I noticed this past Wednesday that the NCAA Division I Swimming Championships would be in Federal Way this weekend. Since that is only a 45 minute drive, I looked at the daily schedule and thought that Friday evening was a good lineup of events.
Friday, March 28, 2008
200-Yard Medley Relay
400-Yard Individual Medley
100-Yard Butterfly
200-Yard Freestyle
100-Yard Breaststroke
100-Yard Backstroke
Three-Meter Diving
800-Yard Freestyle Relay
So Jill and I went to watch. Jill has never been to a swim meet and I think I've only ever been once when I wasn't a participant (I've been to hundreds of them over my lifetime). When we got to our seats in the stands, we sat down and two seats over sat one of Jill's former colleagues at WaMu. Wow – what are the odds of that? While Jill talked to Elizabeth, I studied the heat sheets. Elizabeth was there for the same reason Jill was – the guy she was with used to be a good swimmer.
This was a good lineup to see although most of the races had a clear winner. The closest race was the 200 free which was fun to watch (the top 5 finishers all came within 1 second of the winner). The relays were exciting as usual and both of the winners set new NCAA records. Jill was impressed that the crowd was more enthusiastic at this meet than at a Mariner's game. Sadly, I have to agree which doesn't say much for the Mariners fans – we go to 10+ games a year.
Auburn's highlight of the night came in the first event, when the Tigers set NCAA and U.S. open records in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:23.24. The same foursome, anchored by Brazilian Cesar Cielo, set the record (1:23.37) in last year's meet.
Arizona wrapped up the day in encouraging fashion by winning the 800-yard free relay in 6 minutes, 12.85 seconds, an NCAA meet record, topping a mark (6:14.14) it set last year.
My event back in high school and college was the breaststroke (and sometimes the sprint freestyles & individual medleys). These guys are fast. The guy from Arizona who tied for 2nd place was deaf. The Arizona fans didn't cheer/clap when he went by – they raised and turned their hands back and forth (the way you clap for someone deaf). He also looked over at the starter as he setup to start. The blocks have lights on them so he can see the start flash right below his feet.
100 breaststroke Results -- 1, Paul Kornfeld, Stanford, 52.03. 2, (tie) Marcus Titus, Arizona, and Damir Dugonjic, California, 52.61. 4, Scott Spann, Michigan, 52.71. 5, Kevin Donohue, West Virginia, 53.15.
At the end of the event, Arizona won the team title for the first time - breaking Auburn's streak. The Arizona women won a couple weeks ago so they swept the event this year.
If you want to watch any of this on TV, ESPN2 is running coverage on Thursday April 3 at 3pm ET. Set your DVR.
Recap of the final day in the Seattle Times. Final results:
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
1, Arizona, 500.5 points.
2, Texas, 406.
3, Stanford, 344.
4, California, 332.5.
5, Auburn, 316.
6, Michigan, 271.5.
7, Georgia, 229.
8, Florida, 210.
9, Tennessee, 172.
10, Indiana, 166.
11, Minnesota, 137.5.
12, Northwestern, 85.
13, Texas A&M, 78.
14. Southern Methodist, 71.
15, Virginia, 69.
16, Ohio State, 63.
17, Miami, 59.
18, Arizona State, 51.
19, Kentucky, 47.
20, Yale, 40.
21, Florida State, 39.
22, Alabama, 37.
23 (tie), Penn State and Hawaii, 33.
25, Purdue, 25.
26, Louisville, 24.
27, Oakland (Mich.), 23.
28, Princeton, 21.
29 (tie), North Carolina and Louisiana State, 20.
The rest: 31, Harvard, 19. 32, Denver, 16. 33, West Virginia, 14. 34 (tie), Pittsburgh and California-Irvine, 11. 36, Southern California, 9. 37, Virginia Tech, 8. 38, Missouri, 5. 39, Wisconsin, 4. 40, Cincinnati, 3. 41, Notre Dame, 2.