NCAA Men’s Championships: Will Gallant, Ross Dant Lead NC State 1-2 in Mile

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Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

NCAA Men’s Championships: Will Gallant, Ross Dant Lead NC State 1-2 in Mile

Ross Dant hit the wall in the penultimate heat of the mile and shared a bit of wisdom with Will Gallant.

The NC State junior had just set a best time of 14:30.32 in the next-to-last heat of the 1,650 freestyle at the 2023 NCAA Championships. Gallant would swim in the final heat when the evening session began.

“I touched, and I knew – I told this to Will – that the only person who can beat me is him,” a jubilant Dant said. “I was confident in that.”

Confident, and correct. The NC State distance guys went 1-2, the start of a marauding evening for the Wolfpack.

Dant set down a wicked fast time in the next-to-last heat, a time that allowed the 13th seed to cut some 14.5 seconds off his seed time. No one but his teammate could match it in the final, Gallant clocking in at 14:28.94 to dominate that heat.

Dant’s time held up for silver, as did his footing as he raced across the deck to congratulate his teammate at the wall before most of the final heat had finished.

“That’s the most fun I’ve had swimming since I can remember,” Dant said of the wait. “Watching Will reel in David Johnston and just crush that last 500 made me so happy. … My heart was pounding the entire time, but I knew we could do something special.”

Gallant saw what Dant was doing while warming up. He knew from the splits that Dant was handling his business. And it made him ready and confident about handling his.

“I was really ready to go and I was killing it in pace,” Dant said. “I knew I was going to do well. I was pretty excited by what he was doing, and that really got me going.

Texas’s David Johnston had been ahead of Dant’s pace for the first 600 yards. But the junior faded as the chants of “Wolfpack distance” crescendoed from the crowd at Jean K. Freeman Aquatics Center. Johnston ended up fourth in 14:35.51, with Georgia’s Jake Magahey passing him. Magahey finished fourth last year and second in 2021 in this event. He clocked in at 14:33.82.

Gallant and Dant both bumped up a place from last year, which had been their hope since seeing Bobby Finke set an NCAA record last year. The points moved NC State from sixth in the team standings to four, leaping past Florida and Indiana.

“We talked about this all year long,” Dant said. “When we went 2-3 last year, I looked at him and said, we can go 1-2 next year. Knowing that that happened and the way it happened, I couldn’t imagine a better way to do it.”

That penultimate heat ended up going 2-5-7. Notre Dame’s Jack Hoagland was second in that next-to-last heat in 14:38.64, good for fifth. Ohio State’s Charlie Clark, who finished eighth each of the last two years, nudged up to seventh in 14:41.63.

Top seed Levi Sandidge finished sixth. The SEC champion who was vying to be Kentucky’s first NCAA title. Eighth place went to Arizona State freshman Zalan Sarkany, which helps keep the Sun Devils in second ahead of the Texas in the team standings.

