Schooling finishes second in NCAA 100-yard butterfly final; Quah is fifth

SINGAPORE - After winning the NCAA Division 1 Men's 100-yard butterfly title for two years in a row, Singapore's Joseph Schooling was not able to complete a hattrick of triumphs on Friday night (Saturday morning, March 25, Singapore time) as he was edged out by Caeleb Dressel in the final.

Both Schooling and fellow Singaporean Quah Zheng Wen had qualified for the final after finishing third and fifth overall respectively in the heats on Friday morning.

Schooling, representing the University of Texas, clocked 44.97sec while Quah, making his NCAA Championships debut this year with the Uiversity of California, Berkeley, recorded 45.27sec in his heat.

Schooling was the favourite going into the final as he also holds the NCAA record of 44.01sec for the event, which he set at last year's Championships.

But Dressel, who beat Schooling in the 50-yard freestyle final on Thursday night, had other ideas, and raced home in a new American record time of 43.58sec - 0.17sec faster than Singapore's Olympic champion who finished second in 43.75.

Although Quah finished fifth eventually, his time of 45.06sec was an improvement on his effort in the heats.

The result means that Schooling has yet to win an individual gold at this year's NCAA Championships. He won two relay golds - in the 200-yard freestyle and 400-yard medley - on Thursday as well as the bronze in the 50-yard freestyle.

Both Schooling and Quah will be competing in the 200-yard butterfly heats to be held tonight (Singapore time).