March 22, 2017
032317 Thursday Prelims Heat Sheet
Joe Patching swam the fastest 200 freestyle leg of his life and his teammates held onto his pace as Auburn set a school-record in the 800 freestyle relay on the first night of the 2017 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships at the IU Natatorium.
Auburn's quartet of Patching, Kyle Darmody, Hugo Morris and Zach Apple combined to go 6:14.99, breaking the school record of 6:15.14 set at the 2015 SEC Championships by Morris, Arthur Mendes, Darmody and Patching, to finish 12th in the only event on opening night of the championships.
Patching led off in 1:34.06, which made him the third-fastest performer in the 200 free in school history behind only Morris (1:33.39) and Rowdy Gaines (1:33.80).
"I knew coming in that would be my last-ever 200 freestyle so I wanted to go as fast as could, obviously," Patching said "When you've got three guys behind you you want to go as fast as you can for them and the guys on the deck watching you.
"To watch the other guys come back and get that school record was unbelievable," Patching said. "Hopefully this gives us some momentum into the next couple of days."
Joining Patching with 1:34 splits were Kyle Darmody (1:34.14) and Hugo Morris (1:34.40) while Zach Apple anchored in a blistering 1:32.39.
"I had a good swim at SECs on the relay and I was just excited to bring it home for them," Apple said. "I knew we had a good shot at being pretty high up in that heat. When I dove in we were even with a couple of teams and I just tried to pull ahead of them. It felt really smooth and long and powerful. I'm excited for the rest of the meet and to get my school record. It was fun."
Auburn's relay placed 12th overall as NC State set a NCAA record in winning in 6:06.53.
The championships continue on Thursday with the 200 freestyle relay, 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free, 400 medley relay and 1-meter diving. Prelims begin at 9 a.m. CT and finals at 5 p.m.
ESPN3.com will stream the championships finals sessions live on Friday and Saturday. Wednesday's evening session, Thursday's sessions along with the morning sessions on Friday and Saturday will be streamed live on NCAA.com and indianasportscorp.org/ncaasd. Additionally, ESPNU will air a two-hour broadcast via tape delay at 5 p.m. Eastern time, Wednesday, April 5. Live results for the championships will be available on NCAA.com and indianasportscorp.org/ncaasd.
Auburn Results & NCAA Champion
800 Freestyle Relay
1. NC State -- (Held 1:31.37, Vazaios 1:32.23, Ress 1:32.26, Dahl 1:30.67) -- 6:06.53
12. Auburn - (Patching 1:34.06, Darmody 1:34.14, H. Morris 1:34.40, Apple 1:32.39) - 6:14.99
Team Standings
1. NC State 40
2. Texas 34
3. Florida 32
4. California 30
5. Southern Cal 28
12. Auburn 10
Auburn Notes
- Joe Patching's 1:34.06 leadoff split made him the third-fastest performer in the 200 free in school history ... It was also the sixth-fastest performance in school history
- Auburn set the school record in the 800 free relay (6:14.99), breaking the old school record of 6:15.14 set by Hugo Morris, Arthur Mendes, Kyle Darmody and Joe Patching at the 2017 SEC Championships
School Records Set
800 Freestyle Relay -- 6:14.99 (Patching 1:34.06, Darmody 1:34.14, H. Morris 1:34.40, Apple 1:32.39)
All-America Honors (4 athletes, 4 honors)
Zach Apple -- 800 FR HM
Kyle Darmody -- 800 FR HM
Hugo Morris -- 800 FR HM
Joe Patching - 800 FR HM