Swimming

2024 Men’s Division I NCAA Championships: Day 3 Prelims Live Recap

Sports FEED

March 29, 2024

By Mark Wild on SwimSwam

2024 MEN’S NCAA SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 27-30, 2024
IUPUI Natatorium, Indianapolis, Indiana
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Day 1 Finals Live Recap
Day 2 Prelims Live Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap

Day 3 Scratches

Order of Events

400 IM
100 Fly
200 Free
100 Breast
100 Back

Oi!!! It’s Friday, my avid readers and commenters, meaning the weekend is nigh upon us. However, these swimmers (and divers) don’t particularly care about that. Instead, to them, it’s “Moving Day”: A day on which some teams will look to move up after disappointing Days 1 and 2 while others will look to build upon last night’s successes. ASU had a strong showing last night, but Cal, Texas, and Indiana all had large upswings in points vs. seed and threaten teams above them in the rankings. While you wait, you can read and see all the stats regarding yesterday’s scoring.

Day 3 also sees our swimmers start to get into the technical events, as we start to see more of our specialized stars in the 100s of stroke. But we start with the 400 IM, where Leon Marchand, the NCAA record holder, will look to continue his immaculate form from last night’s 500 free. Marchand, who swam 3:28.82 to clear the majority of the record board in 2023, enters as the prohibitive favorite but may, like in the 500, not be the top seed into finals. It is unlikely as he enters as the only swimmer with an entry under 3:37, but there are seven other swimmers under 3:40 leading the charge behind him, and they will all need to jostle for position. Marchand’s teammate David Schlicht sits uneasily as the #2 seed at 3:37.97 but could see himself supplanted by youngsters Baylor Nelson (3:38.05) and Rex Maurer (Stanford).

The 100 fly may be just as hotly contested as the 50 free was yesterday. The top four from last year all return as Virginia Tech’s Youssef Ramadan will look to defend his title against last night’s 50 free winner Josh Liendo, as well as Indiana’s Tomer Frankel and Stanford’s Andrei Minakov (the 2022 Champ). With the top 14 separated by less than a second, expect to see a fast prelim as swimmers all vie for the coveted A-final.

Perhaps not getting the duly deserved recognition that a new American record should deserve is our #8 seed, Luke Hobson. After swimming a 1:29.13 Wednesday night, the once sleepy 200 free has turned into a brawl. Florida’s Macguire McDuff (1:30.64) will be hard-pressed to defend his top billing as both Charlie Hawke (1:30.75) and Chris Guiliano (1:31.16) have already been faster this meet. When we add in Jordan Crooks, who swam the 100 fly last year, and the Cal trio (all who were part of the winning 800 Free Relay) of Gabriel Jett (#5 – 1:31.78), Robin Hanson (#10 – 1:31.95), and Jack Alexy (#27 – 1:32.74), that A-final is suddenly looking very crowded.

Our last two events of the session, the 100 breast and 100 back, start to show some new names into the mix. In the 100 breast, Liam Bell and Noah Nichols of Cal and UVA, respectively, are tied with 50.89 and will look to try to separate themselves from not only each other but from Carles Coll Marti who joins them as the only other swimmer seeded under 51.00. With Bell and #7 Denis Petrashov the only returning A-finalist, a lot of newfaces will look to make a name for themselves.

Like in the 200 free, the 100 back’s defending champion is seeded dangerously or precariously, depending on how you look at it. Brendan Burns of Indiana is the #7 seed (44.62) and could find himself moving up and pushing the seeding out of wack, but so too could returning A-finalists Adam Chaney (#9 – 44.87), Nate Stoffle (#11 – 44.93) and Jack Dolan (#18 – 45.07). Atop the rankings are a good mix of fresh blood in #1 seed Hubert Kos (43.75), #2 Jonny Marshall (44.12) and #5 Will Modglin (44.49), and old pros in #3 Destin Lasco (44.28), and #4 Kacper Stokowski (44.36).