Minnesota Has the Dirtiest Pool Record Board in the NCAA

2023 NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• March 22-25, 2023
• Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center | Minneapolis, MN
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…and they don’t even have a pool record board in the pool. Well, at least not one a physical one.

But semantics aside, the University of Minnesota’s pool has a list of accolades that’s worth blushing over. The first man under 19 was in this pool. The first man under 18 was in this pool. The first woman under 21 was in this pool.

Here’s how Minnesota’s men’s pool records stood heading into this week:

Those italicized times were all-time records. The strike-through records have already been broken in the last two days.

Last night, two pool records were broken as NC State’s 200 medley relay and Texas’ 800 free relay were both all-time records.

Tonight, the carnage continued, with three pool records. First, Luke Hobson took down Townley Haas‘ pool record by over a second in the 500, going 4:07.37 to erase the former Lonhgorn’s mark of 4:08.60 from 2018.

But that was just a prelude. Next, ASU’s Leon Marchand swam the fastest 200 IM ever, causing swim fans everywhere to let loose a torrent of emotions as he clocked a 1:36.34. The previous pool record had actually just been set this morning, when Cal’s Destin Lasco went 1:38.32 in prelims (how dirty is that?). Before this morning, the pool record was a 1:39.54, set by Florida’s Jan Switowski at the 2018 NCAA Championships.

Of course, the icing on the cake was the 200 free relay. The old pool record, another 2018 NCAA Championship mark, was a 1:14.39, also set by Florida. The Gators demolished their own pool record, and of course, also swam the fastest time ever, clocking a 1:13.35 to erase Auburn’s legendary super suited record. Cal was also under both marks tonight with a 1:13.82.

In fact, only one pool record survived the night…a certain 17.63 set by Caeleb Dressel, once again at the 2018 NCAA Championships.

The upshot is that after tonight, nine of the 19* men’s NCAA swimming records have been set in Minnesota’s pool, and we are almost certain to see more go down in the next two days.

*19 includes the 1000 free, which is an official NCAA event, but isn’t contested at the D1 Championships.

When SwimSwam’s Andrew Mering looked at some of the pools that had seen certain barrier go down (e.g., first man under 40 seconds in the 100 free), Minnesota was high on the list with five such swims. Only three sessions into NCAAs, the pool has seen three more such-records:

• NC State became the first team to go under 1:21 in the 200 medley relay with a 1:20.67 last night.
• Leon Marchand was the first man to go under 1:37 in the 200 IM with his 1:36.34 tonight.
• Florida and Cal both got under the 1:14 barrier with a pair of 1:13s in the 200 free relay.

Women’s Pool Records

While not quite as eye-popping as the men’s (virtual) pool record board, the Freeman Aquatic Center has seen plenty of fast times on the women’s side as well.

None of those swims currently rank as the fastest-ever currently, but Missy Franklin‘s 1:40.31 to win the 200 free at the 2014 NCAA Championships was a new record at that point. Likewise, Regan Smith‘s 49.16 at a local invite meet in 2021 was an American and US Open record, although not a NCAA record, since she was competing for her club team during the run-up to the Olympics.