NCAA Men’s Championships: Olympic Momentum Leads Brooks Curry to First NCAA Title in 50 Free<\/strong><\/p>\n

When\u00a0Brooks Curry<\/strong> swam at the NCAA Championships last season, he was a relatively anonymous LSU sophomore, not a swimmer who stole away attention at a meet full of big names. But a few months later, Curry became an Olympian. He placed fourth in the 100-meter freestyle at U.S. Olympic Trials, and he went on to win a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics as a prelims swimmer on the U.S. men’s 400 freestyle relay. That meant that as he returned to college swimming, he would have a target on his back. Even if he had yet to finish higher than sixth at the NCAA Championships, he would be viewed as a favorite because of his status as an Olympian.<\/p>\n

So far, Curry has been up to the task. He swam best times in all three of his events, the 50, 100 and 200-yard free, at the SEC Championships last month, and he captured the first national title of his career in the 50 free.<\/p>\n

In an incredibly tight final in the splash-and-dash, a\u00a0blanket of five swimmers crashed into the finish at almost exactly the same time, and Curry got there first in 18.56, three hundredths ahead of Cal’s Bjorn Seeliger<\/strong> (18.59). Virginia’s\u00a0Matt Brownstead<\/strong> and Tennessee’s\u00a0Jordan Crooks<\/strong> finished just one hundredth back in 18.60 to tie for third, while NC State’s\u00a0Nyls Korstanje<\/strong> (18.66) was just off the pace.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s huge,” Curry said. “I\u2019ve been looking forward to this meet for a really long time. Super stoked that the team is all behind me and they\u2019re watching. It\u2019s a huge deal for me to finally get a title. Last year was hard. I worked really hard this year. I had some awesome training partners this year, and I\u2019m super excited that I made it happen.”<\/p>\n

Curry admitted that returning to college swimming following his Olympic debut was “a big adjustment” and “a different feeling all around,” but at this point in the season, he has been “kind of riding off with that and feeling good in the pool and out of the pool.”<\/p>\n