Pieroni, Held, Dressel Part of ‘Stacked’ NCAA 100 Free Final

caeleb-dressel-
Florida's Caeleb Dressel. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

NCAA DI editorial coverage is proudly sponsored by Adidas. Visit adidasswimming.com for more information on our sponsor. For all the latest coverage, check out our event coverage page. 650x90 CLICK HERE FOR LIVE RESULTS

By Dan D’Addona.

While everyone is anticipating what kind of swim Caeleb Dressel will have in the 100-yard freestyle, a loaded field has assembled around him.

Five of the eight finalists were 2016 Olympians. All eight were already All-Americans before Saturday’s NCAA final in Indianapolis.

NC State’s Ryan Held has the second seed at 41.34, followed by Missouri’s Michael Chadwick (41.58), USC’s Dylan Carter (41.73), Stanford’s Sam Perry (41.77), Indiana’s Blake Pieroni (41.89), USC’s Santo Condorelli (41.92) and Brett Ringgold (41.96) of Texas.

The field was so loaded that Olympic gold medalist Townley Haas of Texas didn’t make the final, taking the ninth seed at 42.05. Neither did Penn State’s Shane Ryan, an Olympian from Ireland in the sprint events.

And it is a field comprised nearly of the same class. Chadwick is a senior, but the rest of the final is comprised of juniors — perhaps the best sprinting class top-to-bottom in history.

Dressel was a two-time gold medalist in Rio, swimming on the 400 free and 400 medley relays for Team USA. He also took sixth in the 100 freestyle.

Held and Pieroni were gold medalists alongside Dressel in the 400 free relay.

“It is going to be stacked,” Pieroni said. “It is going to be quick — 41 to get in the finals. It is a fast event.”

After a somewhat disappointing NCAA championships last year, Pieroni is looking for a strong finish.

“I think I put too much emphasis on the Big Ten Championships last year,” he said. “I felt like I put all my eggs in one basket and I knew I would make a change this year.”

Pieroni is back in another final, this time at one of his home pools.

“This is my favorite pool. I have more best times in this pool than any other pool in the world,” he said. “I love this pool, it is where I grew up. It is amazing to have NCAAs here. It is pretty special.”

And his last race of the meet will be against a pretty special field.

In addition to the Team USA Olympians, Condorelli missed the bronze medal in the 100 freestyle by three hundredths of a second, finishing fourth for Canada.

The juniors all know each other well, especially the Olympic teammates.

“There will be some joking around, probably some trash talking — it will be pretty fun,” Dressel said. “Behind the blocks, competition is competition. But as soon as my hand touches, friends again.”

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

2 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Susan L. Lansbury
7 years ago

All finals are stacked!

Dan Hemenway
7 years ago

Claire Holloway Daniel Hemenway

2
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x