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Top Seed, Three-peat Big 10 Champ Auboeck Misses 500 Final

2019 MEN’S NCAA SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Michigan junior Felix Auboeck had an unexpectedly poor swim in the prelims of the 500 freestyle this morning, clocking a 4:18.40 to drop from his top-seeded time of 4:09.37.  That seed time was from Auboeck’s third straight Big Ten 500 freestyle title just a few weeks ago.

The off swim here for Auboeck is a huge surprise; the Austrian Olympian has developed a reputation as one of the most consistent big meet swimmers in the NCAA.  He has two top three NCAA finishes to his name, including a 4:09.03 last year that made him a runner-up to Townley Haas. Although illness would be the usual speculation for a swimmer’s first individual effort, Auboeck put together a very solid 1:32.78 anchor leg for the Wolverines on last night’s 800 freestyle relay.

The 500 A-final field looks noticeably different than a year ago, with just two returning finalists a year ago: Haas and Michigan’s Ricardo Vargas Jacobo.  Notably, Texas’ Sam Pomajevich, a surprise finalist last season, also fell out of scoring position.  Those two misses are early blows to both Michigan and Texas in the team race.

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marklewis
5 years ago

Felix looked off right from the start.

It’s tough with the 500 free when you’re not feeling good in the water, and the field is swimming away from you. The race seems to take forever to end. Most distance swimmers have experienced this at least once.

Maybe he had a bad night of sleep or something and can regroup in a couple days for the 1650.

Becky D
Reply to  marklewis
5 years ago

Of all the things I was jealous of sprinters v. distance, the top one was how long it took to finish a “bad swim.” What I would have done to escape through a hatch in the bottom of the pool after the first 300….

Sunny Cal
5 years ago

MiI looks like they focused on their women’s team who swam very well at NCAA’S last week…. and forgot about the mens??

KittyKats
5 years ago

Brooks Fail Catching the dubbbb

A$AP Pocky
5 years ago

go bucks 🙂

Bula
5 years ago

Michigan looking rough

Meeeeee
5 years ago

Michigan very poor today. Team-wide illness?

Jim
Reply to  Meeeeee
5 years ago

Tough to say…some teams do taper everything they have for their conference meet, and usually there is nothing left to jump from at the NCAA meet. The few teams that can really get away with not full tapers at their conference meet are Cal and Texas, although NC State also was pretty good at it this year.

Meeeeee
Reply to  Jim
5 years ago

Yes, but Michigan and their coaching staff are very experienced and successful at this type of meet. I’m thinking an illness. for comparision, Purdue was for sure fully tapered for B1G and they went 2.6 sec faster in medley relay this morning.

MBS
Reply to  Jim
5 years ago

I struggle to believe that holds true as a team for Michigan. Certainly there are swimmers and teams where the conference meet is their swan song. But, as previously mentioned, he swam a 1:32 200 free last night. It is a wait and see what happens.

Swimgeek
Reply to  Jim
5 years ago

Um – but how would that explain Felix, who has shown the ability to swim 4:09 at NCAAs. This looks like something else

Hmm...
Reply to  Meeeeee
5 years ago

They must have eaten the sane thing the Tejas women were eating last week…

Becky D
Reply to  Hmm...
5 years ago

It was the salmon mousse.

swim fan
5 years ago

there goes my pickem

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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