400 IM Champion Chase Kalisz on night 2 of the 2013 Men’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.
400 IM Recap, as reported by Braden Keith:
This was a really epic 400 IM battle. Georgia freshman Chase Kalisz, Wisconsin senior Michael Weiss, and Florida sophomore Dan Wallace all turned very close together at the halfway mark, with all three knowing that they’re all very good breaststrokers.
But Kalisz, the former Michael Phelps training partner, is unbelievably good on the back-half. He took off on his breaststroke, splitting 59.83 to open up a full second lead. As far as we can tell, that’s the first time anybody (of any significant result) has been under a minute on their breaststroke split. Arizona’s Austen Thompson was a 1:00.08 en route to his win last year.
Kalisz, even when he’s so fast on the breaststroke, doesn’t give any back on the freestyle. He was even with Wallace, and better than everyone else, on that closing 100 as he swam a 3:38.05 for the victory.
Kalisz would say after the race that he couldn’t feel his legs on the last 50, but just kept kicking as hard as he could.
Did we mention he’s just a freshman? The only guys in history who have been faster than Kalisz you may have heard of: Tyler Clary, Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer, and Gal Nevo. None of them were faster as freshmen. (For those wondering, Kalisz turned 19 three weeks ago, so no National Age Group Records are in danger at this meet).
Weiss finished 2nd in 3:39.61, missing his school record from Big Tens by half-a-second.
Wallace ended up taking 3rd in 3:39.87, cutting another second off of his lifetime best in prelims. Even with his teammate Sebastien Rousseau DQ’ing in prelims, the sophomore continued on the great Florida tradition in this event.
Cal’s Josh Prenot was 4th in 3:40.49. He was the second-fastest breaststroke split in the race, going 1:00.35. Indiana sophomore Stephen Schmuhl was the fastest after the butterfly leg, but he wasn’t out as fast as the morning and that made the difference in his time. He was 5th in 3:42.41: half-a-second slower than he was in the morning. Arizona freshmen Michael Meyer (3:42.54) and Michigan freshman Dylan Bosch (3:42.95), both freshmen from South Africa, went 6th and 7th, respectively.
Texas’ Austin Surhoff looked wiped-out after setting a school record in prelims, and had to settle for 8th here in 3:44.27.
Michigan’s Kyle Whitaker had great underwaters on his freestyle (that’s a specialty of his) and won the B-Final in 4:43.28. That’s big as Cal’s Adam Hinshaw dropped to a 3:43.28 for 10th overall.
surprised his 200 breaststroke was slow