2023 NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- March 22-25, 2023
- Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center | Minneapolis, MN
- SCY (25 yards)
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets
- SwimSwam Preview Index
- SwimSwam Pick ’em Contest
- Live Results
- Day 2 Prelims Live Recap
There are no groundbreaking takeaways when comparing the results from Thursday morning’s prelim session at the Men’s NCAA Championships to previous years, as the times required to earn a second swim have stayed fairly consistent to 2022.
From 2021 to 2022, all individual three events on Day 2 got significantly faster in terms of what was required to make the ‘A’ final. The 500 free and 200 IM both dropped more than a second, and the 50 free dipped well under the 19-second threshold in 18.94 after it took 19.17 to make the top eight in 2021.
This year, the 50 free is the only event in which it took a faster time to make the ‘A’ final, dropping down from 18.94 in 2022 to 18.87. Perhaps more notably, a total of 13 swimmers went under 19 seconds in the prelims compared to just nine last year.
The time required to qualify for the consolation final has gotten faster in all three events in each of the last three years, with the 50 free time of 19.04 now faster than the ‘A’ final cutoff just two years ago (19.17).
TIMES REQUIRED TO MAKE FINALS – DAY 2
500 Freestyle
| A’ Final | B’ Final | |
| 2023 | 4:11.81 | 4:13.59 |
| 2022 | 4:11.27 | 4:13.81 |
| 2021 | 4:12.37 | 4:14.10 |
200 IM
| A’ Final | B’ Final | |
| 2023 | 1:41.52 | 1:42.33 |
| 2022 | 1:40.91 | 1:42.35 |
| 2021 | 1:42.21 | 1:43.13 |
50 Freestyle
| A’ Final | B’ Final | |
| 2023 | 18.87 | 19.04 |
| 2022 | 18.94 | 19.16 |
| 2021 | 19.17 | 19.39 |
The 500 free also had no swimmers break 4:10 this morning after three did last year, while the 200 IM was very similar to 2022 as Destin Lasco and Leon Marchand both put up 1:38s in the morning, with no one else sub-1:40. Jordan Crooks was two-tenths faster than Bjorn Seeliger was last year in earning the middle lane in the 50 free final, blasting to an 18.25 prelim performance.
Not sure how this compares to past years, but it seems low:
500 free: 46 swims, 12 season bests, 7 personal bests
200 IM: 56 swims, 14 SB, 9 PB
50 free: 53 swims, 23 SB, 14 PB
19.1 not making a B final is still wild to me
A & B final qualifying times this year are closer together, by a good margin, than any of the other years, too: 1.78s in the 500 (vs 2.54s last year), 0.81s in the 200IM (vs 1.44s last year), and 0.17s in the 50 (vs 0.22s last year)
Would be interesting to see comparison to pre covid years as 2021 numbers are skewed
A B
2019
2018
2017