NCAA Men’s Championships: Team Race to Come Down to the Wire (Heat Sheets, Up/Downs)
Three teams enter the final day of the 2023 NCAA Men’s Championships within shouting distance of one another. Three more are in a jumbled contest for fourth place.
There will be plenty of scoreboard watching in the final night session at the University of Minnesota Saturday.
California enters the final session with 315 points., Arizona State trailing by 13 points and Texas a further 10 behind. Indiana owns fourth place in 259, with Florida fifth with 251 and NC State in 246.5.
Points will be on offer Saturday in four individual events, plus the 1,650 freestyle and platform diving ahead of the culminating 400 free relay. Cal is in control with seven A finalists and 10 swimmers in finals, the most in the field. Arizona State pushed four A finalists and five B finalists through the morning, while Texas has only five total (two A finalists and three B finalists).
Texas does have one swimmer in the fastest heat of the 1,650 freestyle, third seed David Johnston, while Arizona State has the eighth seed, Zalan Sarkany. Texas and Cal have divers on platform.
The title race will play out in the 200 back, where Cal owns the top two seeds in Destin Lasco and Hugo Gonzalez. Arizona State also has two A finalists.
Cal grabbed a surprising top seed in the 100 free via Jack Alexy’s time of 40.88 seconds. That final is loaded with 50 free champ Jordan Crooks, 100 fly gold medalist Youssef Ramadan and multi-time medalists like Josh Liendo, Brooks Curry and Bjorn Seeliger.
The 200 breaststroke will pit a pair of champions against each other. Max McHugh, the three-time 100 breast champ, won in 2021 before Leon Marchand usurped his throne last year. The double IM champ is looking for a third gold medal.
The 200 fly is the last individual event of the night, with Cal again stepping up to own the top two seeds. Gabriel Jett was perhaps expected, Dare Rose less so. The third seed is Alexander Colson of Arizona State, for another mano a mano title race installment. Last year’s champ Brendan Burns of Indiana, who won the 100 back, is also in the mix. (That field required a swim-off for the eighth and final place, won by Michigan’s Gal Groumi over Martin Espernberger of Tennessee.)
The meet wraps with the 400 free relay. Cal is the top seed in 2:45.67 with Arizona State second, a half-second behind. Texas is in the next-to-last heat, seeded 12th, though the Longhorns have managed to make that work for them this week with several big jumps in sprint relays. Florida, winner of the 200 free and 400 medley relays, is seeded fourth, just behind Tennessee.
NCAA Men’s Championships Men’s Scores
Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 14 1. California 315 2. Arizona St 302 3. Texas 292 4. Indiana 259 5. Florida 251 6. NC State 246.5 7. Tennessee 144 8. Stanford 112.5 9. Auburn 96 9. Virginia Tech 96 11. Louisville 71 12. Virginia 67 13. Texas A&M 65 14. Ohio St 54.5 15. Georgia 53 16. Missouri 50.5 17. Lsu 40 18. Alabama 38 19. Notre Dame 34 20. Southern California 31 21. UNC 27 21. Wisconsin 27 23. Michigan 24 24. Minnesota 20 25. Utah 14 26. Columbia 12 27. Arizona 10 28. Siuc 9 28. Miami 9 30. Princeton 4 30. Penn St 4 30. Pittsburgh 4 33. Georgia Tech 3 34. Air Force 2 34. Towson 2 36. Purdue 1
NCAA Men’s Championships Day 4 Ups/Downs
(excludes 1,650 freestyle)
- California 7 up, 3 down
- Arizona State 4-5
- Texas 2-3
- Indiana 4-0
- Florida 2-4
- NC State 3-2
- Tennessee 1-4
- Stanford 0-1
- Auburn 0-2
- Virginia Tech 2-0
- Louisville 0-1
- Virginia 0-1
- Texas A&M 1-0
- Ohio State 1-0
- Georgia 1-1
- Missouri 1-0
- LSU 1-0
- Alabama 0-1
- Notre Dame 0-2
- Minnesota 1-0
- Michigan 1-0
- Princeton 0-1
- Southern Illinois 0-1
