:08.58 (23.83)     1:32.67 (24.09)
 
                        === Consolation Final ===                        
 
  9 Guiliano, Chris        SO Notre Dame        1:32.36    1:32.31    9  
    r:+0.62  21.11        44.48 (23.37)
        1:08.36 (23.88)     1:32.31 (23.95)
 10 Mitchell, Jake         JR Florida           1:32.56    1:32.36    7  
    r:+0.66  21.54        45.04 (23.50)
        1:08.62 (23.58)     1:32.36 (23.74)
 11 Gray, Andrew           SR ASU               1:32.51    1:32.47    6  
    r:+0.67  21.36        44.59 (23.23)
        1:08.50 (23.91)     1:32.47 (23.97)
 12 Maurer, Luke           JR Stanford          1:32.40    1:32.54    5  
    r:+0.64  21.54        45.11 (23.57)
        1:09.11 (24.00)     1:32.54 (23.43)
 13 Miroslaw, Rafael       SO Indiana           1:32.28    1:32.65    4  
    r:+0.63  21.26        44.92 (23.66)
        1:08.94 (24.02)     1:32.65 (23.71)
 14 Gaziev, Ruslan         JR Ohio St           1:32.59    1:32.85    3  
    r:+0.67  21.65        45.09 (23.44)
        1:08.95 (23.86)     1:32.85 (23.90)
 15 Zhang, Wen             SR Air Force         1:32.61    1:32.87    2  
    r:+0.63  21.23        44.54 (23.31)
        1:08.58 (24.04)     1:32.87 (24.29)
 16 Hawke, Charlie         SO Alabama           1:32.42    1:33.27    1  
    r:+0.71  21.43        44.74 (23.31)
        1:08.89 (24.15)     1:33.27 (24.38)
 
                 Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 10                  
 
  1. Arizona St                        245   2. California                        239
  3. Texas                             235   4. NC State                        193.5
  5. Florida                           175   6. Indiana                           128
  7. Tennessee                         103   8. Stanford                           95
  9. Virginia Tech                      72  10. Auburn                             57
 11. Louisville                         55  12. Texas A&M                          53
 12. Virginia                           53  14. Georgia                            49
 15. Lsu                                37  16. Ohio St                          34.5
 17. Notre Dame                         31  18. Alabama                            27
 18. Missouri                           27  20. Wisconsin                          23
 21. Michigan                           18  21. UNC                                18
 23. Southern California                14  24. Arizona                            10
 25. Miami                               9  26. Penn St                             4
 26. Princeton                           4  28. Georgia Tech                        3
 29. Air Force                           2  30. Pittsburgh                          1

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