Townley Haas Comments on Gutsy 500 Free NCAA Record (Video)

2019 MEN’S NCAA SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, March 27 – Saturday, March 30
• Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, Austin, Texas
• Prelims 10 AM / Finals 6 PM (Central Time)
• Defending champion: Texas (4x) (2018 results)
• Psych Sheet
• Live Stream
• Live results

^{Reported by Jared Anderson.}

500 FREESTYLE – FINALS

• NCAA Record: Clark Smith, Texas (2017) – 4:08.42
• American Record: Zane Grothe, Unattached (2017) – 4:07.25
• U.S. Open Record: Zane Grothe, Unattached (2017) – 4:07.25
• Meet Record: Clark Smith, Texas (2017) – 4:08.42
• 2018 Champion: Townley Haas, Texas – 4:08.60

Top 8 Finishers:

1. Townley Haas, Texas – 4:08.19
2. Sean Grieshop, Cal – 4:10.29
3. Brooks Fail, Arizona -4:10.77
4. Ricardo Vargas, Michigan – 4:12.21
5. Walker Higgins, Georgia – 4:12.65
6. Fynn Minuth, South Carolina – 4:12.72
7. Mark Theall, Texas A&M – 4:16.05
8. Brennan Novak, Harvard – 4:21.72

Townley Haas swam perhaps the gutsiest 500 free you’ll ever see. The Texas senior went out way under American and NCAA record pace – he was a full second under pace as of the 100-mark, and held strong through at least the halfway point. (He flipped at 2:00.4 at the 250, for an insane reference).

Haas did fall off a little as his splits slipped from 24-highs to 25s with a 26.0 in the mix late. But he finished in 4:08.19, cracking the NCAA and meet record of 4:08.42 set by his former teammate Clark Smith. That Smith swim was the only 500 free Haas ever lost in the NCAA Championships – that year, Haas was second. He won the year prior and now the two years after.

Cal’s Sean Grieshop held his spot, though he had to battle back late. The sophomore finished second in 4:10.29 in what’s been a breakout season for the highly-rated recruit.

Arizona’s Brooks Fail also held his spot – he cut another eight tenths from prelims to go 4:10.77 in the final, rounding out the top three who swam away from the field a bit.