Auburn Closing In On Fifth Straight Men's Title

Tigers lead the competition with 380 total points

March 16, 2007

By Emily Wickstrom

Special to CSTV.com

MINNEAPOLIS - Arizona won four of the session's eight events in day two of the NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, but could not make up much ground on Auburn's dominating lead.

It was another fast day of swimming at the Dorothy L. Sheppard pool at the University of Minnesota, with four NCAA records broken. Auburn leads the competition with 380 total points. Arizona is second with 278 points, while Stanford is third with 261

"The morning session was the best session of my career," Auburn head coach David Marsh said. "We had 15 swims and 15 best lifetime swims. As a coach you can't ask for better than that. To go 15-for-15, especially in this meet, was truly amazing for us."

Auburn kicked off the night's competition by winning the 200 yard medley relay in record-breaking fashion. It was the Tigers' second relay title of the championships and third record broken. The foursome of Scott Goodrich, David Maras, Alexei Puninski and Cesar Cielo clocked in at 1:23.37 seconds to set new NCAA, American, US Open and pool records.

"We did the best job we can do," Puninski said. "We really believed in ourselves and we have been thinking about this record since the beginning of the year. We knew we could do it and we finally did it."

Finishing second in the 200 yard medley relay was Stanford in a time of 1:24.85. Tennessee took third in 1:25.69, while SMU (1:26.81) and Minnesota (1:27.09) took fourth and fifth.

In the 400 yard individual medley, Alex Vanderkaay of Michigan won his first NCAA title by taking the event in a career-best time of 3:40.89.

"It feels great," Vanderkaay said. "I'm still a little shocked. I didn't think I would get that time. I am just truly honored.

"We are doing great. No one expected (Michigan) with our lower ranking, yet we are ninth right now (in the meet) and tomorrow is one of our best days. We are hopefully turning some heads.

Albert Subirats of Arizona won the 100 yard butterfly, giving the Wildcats their second individual title of the meet. Subirats touched in at 44.57 to set new NCAA, American, US Open and pool records in the event. Stanford senior Ben Wildman-Tobriner placed second in 45.36.

"Definitely a big goal for me (to break the record)," Subirats said. "I didn't know it was going to happen - Ian Crocker is the best flyer there has been so far. I just really wanted to go under 44 seconds in the fly for the first time ever, and I am glad I did."

Auburn had three swimmers in the finals of the 100 fly, adding 41 team points to its total. Matt Targett took third in 45.87, while teammates Alexei Puninski (46.06) and Jakob Andkjaer (46.76) took fifth and eighth. Northwestern junior Kyle Bubolz was fourth with a time of 45.93, while Patrick Oneil of California (46.59, sixth) and Jason Dunford (46.70, seventh) completed the field.

Arizona was extremely dominant in the 200 freestyle, advancing four swimmers to the event finals. Wildcats junior Darian Townsend won in a time of 1:33.29 to give his team its third individual title of the championships.

"It's a bit of a relief," Townsend said. "I had a down year during my sophomore year...it feels good to get (an NCAA title) under my belt. This is just a testament to the Arizona swimming program."

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In the 100 yard breaststroke, another NCAA record was broken as Northwestern senior Mike Alexandrov won in a time of 51.56. The time also broke American, US Open and pool records. It was Alexandrov's second title of the championships after swimming a leg of the Wildcats' champion 400 medley relay team on Friday.

"I have been dreaming about (breaking the record)," Alexandrov said. "Around January after our training trip it started to become realistic. I was going really fast in practice and in dual meets and one day when I was training with my breaststroke squad, I said that I was going to take the record. Ever since then I had my eyes on it."

Sophomore Paul Kornfeld of Stanford took second in the 100 breast in 52.19, while Vlad Polyakov of Alabama was third in 52.25.

Subirats of Arizona won his second event of the night, this time in the 100 yard backstroke, taking the title in a time of 44.83. He had won the 100 fly title earlier in the night.

"I just try to feed off of the energy of the team and the coaches," Subirats said. "It was an amazing race and everything about it went the way I wanted it to. I am very happy about it."

Finishing second in the 100 back was Ben Hesen of Indiana in a time of 45.45.

In the 3-meter diving competition, Auburn senior Steven Segerlin was crowned champion with a final score of 415.80. It was Segerlin's second NCAA title after winning the platform diving a year ago.

"I tried to keep myself calm and composed," Segerlin said. "Sometimes you can get a little excited before a dive. I was just trying to keep it steady. My focus was staying strong, staying long and staying cool."

Ohio State senior Kellen Harkness placed second with a score of 407.15, narrowly defeating Magnus Frick of Hawaii, who placed third with 407.05.

Arizona concluded the night's competition by easily breaking the NCAA record in the 800 yard freestyle relay. The quartet of Nick Nilo, Jean Basson, Darian Townsend and Adam Ritter clocked in at 6:14.14 to set NCAA, American, US Open and pool records and blow out the rest of the field. It was both Townsend and Ritter's second NCAA title of the meet.

"I used to hold that record with Florida and when we broke that record my freshman year is was amazing and my first NCAA title," Townsend said. "To go to another school with other teammates and do it again, I just don't think that's ever been done before."

Florida took second in the 800 free relay in 6:17.82, while Stanford was third with a time of 6:17.92.

The NCAA Championships will conclude Saturday with the preliminaries and finals of the 1,650 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly, platform diving and 400 freestyle relay.