A Gator chomp is always welcome for those donning the Orange
and Blue. It was no different on the first night of competition at the Division
I Swimming and Diving Championships when sophomore Marcin Cieslak (Warsaw, Poland) pushed into the pad in a career-low
1:42.26. The time is the third lowest time in Florida history behind two Gators
who have recorded NCAA records – Bradley Ally and Ryan Lochte – en
route to a second-place overall finish in the 200 IM with a pool stacked of
competitors.
As usual, Cieslak offered a broad smile on his
accomplishment. “Every time I go in the water, I just try and swim the fastest
I can,” said Cieslak. “I just want to go out there and do my best every race.”
In a tight finish heading into the final 50-yard split,
Cieslak finally gained the advantage. The sophomore held a steady place
throughout the first three legs and then went on to swim the quickest, final,
free split at 24.60 to grab silver behind Cal’s Marcin Tarczynski.
Cieslak joined sophomore Brad deBorde (Longwood, Florida), and a pair of relay teams that
dove into the pool on the first night of NCAAs for the Gators at the
Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash., to take home
four All-American honors on the opening night of competition and sit in eighth
with 58 points.
“It was a satisfactory day for us today,” remarked head
coach Gregg Troy. “We’re very
pleased with all of Marcin’s performances tonight. The 50 freestyle is always a
little bit up in the air – any can put their hand on the pad first
– Brad had a soft touch in the consolation final which put him back a
little bit, but we had some strong relay performances. Our main focus will be
the distance events – we have to get a little better than what we were
today.”
“Overall, it was a solid performance today for our guys,”
assessed Troy on his team’s debut in Federal Way.
The men’s 200 free relay team of deBorde, Matt Norton (Port Orange, Fla.), James Turner (Ft. Pierce, Fla.) and Matt Curby (Oviedo, Fla.) earned the
first All-American honor of the night when the quartet combined to touch the
pad in 1:18.17 for seventh.
deBorde kicked-off the relay with 19.58 split to set them in
the 7th-place spot, and with each proceeding split by the Orange and
Blue the Gators neither moved up or trailed in the field – steadily
maintaining the seventh-place time throughout the race. Turner, one of two
seniors on the NCAA team, contributed the quickest split of the night clocking
in at 19.38.
Following his leadoff leg of the 200 free relay, deBorde
took to the pool for the final two races of the night. First, when the
sophomore sprinter finished 12th overall in the 50 free after he
clocked in at 19.50. Second, when he joined teammates Cameron Martin (Clearwater, Fla.), Cieslak and Matt Elliott (Peoria, Ill.) in the 400 medley relay to close-out
the first night of swimming in Federal Way, Wash.
deBorde and Cieslak continued to excel as the night went, as
each of their splits in the medley relay pushed the Gators to a third-place
finish in the consolation finals, and 11th-place overall.
“We had a better swim in the 400 medley relay at the
conference meet, so I know that we could have pulled together a better time
tonight,” said Troy. “We had a really strong backstroke from Cameron, but we
couldn’t pull it all together tonight to get the higher finish.”
Martin kick-started the Gators with a 48.28 split in the backstroke,
and was followed by Elliott, who contributed a 53.32 split in the breaststroke
leg. Cieslak clocked the second-fastest fly leg of the consolation finals at
45.86 to bump the Gators fifth in the field, to third. deBorde followed his
teammates performance with a 42.57 in the final leg to secure his team’s
third-place effort in the consolation final, and nab the extra points.
Diver Mike Lewark (Davie,
Fla.) made his NCAA debut off the one-meter springboard, collecting 247.30
points for 32nd overall.
After the first full day of competition, the top-10 teams
are as follows, from first through 10th: Cal (157.5), Stanford
(140), Texas (128.5), Arizona (118), Auburn (106.5), Michigan (84), USC (79),
Florida (58), Louisville (46) and Texas A&M (43).
“Tomorrow is our weakest day – we only have one really
strong event for our team and then a couple of weaker spots,” explained Troy
about tomorrow’s events. “We need to come in tomorrow morning with a lot of
energy and ready to step things up a notch.”
Day two
of the 2012 NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships will continue
tomorrow with prelims beginning at 11 a.m. PT and finals taking off at 7 p.m.
PT. Swimmers will compete in the 200 medley relay, 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free,
100 breast, 100 back, 800 free relay and three-meter diving.
Live
times can be found by following this link. Free, live streaming of Friday morning’s
prelims will be provided free of charge by clicking here. ESPN will be
streaming the finals at www.WatchESPN.com.
For all the latest information on Florida men’s swimming and
diving at the NCAA Championships, please log on to www.GatorZone.com/swimmingdiving/men or, for up-to-the-minute updates from
Auburn, Ala., follow swimming and diving on Twitter @GatorZoneSwimDv. You can also follow the Gators on Facebook.
200 Free
Relay, 7th, 1:18.17
Brad deBorde, 19.58
Matt Norton, 19.42
James Turner, 19.38
Matt Curby, 19.79
200 IM
Marcin Cieslak, 2nd, 1:42.26
50 Free
Brad deBorde, 12th, 19.50
400 Medley
Relay, 11th, 3:10.03
Cameron Martin, back, 48.28
Matt Elliott, breast, 53.32
Marcin Cieslak, fly, 45.86
Brad deBorde, free, 42.57
