The top four teams after Day 1 of the NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships in Austin, Texas, weren’t much of a surprise, but the order was. Texas sits in first with 146 points, Cal behind by just one point, Florida trails by 9 points and Michigan down 37 points as the Gators sit in third through the first six events.
But the highlight of the day for the Gators was senior Marcin Cieslak achieving something he hasn’t accomplished in his previous nine attempts at the national meet. During that span he’s earned four silvers and two bronze medals, but the gold has always eluded him.
Cieslak wanted to get over the hump and finally stand on top of the podium, he said, after coming so close the past two years — three runner-up finishes coming in 2013. The 200-yard individual medley Thursday was that moment he’d been waiting for.
He earned the top spot in Lane 4 after a career-best swim in prelims. It was a time he beat in finals by nearly 0.6 seconds en route to his first individual NCAA gold medal, stopping the clock at 1:40.58 — a slim 0.09 seconds slower than the UF record.
Fellow senior Brad deBorde set the bar high in the 50-yard freestyle prelims, breaking the school record he set at Southeastern Conference Championships last month and qualifying for the finals with the top seed (18.86 seconds). His night swim was not as successful.
DeBorde stayed under the 19-second mark for the third consecutive time but found himself on the edge of the podium, touching in third (18.98), 0.03 seconds behind Alabama’s Kristian Gkolomeev and Brad Tandy from Arizona, who tied for first.
Cieslak and deBorde would finish off their night with another trip to the medal stand, this time in a team effort as the 400-yard medley relay group of the two seniors, along with junior Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez and sophomore Corey Main, earned the silver medal (3:04.77).
The second of the three-day meet will be in action today, highlighted by Florida attempting to repeat as the 800-yard free relay NCAA champs, the 400-yard IM — an event with two Gators in the top-5 seeds — and Cieslak looking to strike gold for the second time this meet with the 100-yard fly.
Follow Logan McGuire on Twitter @loganjmcguire
