WATCH: Texas, Cal, Texas A&M, and Florida Battle it Out in the Men’s 800 FR-R

2021 NCAA MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• When: Wednesday, March 24 – Saturday, March 27, 2021
• Where: Greensboro Aquatic Center / Greensboro, NC (Eastern Time Zone)
• Prelims 10 AM/ Finals 6 PM (Local Time)
• Short course yards (SCY) format
• Defending champion: Cal (1x) – 2019 results
• Streaming:
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results

Day 1 Finals Recap

The 2021 NCAA Men’s Championships kicked off in Greensboro with the timed finals of the 800 free relay, featuring six heats of some of the fastest 200 freestylers in the NCAA. During the top-seeded heat of the mid-distance relay, Florida and Texas A&M put their two fastest swimmers on the front end of the relay to gain the early lead. However, Cal and Texas’ deep relay line-up caught A&M and Florida into the last two legs. At the finish, Texas comfortably took the win at 6:07.25, bettering their 2020 season best relay of 6:08.40. Cal settled for second at 6:08.68 while Texas A&M rounded out the top three at 6:10.79. Check out the race video below and more analysis links on tonight’s opening event.

• Lead-off Spotlight: Kieran Smith Becomes First Swimmer With Multiple Sub-1:30s In 200 Free
• Relay Splits: Texas and Cal Proving to Be Class of the Field Early at Men’s NCAAs
• Event Analysis: 2021 Men’s NCAAs Day 1: Let’s Overreact to One Race
• Projected Team Scores: Projected vs. Actual: Day 1 Score Update at 2021 NCAA D1 Men’s Championships

Originally reported by Karl Ortegon.

800 FREE RELAY – TIMED FINAL

• NCAA Record: Texas (Kibler, Katz, Newkirk, Haas) – 6:05.08
• U.S. Open Record: Texas (Kibler, Katz, Newkirk, Haas) – 6:05.08
• American Record: Texas (Kibler, Katz, Newkirk, Haas) – 6:05.08
• 2019 Champion: Texas (Kibler, Katz, Newkirk, Haas) – 6:05.08
• 2020 Top Performer: Texas (Rooney, Willenbring, Katz, Kibler) – 6:08.40

Top 3 (final)

1. Texas – 6:07.25
2. Cal – 6:08.68
3. Texas A&M – 6:10.79

Texas went 6:07.25 in the final heat, the fastest time of the night by over a second ahead of Cal (6:08.68). That’s the 14th win for Texas in this event, the most of any school in history. Texas A&M went 6:10.79 for third, just ahead of Florida’s 6:10.91, as this was the fastest heat top-to-bottom by far.

Drew Kibler was 1:30.65 leading off for Texas, with Austin Katz following in 1:33.02, then Carson Foster 1:31.55 and Jake Sannem (1:32.03). Cal was led off by Trenton Julian at 1:31.41, with Daniel Carr (1:33.14) and Destin Lasco (1:32.13) in the middle and Bryce Mefford (1:32.00) on the end. Cal dropped three seconds from seed, and the Longhorns about a tenth; Katz has been under 1:32 on this relay before, though, so he wasn’t quite as fast as expected.

A&M went with their top two swimmers going out, Shaine Casas (1:30.59) and Mark Theall (1:31.46), as did Florida with Kieran Smith (1:29.66) and Trey Freeman (1:32.88). That’s Smith’s second time under 1:30, but it’s not a best, coming just off of his SEC time of 1:29.48. Both the Aggies and Gators dropped from seed, A&M shaving .8 and UF lopping off around 1.3 seconds.

TEAM SCORES (THROUGH DAY ONE)

1. Texas 40
2. California 34
3. Texas A&M 32
4. Florida 30
5. NC State 28
6. Georgia 26
7. Stanford 24
8. Louisville 22
9. Indiana 18
10. Virginia Tech 14
11. Michigan 12
12. Arizona 10
13. Virginia 8
14. Ohio St 6
15. Missouri 4
16. Notre Dame 2