2015 Men’s NCAA Championships Day Two SEC Roundup: Nick Fink Snags The Silver From The Shadows

2015 MEN’S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Thursday, March 26 – Saturday, March 28
• University of Iowa, Iowa City
• Prelims 11AM/Finals 7PM (Central Time)
• Defending Champion: California – results
• Iowa Championship Central / NCAA Championship Central
• Live feed: Hawkeye Sports (prelims) / ESPN3 (finals)
• PSA: What to do when live results aren’t updating
• Live results

DAY ONE SEC RANKINGS

• 4. Florida (205)
• 7. Georgia (148.5)
• 8. Auburn (131)
• 9. Alabama (127)
• 13. Missouri (82)
• 14. Tennessee (78)
• 22. South Carolina (19)

Nicolas Fink has been one of the top breaststrokers in the United States for some time now, and today picked up his second consecutive silver medal in the 100 breaststroke at NCAAs.

After qualifying fifth in prelims with a time of 51.59, Fink was ready to battle some of the top guys such as Kevin Cordes and Chuck Katis.

At the first wall Fink was second just slightly behind Cordes. Cordes turned in 23.73, Fink was a 23.80. Right on Fink’s tail was Katis who turned in 23.99.

On that last 50, Cordes managed to pull away from Fink again but Fink held on steadily to maintain his second place position.

Katis moved up on him a little bit, but not enough to pass him. At the wall it was Cordes first in 50.25 and Fink second in 51.08.

That time for Fink was a best time as well, and marked one of the most impressive improvement patterns in the NCAA. In his freshman year, Fink finished 17th in the 100 breast at the 2012 NCAA Championships. He moved up in 2013 to fourth, but was still out of a medal position.

In 2014, he finally was able to grab himself a medal and finished second only to Kevin Cordes, who is arguably one of if not the best short course breaststroker in history. This year, he managed to do so again, and for the fourth season in a row he set a new best time in the 100 breast.

Lost in one of the most impressive breaststroke runs in history (Kevin Cordes’) Fink is undoubtedly an incredible swimmer who can likely continue to improve.

In the 200 breaststroke this year Fink is the top seed with a 1:51.58. He swam that time at the SEC Championships this season, which stands at his current personal best.

The 200 breaststroke will be Fink’s last shot at a title in the breaststroke, and if anyone can de-thrown Cordes in the event, it’s him.

Other notable SEC performances

• Chase Kalisz managed to medal for his second time in as many years in the 400 IM, grabbing the silver behind Will Licon. Kalisz, the defending champion hailing from Georgia, was the top seed going into finals with a 3:38.99. In finals he was first after 200 yards with Licon right behind. At the 300 he was less than a second behind him, but lost a huge chunk of distance on the freestyle. Kalisz ended up clocking in at 3:39.51 for the silver.
• The Alabama men managed to grab a silver medal in the 200 medley relay behind California tonight. The team of Connor Oslin, Anton McKee, Justin Lynch, Brett Walsh, and Kristian Gkolomeev put forth a 1:23.35 to better their prelim swim and crack the top three. They finished ahead of a powerhouse Texas team and came decently close to the Cal team which broke the American record in prelims. The most notable split for Alabama was a wicked fast 18.24 freestyle leg for Gkolomeev.