North Carolina State and Texas both set meet records in winning the first and second events of the NCAA men's swimming and diving championships on Wednesday night at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center.
North Carolina State and Texas set meet records in first two events of NCAA men's swimming and diving championships
The Gophers were 19th in the 200-yard medley relay and 20th in the 800 freestyle relay. Minnesota's Max McHugh swam the second fastest breaststroke leg ever in the medley relay.
March 23, 2023 at 4:27AM
The Wolfpack, third a year ago, had a time of 1 minute, 20.67 seconds in the 200-yard medley relay, edging Arizona State (1:21.07) and defending event champion Florida (1.21.14). The Gators set the previous record of 1:21.13 last year.
The host Gophers, with a lineup of Corey Stowe, Max McHugh, Kaiser Neverman and Lucas Farrar, were 19th (1:23.43), setting a school record by more than half a second.
McHugh, a three-time NCAA breaststroke champion, tied for the second fastest time ever in the 50-yard breaststroke leg (22.39 seconds) of the medley relay with Alabama's Derek Maas. Arizona State's Leon Marchand's split of 22.27 in a following heat was the fastest ever.
For the fourth year in a row, the Longhorns won the 800 freestyle relay (6:03.42), followed by Arizona State (6:05.08) and California (6:06.41).
Texas broke its own record in the event of 6:03.89 set last year.
"It's obviously great to get a win," said Luke Hobson, who led off Texas' relay with a team-best 1:29.63 split, in a post-race NCAA interview. "Get the points for Texas and create some momentum for the rest of the meet."
Asked what Texas coach Eddie Reese told relay members, anchor Carson Foster said, "He just said, 'Let's get this one right.' And we bounced back in that relay."
The Longhorns were 12th in the first event, the 200 medley relay.
The Gophers, with a lineup of Bar Soloveychik, Christopher Morris, Neverman and Alberto Hernandez, placed 20th (6:18.81) in the 800 freestyle relay. Minnesota's time was the second fastest in program history.
Marchand wrapped up the first day of the NCAA meet with another history-making performance. The Arizona State sophomore from Toulouse, France, anchored the Sun Devils in the 800 freestyle relay with the fastest 200 split in NCAA history, 1:28.42. He is the first swimmer under 1:29.
Marchand is the defending NCAA champion in the 200 individual medley and 200 breaststroke.
The team standings after the first day: Arizona State 68, North Carolina State 66, California 62, Florida 60 and Indiana 58.
Five more finals are set for Day 2, starting at 6 p.m. Thursday: 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley, 50 freestyle, 1-meter diving and 200 freestyle relay.
Soloveychik and Chris Nagy of the Gophers will swim in the 500 freestyle.
The Gophers will lose senior setter Melani Shaffmaster, but they don’t expect players to leave via the transfer portal.
