NCAA Men’s Championships: Texas Finishes Meet on High Note With 400 Free Relay Triumph

Texas' Cameron Auchinachie, Danny Krueger, Caspar Corbeau and Drew Kibler (left to right) -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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NCAA Men’s Championships: Texas Finishes Meet on High Note With 400 Free Relay Triumph

The California Golden Bears had already been declared winners of the NCAA team title, but that was not going to stop Texas from going out with a bang. Arizona State had the lead through 300 yards, but Texas anchor Danny Krueger was brilliant on the final leg to pull his team to another triumph. The team of Drew Kibler (41.58), Cameron Auchinachie (41.39), Caspar Corbeau (42.06) and Krueger (41.00) combined for a time of 2:46.03, defeating the Sun Devils by 0.37.

The comeback brought back memories of the 2019 NCAA Championships, when Texas captured the title in the 400 free relay after Cal had clinched the meet. Kibler and Krueger were both freshmen on that Texas team, and Krueger actually led off that winning relay quartet.

“I think it was really an opportunity to share an experience with a team and enjoy an awesome race with the guys,. It was a fantastic team effort, and the coaching staff was super supportive through the whole thing,” Krueger said.

“I know DK (Krueger) was familiar with this from 2019,” Kibler said. “We were in a familiar situation. We knew the outcome of the meet. It’s in our nature to race, to give it everything we have. It can be easy to throw in the towel, but Texas Fight all the way. I was reminiscing on my seniors, how they fought all the way. It meant a lot.”

Arizona State’s Grant House, Leon Marchand, Carter Swift and Cody Bybee finished second in 2:46.40, marking the highest relay finish at an NCAA Championships since Bob Bowman took over as head coach in 2015. Cal ended up fourth, two hundredths behind, in 2:46.42. Bjorn Seeliger, Jack Alexy, Hugo Gonzalez and Destin Lasco swam for the Bears.

Virginia finished fourth in 2:46.80 as Matt King propelled the Cavaliers with a 41.28 split. That was enough to propel Virginia into the top-10 by 11.5 points over in-state rival Virginia Tech. NC State finished fifth in 2:47.29, just ahead of Florida (2:47.39), which had Kieran Smith splitting 41.35 on the anchor leg.

The fastest split of the competition belonged to Harvard’s Dean Farris, who recorded a 40.51 split on the Crimson’s ninth-place relay.

But this brief moment belonged to Texas, a chance for the Longhorns to take the spotlight despite coming up a little bit short in the always-competitive team showdown against the Golden Bears.

“It being only my second NCAAs, we always knew that the battle between us and Cal was going to be a tough one. It’s never going to be easy. I remember talking with Cam and Drew before the race by saying a statement that I heard from (head coach) Eddie (Reese) and (assistant coach) Wyatt (Collins) before. ‘How do you want to be remembered?’” Corbeau said. “I think that was something that helped us leave it in the pool tonight and throw everything we possibly can at this last relay.”

