Men's 2005 Div 1 NCAA championships

Hi Ande: The performance last night had to be Peter Vanderkaay in the 500 Free going 4:09.82 and winning by 4.53 seconds. That is the second fastest swim all time. Ryan Lochet brought is time down to reduce his record and will provide an interesting race next week against Phelps. Fred Bousquet still remains the only man under 19 but at least got a challenge from Duje Draganja at :19.01 which would have broke the old record. Duje seems to come up short by .02 and 01 when I see him swim. The relay was different for Duje and Cal as they did break 1:16.00 which Auburn hit exactly. Having Milorad Cavic on the relay made the difference. His relay split was the same as Bousquet at 18.64. Tonights races will be interesting. The 200 Medley Relay is up for grabs with 1.5 seconds between 1st thru 8th. My two to watch are Stanford and Cal with Cal having the slight edge. The 400 IM shoud be a WAR with 4 experienced guys in the picture with Margalis, Shanteau, Mortimer, and Mellouli. I will go with Margalis. The last time someone broke the 50 free 20 second barrier was Joe Bottom and he won the 100 Fly that year. I am going to pick Fred to do it this year from his lucky lane 8. That is the lane he swam in last year when he won the 50 Free and broke the World Record. He is capable because he did have the fastest split in the 50 fly from the Medley Relay prelims. Since he got 6th last year this would be an upset. Simon Burnett is my pick to win the 200 Free and I wonder if he will match his time from earlier in the year and possibly break the new, less than a month record by Michael Phelps. Matt Biondi's record is the oldest NCAA record in history and he has held that for 20 years. I pick Ryan Lochet to win the 100 Back in a close race with Matt Grevers. I think he has a shot at Neil Walkers record. Gary Marshall is my pick for the 100 ***.

Hi Ande: The performance last night had to be Peter Vanderkaay in the 500 Free going 4:09.82 and winning by 4.53 seconds. That is the second fastest swim all time. Ryan Lochet brought is time down to reduce his record and will provide an interesting race next week against Phelps. Fred Bousquet still remains the only man under 19 but at least got a challenge from Duje Draganja at :19.01 which would have broke the old record. Duje seems to come up short by .02 and 01 when I see him swim. The relay was different for Duje and Cal as they did break 1:16.00 which Auburn hit exactly. Having Milorad Cavic on the relay made the difference. His relay split was the same as Bousquet at 18.64. Tonights races will be interesting. The 200 Medley Relay is up for grabs with 1.5 seconds between 1st thru 8th. My two to watch are Stanford and Cal with Cal having the slight edge. The 400 IM shoud be a WAR with 4 experienced guys in the picture with Margalis, Shanteau, Mortimer, and Mellouli. I will go with Margalis. The last time someone broke the 50 free 20 second barrier was Joe Bottom and he won the 100 Fly that year. I am going to pick Fred to do it this year from his lucky lane 8. That is the lane he swam in last year when he won the 50 Free and broke the World Record. He is capable because he did have the fastest split in the 50 fly from the Medley Relay prelims. Since he got 6th last year this would be an upset. Simon Burnett is my pick to win the 200 Free and I wonder if he will match his time from earlier in the year and possibly break the new, less than a month record by Michael Phelps. Matt Biondi's record is the oldest NCAA record in history and he has held that for 20 years. I pick Ryan Lochet to win the 100 Back in a close race with Matt Grevers. I think he has a shot at Neil Walkers record. Gary Marshall is my pick for the 100 ***.