{"id":501081,"date":"2022-03-24T19:41:27","date_gmt":"2022-03-25T02:41:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=501081"},"modified":"2022-03-24T19:41:27","modified_gmt":"2022-03-25T02:41:27","slug":"leon-marchand-matthew-sates-bjorn-seeliger-lead-international-powerhouse-performances-on-day-2-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leon-marchand-matthew-sates-bjorn-seeliger-lead-international-powerhouse-performances-on-day-2-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Leon Marchand, Matthew Sates, Bjorn Seeliger Lead International Powerhouse Performances on Day 2 (VIDEO)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leon Marchand, Matthew Sates, Bjorn Seeliger Lead International Powerhouse Performances on Day 2<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The first individual finals session of the 2022 NCAA Men\u2019s Division I Swimming and Diving Championships had a young international flavor.<\/p>\n

The NCAA meets can feel that way often with so many international stars that come to the U.S. and train with colleges around the country. Most teams have at least one international swimmer, which immediately adds to the globalization of college swimming.<\/p>\n

But Thursday night\u2019s finals, the international flavor was even more apparent than normal as the individual swims were three hundredths of a second away from an international sweep.<\/p>\n

International underclassmen went 1-1-2 in the three individual events on Thursday at Georgia Tech\u2019s McAuley Aquatic Center, giving the meet a mini Olympic feel.<\/p>\n

Georgia\u2019s Matthew Sates, a freshman from South Africa, led off the session with a meet record in the 500 freestyle.<\/p>\n

The second event was the 200 IM and Arizona State freshman Leon Marchand<\/strong>, of France, won in another NCAA record, unseating Caeleb Dressel<\/strong>\u2019s mark in the process. Carles Coll Marti,<\/strong> a Virginia Tech sophomore from Spain, finished fourth.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is amazing. A few years ago, I was watching Dressel thinking this was insane,\u201d Marchand said. \u201cIt is just crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally in the 50 freestyle, Cal sophomore Bjorn Seeliger<\/strong>, of Sweden, took second in the event. Tennessee sophomore and SEC champion Jordan Crooks<\/strong>, of the Cayman Islands, finished fourth.\u00a0 Seeliger took 23rd in Tokyo in the 50 freestyle.<\/p>\n

Leon Marchand competed in multiple events in Tokyo, the 400 IM, 200 butterfly, 200 IM and 400 medley relay. His parents are former Olympians Xavier Marchand<\/strong> and Celine Bonnet.\u00a0<\/strong>He then had a breakout Pac-12 Championships that put the NCAA swimmers on alert<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He said he didn\u2019t realize the global feel that the NCAA Championships can bring and was thrilled to get that feeling on the deck in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very cool. NCAAs is like an international championships,\u201d Leon Marchand said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know that before coming here. \u2026 This is so fast. This is like the Olympics for me. The atmosphere is so great.\u201d<\/p>\n