 Event 15  Men 1650 Yard Freestyle
=========================================================================
         NCAA: N 14:12.08  2/22/2020 Bobby Finke, Florida
         Meet: M 14:12.52  3/27/2021 Bobby Finke, Florida
     American: A 14:12.08  2/22/2020 Bobby Finke, Florida
   U. S. Open: O 14:12.08  2/22/2020 Bobby Finke, Florida
         Pool: P 14:24.43  3/24/2018 Anton Ipson, NC State
    Name                 Year School               Seed     Finals Points 
=========================================================================
  1 Gallant, Will          JR NC State         14:34.82   14:28.94   20  
    r:+0.66  24.04        49.88 (25.84)
       13:36.57 (26.67)    14:03.35 (26.78)    14:28.94 (25.59)
  2 Dant, Ross             SR NC State         14:44.87   14:30.32   17  
    r:+0.60  23.79        49.68 (25.89)
       13:38.38 (26.50)    14:04.92 (26.54)    14:30.32 (25.40)
  3 Magahey, Jake          JR Georgia          14:38.45   14:33.82   16  
    r:+0.74  24.31        50.72 (26.41)
       13:43.89 (26.36)    14:09.61 (25.72)    14:33.82 (24.21)
  4 Johnston, David        JR Texas            14:37.30   14:35.51   15  
    r:+0.69  23.50        48.99 (25.49)
       13:43.33 (26.62)    14:09.79 (26.46)    14:35.51 (25.72)
  5 Hoagland, Jack         SR Notre Dame       14:48.82   14:38.64   14  
    r:+0.76  23.76        49.89 (26.13)
       13:45.18 (26.84)    14:12.27 (27.09)    14:38.64 (26.37)
  6 Sandidge, Levi         FR Kentucky         14:31.47   14:40.05   13  
    r:+0.65  23.68        49.50 (25.82)
       13:47.82 (26.41)    14:14.38 (26.56)    14:40.05 (25.67)
  7 Clark, Charlie         JR Ohio St          14:41.75   14:41.43   12  
    r:+0.70  24.30        50.76 (26.46)
       13:48.33 (27.09)    14:15.53 (27.20)    14:41.43 (25.90)
  8 Sarkany, Zalan         FR ASU              14:41.65   14:42.80   11  
    r:+0.67  23.14        49.04 (25.90)
       13:49.30 (27.34)    14:16.45 (27.15)    14:42.80 (26.35)
  9 Henveaux, Lucas        5Y California       14:48.84   14:44.14    9  
    r:+0.67  24.65        51.47 (26.82)
       13:52.14 (26.08)    14:18.16 (26.02)    14:44.14 (25.98)
 10 Mestre, Alfonso        SR Florida          14:52.88   14:44.50    7  
    r:+0.76  24.36        51.33 (26.97)
       13:50.94 (27.11)    14:18.22 (27.28)    14:44.50 (26.28)
 11 Lloyd, Owen            JR NC State         14:50.21   14:46.16    6  
    r:+0.72  24.27        50.47 (26.20)
       13:53.58 (26.96)    14:20.58 (27.00)    14:46.16 (25.58)
 12 Watson, Tyler          SR Florida          14:38.50   14:46.27    5  
    r:+0.75  23.84        49.27 (25.43)
       13:52.93 (27.27)    14:19.99 (27.06)    14:46.27 (26.28)
 13 Enyeart, Alec          FR Texas            14:43.39   14:47.13    4  
    r:+0.76  24.31        50.68 (26.37)
       13:53.54 (26.98)    14:20.80 (27.26)    14:47.13 (26.33)
 14 Matheson, Daniel       SO ASU              14:48.52   14:48.21    3  
    r:+0.66  24.32        51.08 (26.76)
       13:57.03 (26.63)    14:23.51 (26.48)    14:48.21 (24.70)
 15 Johansson, Victor      5Y Alabama          14:39.63   14:48.42    2  
    r:+0.65  24.66        50.90 (26.24)
       13:55.79 (27.29)    14:22.61 (26.82)    14:48.42 (25.81)
 16 Linscheer, Gio         FR Florida          14:53.65   14:48.63    1  
    r:+0.58  25.39        52.38 (26.99)
       13:57.13 (26.51)    14:23.54 (26.41)    14:48.63 (25.09)
 
                 Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 15                  
 
  1. California                        324   2. Arizona St                        316
  3. Texas                             311   4. NC State                        289.5
  5. Florida                           264   6. Indiana                           259
  7. Tennessee                         144   8. Stanford                        112.5
  9. Virginia Tech                      96   9. Auburn                             96
 11. Louisville                         71  12. Georgia                            69
 13. Virginia                           67  14. Ohio St                          66.5
 15. Texas A&M                          65  16. Missouri                         50.5
 17. Notre Dame                         48  18. Alabama                            40
 18. Lsu                                40  20. Southern California                31
 21. Wisconsin                          27  21. UNC                                27
 23. Michigan                           24  24. Minnesota                          20
 25. Utah                               14  26. Kentucky                           13
 27. Columbia                           12  28. Arizona                            10
 29. Miami                               9  29. Siuc                                9
 31. Pittsburgh                          4  31. Penn St                             4
 31. Princeton                           4  34. Georgia Tech                        3
 35. Air Force                           2  35. Towson                              2
 37. Purdue                              1
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