Auburn Wins Fifth Straight NCAA Title

Tigers sweep athlete and coaching awards

March 17, 2007

By Emily Wicktrom

Special to CSTV.com

MINNEAPOLIS - Auburn won its fifth straight NCAA Championship and seventh overall title in dominating fashion at the 2007 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships Saturday at the University of Minnesota's Dorothy L. Sheppard Pool.

The Tigers posted 566 total points, handily defeating second-place Stanford with 397 points. Arizona finished in third with 371 points, while Florida was fourth with 321. Rounding out the top ten were Texas (296, fifth), Northwestern (221, sixth), Michigan (207, seventh), California (176, eighth), USC (145, ninth) and Minnesota (131, tenth).

"This group here, the way they performed during this meet, was amazing," Auburn head coach David Marsh said. "It is the best meet that we have ever had top to bottom. The captains of our team have pulled us through the hard times.  When our beloved Coach Crocker passed away halfway through the season, it was those guys that were standing up during team meetings and keeping things stable."

USC senior Larsen Jensen started off the final session by winning his second individual title of the championships in easily taking the 1,650 yard freestyle. Jensen previously won the 500 yard freestyle on Thursday. In the 1,650 free, Jensen clocked in at a time of 14 minutes, 26.70 seconds to swim the second-fastest time in NCAA history and missed the NCAA record by .08 seconds.

"I'm glad to get the 500 and the mile, and I'm happy with the placings in both," Jensen said. "Like I said, I'm happy with the end placing, but not so happy with the time. Eight one-hundreths off, how close can you get in the 1650 and not get the record? It's a little depressing in that sense. I'm going to refocus, put this behind me and focus on some bigger things."

Stanford senior Shaun Phillips finished in second place at 14:37.62, while Georgia junior Sebastien Rouault was third at 14:47.50.

Senior Matt Grevers of Northwestern also won his second title of the championships by placing first in the 200 yard back. Grevers touched in at 1:38.71 to win the event by over two seconds. On Thursday, he swam the backstroke leg in the Wildcats' NCAA champion 400 medley relay.

"I was looking for one all meet, any one would do, and it happened to be the last day and my final individual event in my history of NCAA competition," Grevers said. "It's a great way to go out and I'm very happy about it."

Auburn sophomore Cesar Cielo again proved himself to be the most dominant swimmer of the championships, this time by winning the 100 yard freestyle. Cielo set a new NCAA, American, U.S. Open and pool record in a time of 41.17. On Thursday, Cielo set an NCAA record by winning the 50 free.

"I'm really proud of myself," Cielo said. "I'm really happy with my results. I wasn't expecting to go that fast. The good thing is I'm still a sophomore and I have two more years to go. Hopefully I'll go faster next year."

Senior Ben Wildman-Tobriner of Stanford finished in the runner-up slot by timing 41.90 in the 100 free. Garrett Weber-Gale of Texas was third (41.94).

In the 200 yard breaststroke, Alabama senior Vlad Polyakov set a new pool record by winning the event in a time of 1:52.71. Polyakov regained his title in the event after winning it in 2005 and finishing in second a year ago. Nate Cass finished second with a time of 1:53.36 to be the fourth consecutive Stanford swimmer to finish in the runner-up slot. Cass was followed in third by teammate Paul Kornfeld (1:54.52).

"It feels really, really good," Polyakov said. "I am really happy with this time and extremely pleased about coming out a winner this year. I had a tough year last year and had some issues with my shoulder and my back.  I really wanted to come out strong my senior year.  I am happy with how it turned out."

Cal senior Patrick O'Neil took the title in the 200 yard butterfly with a time of 1:42.98. Auburn senior John Scott finished second in 1:43.47, while Gil Stovall of Georgia was third (1:43.54).

"It feels really good," O'Neil said. "I have been working hard for a long time. Some of the younger guys I have been training with this year are really good and I think that they will be able to do really well in this event over the next few years."

In the platform diving competition, Auburn senior Steven Segerlin won his second title of the championships by taking first with a score of 414.90. Segerlin won the 3-meter competition on Friday, and successfully defended his platform diving title from a year ago.

"It feels absolutely amazing, especially coming from Auburn where we have so many winners," Segerlin said. "I'm just proud to be up there sharing the award with them. Jeff Shaffer is an amazing coach, especially coming into the end of the year. He can really develop anyone into an NCAA-caliber diver."

Freshman Michele Benedetti of Arizona State finished in the runner-up position with a score of 412.10. Eric Sehn of Texas A&M was third (387.25).

The meet ended in fitting fashion for the championships, with Auburn setting a new NCAA record in the 400 yard freestyle relay. The foursome of Jakob Andkjaer, Cesar Cielo, Matt Targett and Bryan Lundquist clocked in with a time of 2:46.56 to set new NCAA, American, US Open and pool records by over a second. The win was Cielo's fifth title of the championships and fifth NCAA record of the championships (400 free relay, 200 free relay, 200 medley relay, 50 free, 100 free).

2007 NCAA MEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Athlete Awards

2007 NCAA Division I Men's Swimmer of the Year:

Cesar Cielo - Auburn

2007 NCAA Division I Men's Diver of the Year:

Steven Segerlin - Auburn

Coach Awards

2007 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming Coach of the Year:

David Marsh - Auburn

2007 NCAA Division I Men's Diving Coach of the Year:

Jeff Shaffer - Auburn