Event 21  Men 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
==================================================================================
         NCAA: N 2:44.31  3/24/2018 NC State
                          R Held, J Ress, J Molacek, C Stewart
         Meet: M 2:44.31  3/24/2018 NC State
                          R Held, J Ress, J Molacek, C Stewart
     American: A 2:44.31  3/24/2018 NC State
                          R Held, J Ress, J Molacek, C Stewart
   U. S. Open: O 2:44.31  3/24/2018 NC State
                          R Held, J Ress, J Molacek, C Stewart
         Pool: P 2:46.18  2/19/2022 NC State
                          L Miller, B Piszczorowicz, N Henderson, H Tapp
    School                                          Finals Points 
==================================================================================
  1 Texas                                          2:46.03P  40  
     1) Kibler, Drew SR               2) r:0.24 Auchinachie, Caeron 5Y
     3) r:0.30 Corbeau, Caspar JR     4) r:0.09 Krueger, Danny SR     
    r:+0.63  19.83        41.58 (41.58)
        1:00.93 (19.35)     1:22.97 (41.39)
        1:42.70 (19.73)     2:05.03 (42.06)
        2:24.16 (19.13)     2:46.03 (41.00)
  2 ASU                                            2:46.40   34  
     1) House, Grant SR               2) r:0.41 Marchand, Leon FR     
     3) r:0.32 Swift, Carter 5Y       4) r:0.06 Bybee, Cody SR        
    r:+0.60  19.97        41.48 (41.48)
        1:01.27 (19.79)     1:22.79 (41.31)
        1:42.72 (19.93)     2:04.54 (41.75)
        2:23.75 (19.21)     2:46.40 (41.86)
  3 California                                     2:46.42   32  
     1) Seeliger, Bjorn SO            2) r:0.29 Alexy, Jack FR        
     3) r:0.20 Gonzalez, Hugo SR      4) r:0.19 Lasco, Destin SO      
    r:+0.65  18.95        40.92 (40.92)
        1:00.43 (19.51)     1:22.76 (41.84)
        1:42.83 (20.07)     2:04.75 (41.99)
        2:24.69 (19.94)     2:46.42 (41.67)
  4 Virginia                                       2:46.80   30  
     1) Brownstead, Matt SO           2) r:0.04 King, Matt SO         
     3) r:0.26 Aikins, Jack FR        4) r:0.23 Boyle, Connor FR      
    r:+0.62  20.04        42.10 (42.10)
        1:01.62 (19.52)     1:23.38 (41.28)
        1:42.84 (19.46)     2:05.20 (41.82)
        2:24.45 (19.25)     2:46.80 (41.60)
  5 NCSU                                           2:47.29   28  
     1) Miller, Luke SO               2) r:0.54 Korstanje, Nyls JR    
     3) r:0.09 Piszczorowicz, tosz JR 4) r:0.28 Henderson, Noah JR    
    r:+0.64  20.21        41.65 (41.65)
        1:01.50 (19.85)     1:23.72 (42.07)
        1:43.04 (19.32)     2:05.24 (41.52)
        2:24.74 (19.50)     2:47.29 (42.05)
  6 Florida                                        2:47.39   26  
     1) Chaney, Adam SO               2) r:0.13 Friese, Eric JR       
     3) r:0.12 McDuff, Macguire FR    4) r:0.10 Smith, Kieran SR      
    r:+0.62  19.96        41.93 (41.93)
        1:01.77 (19.84)     1:24.25 (42.32)
        1:43.93 (19.68)     2:06.04 (41.79)
        2:25.59 (19.55)     2:47.39 (41.35)
  7 Indiana                                        2:48.12   24  
     1) Miroslaw, Rafael FR           2) r:0.24 Blaskovic, Bruno 5Y   
     3) r:0.23 Frankel, Tomer SO      4) r:0.13 Mathias, Van SR       
    r:+0.63  20.03        41.91 (41.91)
        1:01.53 (19.62)     1:23.83 (41.92)
        1:43.98 (20.15)     2:06.18 (42.35)
        2:25.91 (19.73)     2:48.12 (41.94)
  8 Stanford                                       2:48.21   22  
     1) Minakov, Andrei SO            2) r:0.34 MacAlister, Leon JR   
     3) r:0.36 Polonsky, Ron FR       4) r:0.24 Maurer, Luke SO       
    r:+0.63  19.58        41.61 (41.61)
        1:01.90 (20.29)     1:23.72 (42.11)
        1:43.85 (20.13)     2:06.11 (42.39)
        2:26.16 (20.05)     2:48.21 (42.10)

Full Team Scores:

  1. California                      487.5   2. Texas                           436.5
  3. Florida                           374   4. NC State                          291
  5. Indiana                           265   6. Arizona St                        236
  7. Stanford                          231   8. Georgia                           194
  9. Ohio St                           165  10. Virginia                        154.5
 11. Virginia Tech                     143  12. Louisville                        132
 13. Harvard                           103  14. Alabama                            91
 15. Lsu                                85  15. Purdue                             85
 17. Arizona                            79  18. Tennessee                        72.5
 19. Minnesota                          44  19. Texas A&M                          44
 21. Georgia Tech                       38  22. Michigan                           36
 23. Miami (Florida)                    31  24. Columbia                           30
 25. Missouri                           27  26. Southern California                25
 27. UNC                                24  28. Penn                             22.5
 29. Auburn                             22  30. Princeton                          14
 31. Kentucky                           11  32. Northwestern                      6.5
 33. Notre Dame                          5  34. Towson                              4
 34. Wisconsin                           4  34. Smu                                 4
 37. Utah                                2

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