NCAA Men’s Championships, Day 3 Prelims: Ben Delmar, Nate Germonprez Go Sub-1:50 in 200 Breaststroke
Friday morning’s prelims session at the NCAA Men’s Championships opened in record-breaking fashion as Hubert Kos blasted his own NCAA and U.S. Open marks in the 100 backstroke, putting the Texas senior in position to become the first man ever under 43 at night. In the next event, North Carolina’s Ben Delmar edged Texas’ Nate Germonprez for the top seed in the 200 breaststroke, with 100-yard winner Yamato Okadome looming.
The session also included qualifying in the 500 freestyle and 50 freestyle as well as early heats of the 400 medley relay.
Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 9 1. Texas 215.5 2. Florida 205 3. Arizona St 133.5 4. Indiana 132.5 5. California 124 6. NC State 122 7. Michigan 115 8. Tennessee 107 9. Virginia 88 10. Stanford 83 11. Ohio St 63 12. Louisville 53 13. Kentucky 51 14. Virginia Tech 31 15. Auburn 30 16. Lsu 29 16. Southern California 29 18. Princeton 25 19. Smu 24 20. Miami (Fl) 22 21. Wisconsin 19 22. Georgia 17.5 23. Pittsburgh 17 24. UNC 14 25. Northwestern 13 26. Delaware 12 26. Utah 12 28. Georgia Tech 11 29. Yale 10 30. Harvard 9 31. Alabama 8 32. Purdue 7 32. Florida St 7 34. IU Indianapolis 6 35. Penn St 5 36. Army 4 36. Texas A&M 4 38. Arizona 2
200 Breaststroke
North Carolina’s Ben Delmar has significantly elevated his standing in the sport since placing 13th in the 200 breast at last year’s NCAA Championships. Over the summer, Delmar qualified to represent the United States at the World University Games and won three medals, including gold in the 200-meter breast. Delmar followed that up by going under 1:50 in the yards event during the college season, and he swam another best time in prelims to book the top seed for the championship final.
Delmar went head-to-head with Texas’ Nate Germonprez in heat four, taking a slight lead on the third 50 and then holding on down the stretch. Delmar finished in 1:49.37, two tenths clear of Germonprez at 1:49.59. Germonprez is coming off a disappointing swim in the 100 breast, where he fell to third despite swimming a prelims time quicker than anyone went at night.
Yamato Okadome, who stunned the field in the 100 with a come-from-behind finish, will be in the mix here after getting third in heats at 1:50.54. Okadome’s seed time of 1:48.87 is the best in the country this season and ninth-fastest in history. Behind Okadome were three freshmen all in 1:50-territory, Luka Mladenovic, Gabe Nunziata and Josh Bey.
Virginia Tech’s Eli Martin placed seventh while Indiana got another swimmer into the heat with Toby Barnett in eighth. Indiana also secured ninth and 10th-place points as Noah Cakir and Alexei Avakov finished just outside the mix.
Event 11 Men 200 Yard Breaststroke
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NCAA: N 1:46.35 3/30/2024 Leon Marchand, ASU
Meet: M 1:46.35 3/30/2024 Leon Marchand, ASU
American: A 1:47.91 3/25/2017 Will Licon, Texas
U. S. Open: O 1:46.35 3/30/2024 Leon Marchand, ASU
Pool: P 1:48.12 3/26/2016 Wil Licon, Texas
Name Year School Seed Prelims
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=== Preliminaries ===
1 Delmar, Ben JR UNC 1:49.76 1:49.37
r:+0.70 24.68 52.45 (27.77)
1:20.78 (28.33) 1:49.37 (28.59)
2 Germonprez, Nate JR Texas 1:48.94 1:49.59
r:+0.70 24.23 52.04 (27.81)
1:20.72 (28.68) 1:49.59 (28.87)
3 Okadome, Yamato SO California 1:48.87 1:50.54
r:+0.66 25.10 52.63 (27.53)
1:21.25 (28.62) 1:50.54 (29.29)
4 Mladenovic, Luka FR Michigan 1:49.34 1:50.63
r:+0.67 24.83 53.00 (28.17)
1:21.68 (28.68) 1:50.63 (28.95)
5 Nunziata, Gabe FR Tennessee 1:50.59 1:50.66
r:+0.67 24.87 52.94 (28.07)
1:21.46 (28.52) 1:50.66 (29.20)
6 Bey, Josh FR Indiana 1:50.03 1:50.77
r:+0.68 25.19 53.17 (27.98)
1:21.90 (28.73) 1:50.77 (28.87)
7 Martin, Eli SO VT 1:51.10 1:51.08
r:+0.67 25.38 53.41 (28.03)
1:22.17 (28.76) 1:51.08 (28.91)
8 Barnett, Toby JR Indiana 1:50.75 1:51.22
r:+0.62 25.28 53.78 (28.50)
1:22.23 (28.45) 1:51.22 (28.99)
500 Freestyle
50 Freestyle
400 Medley Relay
