March 23, 2017
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -
032317 Thursday Finals Results
Zach Apple swam a pair of sub-19 50-yard freestyles and Joe Patching blitzed his own personal best in the 100 back as Auburn had a solid first full day at the 2017 Men's NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships at the IU Natatorium.
"It was a great day for us," Auburn head coach Brett Hawke said. "We are swimming faster than we have all year and that was the aim coming in. The guys are competing hard, scoring really good points for the team and having fun with it."
Apple, swimming for the fifth time on the day, registered his second sub-19 50 free of the day, finishing to tie fourth in the 50 free in 18.97. A sophomore, he had never before gone below 19.23 but over the course of four 50 frees, he broke 19.00 twice and was at 19.01 a third time.
"Coming off the (800 free) relay last night I was super-pumped and I carried that momentum into this morning," Apple said. "I knew I had a chance to go 18."
On the day Apple went 19.01 to lead off the 200 free relay in the morning, went 18.93 in the 50 free prelims, swam the anchor of the 400 medley relay in the morning (41.86), went 19.12 to lead off the 200 free relay at night and went 18.97 in the 50 free finals.
"It's just crazy to come in here and have two 18s when I still have two more years to go and improve," Apple said. "I was happy to be able to keep it consistent."
"For Zach to go 18 twice and be beaten by three Olympic gold medalists, it was an amazing swim and a great performance for him," Hawke said.
Patching, who also had four swims on Thursday, led off the 400 medley relay with a 45.75 100 backstroke in the morning and then lowered it to a 45.47, the seventh-fastest performance in school history, to lead off the final relay of Friday night.
"Joe Patching is irreplaceable," Hawke said. "He's the leader and he just gets it done every time he gets in the water."
Auburn started the night with a fifth-place finish in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:16.62. Apple led off, followed by Kyle Darmody (19.10), Ziv Kalontarov (19.54) and Peter Holoda (18.86). The finish marked the 15th straight year that Auburn has finished top six in the 200 event at the national championships.
Patching swam the second-fastest 200 IM in school history to finish fourth in the consolation finals. His 1:42.54 out of lane 1 trailed only his own 1:42.21 for fastest 200 IM swims in school history.
Auburn wrapped up the night with a 10th-place finish in the 400 medley relay. Swimming behind Patching were Michael Duderstadt (51.42) on the breaststroke leg, Liam McCloskey (45.68) on the fly leg and Peter Holoda (41.72) on the freestyle leg. Both Duderstadt and Holoda put up the fastest leg in the consolation finals on their respective strokes.
In the team standings, Auburn is in 10th with 69.5 points, but is just 5.5 points behind seventh-place Southern Cal (75 pts). Texas leads the overall race (225.5 pts) followed by Cal (143 pts), Florida (138.5 pts), NC State (123 pts) and Indiana (121 pts) rounding out the top five.
The championships continue Friday morning with prelims in the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, 200 medley relay and 3-meter diving.
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
200 Freestyle Relay
1. Texas ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" (Ringgold 18.96, Conger 18.37, Jackson 18.92, Schooling 18.34) ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 1:14.59
6. Auburn - (Apple 19.12, Darmody 19.10, Kalontarov 19.54, Holoda 18.86) ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 1:16.62
500 Freestyle
1. Clark Smith (TEX) 4:10.53/4:08.42
200 IM
T1. Will Licon (TEX) 1:40.50/1:40.67
T1. Mark Szaranek (FLA) 1:41.11/1:40.67
12. Joe Patching 1:42.99/1:42.54
24. Tommy Brewer 1:44.57
41. Petter Fredriksson 1:46.61
44. Foster Ballard 1:48.66
50 Free
1. Caeleb Dressel (FLA) 18.38/18.23
T4. Zach Apple 18.93/18.97
27. Peter Holoda 19.43
39. Kyle Darmody 19.74
44. Liam McCloskey 19.93
46. Santiago Grassi 20.05
1-Meter Diving
1. Steele Johnson (PUR) 406.00/446.90
400 Medley Relay
x. Texas ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" (Shebat 44.58, Licon 49.75, Schooling 43.60, Conger 41.29) ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 2:59.22
10. Auburn ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" (Patching 45.47, Duderstadt 51.42, McCloskey 45.68, Holoda 41.72) ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 3:04.29
Team Standings
1. Texas 225.5
2. California 143
3. Florida 138.5
4. NC State 123
5. Indiana 121
10. Auburn 69.5