NCAA Men’s Championships: Josh Zuchowski Claims Three-Way 200 Back Swim-Off by .01
As if a three-way swim-off wasn’t entertaining enough, the finish Saturday morning in the men’s 200 backstroke was a thriller.
Stanford’s Josh Zuchowski rallied past Cornelius Jahn of Ohio State in the final meters, winning by .01 seconds. Zuchowski went 1:40.08 to edge Jahn. The third participant, Kyle Peck of Texas, went 1:40.58 to cap the Saturday morning prelims session.
The three swimmers had tied for 16th in prelims, all going 1:39.61. They were all slower in the swim-off, different than Friday’s 100 back swimoff.
The splits:
Event 116 Men 200 Yard Backstroke Swim-off
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Name Year School Seed Finals Points
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=== - Swim-off ===
1 Zuchowski, Josh JR Stanford 1:39.61 1:40.08
r:+0.72 23.93 49.57 (25.64)
1:15.70 (26.13) 1:40.08 (24.38)
2 Jahn, Cornelius FR OSU 1:39.61 1:40.09
r:+0.88 23.63 48.93 (25.30)
1:14.69 (25.76) 1:40.09 (25.40)
3 Peck, Kyle FR Texas 1:39.61 1:40.58
r:+0.67 24.07 49.89 (25.82)
1:15.60 (25.71) 1:40.58 (24.98)
Jahn turned in 48.93, up by .64 on Zuchowski and nearly a second on Peck. Jahn stretched the lead with a 25.76 on the third 50, getting 0.99 seconds ahead of Zuchowski. But the Stanford junior charged and charged hard. He came home in 24.38, a second quicker than Jahn. Jahn looked set to hold him off, but Zuchowski got his hand to the wall a whisker sooner on the finish to get a finals swim.
Zuchwoski was 39th in the 100 back. That event featured a race for 16th place, won by Bjorn Seeliger of California. He went 44.17, and Northwestern’s Stuart Seymour went 45.11, both quicker than the 45.22 that had landed them in the tie. Seeliger upgraded to 12th place in the final.
Peck had the team race weighing on him. Texas enters the final day with 368 points, leading California’s 312.5 and Indiana’s 304.
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