Complete psych sheet
Five former Potomac Valley swimmers earned spots to compete at the NCAA Men’s Division I Championship meet, set to take place March 22-24, at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center, in Seattle.
The NCAA selection committee made a deep cut this year, placing the official cut at the top 17-18 swimmers in each individual event. Last year the cut off was 20-23 swimmers per an event, not including invited swimmers. This year’s mark is significantly lower number than that used in the women’s championship meet, which took the top 30-31 per an event.
Michigan’s Sean Fletcher (Madison/Curl-Burke) enters his second NCAA championship seeded sixth in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 46.10 seconds. He earned invitations in the 100 backstroke and 50 freestyle.
Fletcher is trailed by Duke senior Ben Tuben (Jefferson/Potomac Marlins) who is seeded 13th in the 100 butterfly with a 46.69. Tuben was also invited in the 50 freestyle.
Princeton senior Jon Christensen (Jefferson/Curl-Burke) seeded eighth with a 52.86 and 17th in the 200 breaststroke in 1:55.96. Harvard freshman Chuck Katis (Langley HS/Curl-Burke) is 15th in the 100 breaststroke event with a 53.17. Both earned invitations in the 200 individual medley. Katis was also invited in the 200 breaststroke.
University of Virginia’s Brady Fox (Georgetown Prep/RMSC) is seeded 14th in the 200 backstroke (1:42.80), and received an invitation in the 100 backstroke event.
Texas senior Eric Friedland (Walter Johnson/RMSC), the reigning NCAA champion in the 200 breaststroke, received invitations to swim the 100 and 200 breaststroke and 200 individual medley for the Longhorns.
In the team competition, the defending champion California Golden Bears lead all teams with 18 total athletes. They also qualified four of a possible five relays, including the top seed in the 400 freestyle relay.
Arizona and Stanford are tied for second with 17 selected athletes a piece. Texas is third with 15, followed by Louisville (13), Michigan (12), Auburn (11), and Florida (11).
Complete psych sheet
Tags: Ben Tuben, Brady Fox, California swimming, Churck Katis, Eric Friedland, Harvard University, Jon Christensen, Louisville University, NCAA Division I Men's Swimming Championship, Princeton University, Sean Fletcher, Stanford University, University of Arizona, University of California, University of Florida, University of Michigan, University of Texas, University of Virginia
How about those Louisville Cardinals? Having 13 swimmers at the “big dance” this year will go down in the record books. They have a solid group of swimmers and have trained hard to earn this achievement. I’m looking forward to watching them swim in this year’s meet!
thank you, Mom Chastain