{"id":361130,"date":"2019-03-28T20:00:50","date_gmt":"2019-03-29T03:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=361130"},"modified":"2019-03-29T08:49:37","modified_gmt":"2019-03-29T15:49:37","slug":"townley-haas-andrew-seliskar-win-big-set-for-ncaa-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/townley-haas-andrew-seliskar-win-big-set-for-ncaa-showdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Townley Haas, Andrew Seliskar Win Big, Set for NCAA Showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas and Cal duking it out for a men\u2019s NCAA swimming title? The same as it ever was. The Longhorns and Golden Bears have finished as the top two teams nationally in eight of the last nine seasons. Over the years, the faces have changed, from Ricky Berens<\/strong> and Nathan Adrian<\/strong> in 2010 to Jack Conger<\/strong> and Joseph<\/strong> Schooling<\/strong>, Ryan Murphy<\/strong> and Josh Prenot<\/strong> in 2016.<\/p>\n

The 2019 editions of Texas and Cal have their own senior studs, Townley Haas<\/strong> and Andrew<\/strong> Seliskar<\/strong>, and Thursday night, both added to their respective legends, putting them on course for a massive collision.<\/p>\n

First, Haas conquered pain. Through his first three years at Texas and five individual NCAA titles (three in the 200 free, one in the 500 free), his aggressiveness has never wavered. That\u2019s Haas\u2019 style\u2014go out and deal with the ramifications later. This time, that meant swimming 250 yards of freestyle in two minutes\u20142:00.49, to be exact\u2014with another 250 yards still to go.<\/p>\n

\"townley-haas-\"

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n

At that point in the race, Haas was almost three seconds ahead of American-record pace, the splits Zane Grothe<\/strong> swam in 2017 on his way to a 4:07.25. And as it turned out, Haas couldn\u2019t maintain that eyebrow-raising pace. The piano dropped, and Grothe\u2019s pace caught up to Haas before finally swimming away from his reach on the last 50.<\/p>\n

The result was a 4:08.19, a new NCAA record and the second-fastest time ever\u2014even if it took Haas a moment for his time to compute as the race burned so hard that his vision was blurry when he first looked up at the scoreboard.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talked about going out a little faster than normal. Basically, that\u2019s what I tried to do. I tried to take it out almost as hard as I could, not quite, and then I just tried to hang on,\u201d Haas said. \u201cI knew I was out fast. I didn\u2019t know obviously the exact time, but I knew it was maybe a little too fast, maybe borderline too fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Haas hung tough, even with Cal\u2019s Sean Grieshop<\/strong> and Arizona\u2019s Brooks Fail<\/strong> closing in on either side of him over the last 150 yards. He never feared the onset of pain, and he never let that pain get in the way of finishing the race. To prepare himself, Haas said he cleared his mind of all thoughts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely one of those things where I wish I could explain how I did it because it would definitely help a lot of people. I don\u2019t know. I just stop thinking, and everything goes away. It\u2019s pretty nice before races,\u201d he said. \u201cI believe that your body can do more than your mind thinks you can do. If you\u2019re able to just kind of put your mind out of your head, you can do way more than you think you can. You just push through it.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That win gave Haas his sixth career national title, stretching back to his freshman year in 2016. Before Thursday, Seliskar had none. If that first-place finish had eluded him his senior year, Andrew Seliskar would have had an inside track on the dubious distinction of best swimmer to never win an individual NCAA title. Not anymore, not after his statement win in the 200 IM.<\/p>\n

On breaststroke, Seliskar displayed superior power on his pullouts as he took over the lead from NC State\u2019s Andreas<\/strong> Vazaios<\/strong>. That put him under American-record pace\u2014a record that couldn\u2019t be broken, right? Not Caeleb Dressel\u2019s<\/strong> 1:38.13, a time so remarkable that no one had ever swum within a second.<\/p>\n

Finishing on freestyle, Seliskar showed a champion\u2019s will as he split 24.05, eight tenths faster than any of his competition. But this record, too, proved elusive. In 1:38.14, by one hundredth, Seliskar came up short. Seliskar admitted he experienced some momentary frustration when he realized he was that close, but even that couldn\u2019t dampen his overall exuberance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot,\u201d Seliskar said. \u201cI kind of thought I could be close to that time or faster than that time. I kind of just try to go off feel on all my swims. I try not to get too caught up in all the splits. I just tried to keep my tempo going. It was a fun swim.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Amazingly, Seliskar\u2019s effort improved on his lifetime best coming into the day, a 1:40.53 at last year\u2019s NCAA championships, by more than two seconds, yet he still knew that the 1:38 was within his realm of capability.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust having the support from my coaches, they\u2019re great about knowing what works and what doesn\u2019t work,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that\u2019s been one where I\u2019ve been seeing little incremental drops every time I swim it, and I knew I was due for a good one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"andrew-seliskar-\"

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n

Interestingly, in four years of NCAA championship racing, Haas and Seliskar have never competed in the same individual event. While Haas has exclusively swum freestyle at NCAA championships, Seliskar has never entered an individual freestyle race.<\/p>\n

While Haas was winning his three consecutive NCAA titles in the 200 free, Seliskar was swimming the 400 IM, where he finished second as a sophomore and third as a junior. The 200 free only became a possibility over the summer, when he moved into the long course version of the event for the first time and became a national champion.<\/p>\n

At the Pan Pacific Championships in August, Haas won gold in the 200-meter free and Seliskar took silver. They haven\u2019t raced all season, either, and even when they swam in the same heat for the 800 free relay Wednesday evening, Seliskar led off (with a 1:30.14 that made him the fourth-fastest performer in history) while Haas anchored (in 1:29.66).<\/p>\n

In that event, Haas brought Texas from behind for a relay win. In Thursday\u2019s first event, Seliskar dove in to anchor Cal in the 200 free relay and pulled ahead of NC State for a national title. In sum, no two swimmers have done more for their respective teams\u2019 causes so far in Austin.<\/p>\n

They will meet in the 200 free, the most-anticipated race of the meet before anyone arrived in Austin with the interest only dialed up after Dean Farris<\/strong> smashed Haas\u2019 American record with a 1:29.15 leading off Harvard\u2019s 800 free relay. With Farris out of the individual event, the only threat to Haas and Seliskar would be Zach<\/strong> Apple<\/strong>, who led off Indiana\u2019s relay in 1:30.34 and anchored the Hoosiers\u2019 400 medley relay in 40.64.<\/p>\n

Eyes will naturally be focused on the record, and with Haas\u2019 fearlessness and Seliskar swimming better than he ever has, it\u2019s impossible to count out the possibility of a 1:28. Even in a year when the NCAA championships undoubtedly lost considerable star power from previous seasons, the titans will battle in the 200 free.<\/p>\n

Video Interviews with Townley Haas and Andrew Seliskar:<\/strong><\/p>\n