The NCAA has released the 2018 NCAA Division I Men’s Championships pre-selection psych sheets. The meet will be held March 21-24 at the University of Minnesota.
Despite setting new American records at the SEC Championships in both the 200 IM and 100 Breaststroke, Florida and NCAA standout Caeleb Dressel will compete in the 100 Butterfly at this year’s NCAA Championships. While he holds the top seed in his signature sprint freestyle events, he currently ranks 78th in the fly with a seed time of 46.89. The time is from the All-Florida Invite in September. Last year, Dressel won the event in an American-Record time of 43.58 and followed up his victory with a gold medal in this event at the 2017 World Championships.
He will be heavily challenged by Joseph Schooling and his own resume of NCAA and international success. The Longhorn currently holds the top seed in 44.78. He also holds the fourth seed in the 200 Butterfly and will compete in the 50 Freestyle. Teammate Austin Katz came in with the top seed in the 200 Backstroke in 1:38.49.
The Indiana men claimed five top seeds including Ian Finnerty (100/200 Breaststroke) and Vini Lanza (200 Butterfly). NC State combined for four from Anton Ipsen (1650 Freestyle) and Coleman Stewart (100 Backstroke) as well as the sprint freestyle relays. Auburn also claimed multiple top spots as Hugo Gonzalez claimed the fastest time in both IM events.
Harvard’s Dean Farris will look to improve on his fourth place finish in the 200 Freestyle from 2017. He will head into the meet with the fastest seed time for the second year in a row. Michigan’s Felix Auboeck will do likewise in the 500 after placing third in last year’s final.
The official, cut-down psych sheets should be posted Wednesday. Typically, between 29-30 men are selected in each event to fit under the cap of 175 swimmers (not including relay-only swimmers or divers).
Dominick Wallace does this mean you’re swimming the 2 free and 2 back at NCAA’s this year?