Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Schooling off to splashing start at NCAA C’ships

SINGAPORE – Olympic gold medallist Joseph Schooling got his medal campaign at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Men’s Swimming Championships off to a splashing start on Thursday night (March 23), as the 21-year-old University of Texas swimmer claimed top spot in his 50-yard freestyle heat in a time of 18.77sec.

File photo of national swimmer Joseph Schooling

File photo of national swimmer Joseph Schooling

SINGAPORE – Olympic gold medallist Joseph Schooling got his medal campaign at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Men’s Swimming Championships off to a splashing start on Thursday night (March 23), as the 21-year-old University of Texas swimmer claimed top spot in his 50-yard freestyle heat in a time of 18.77sec.

His time was the second-fastest overall in the heats, with top-seeded Caeleb Dressel from the University of Florida placed ahead of him at 18.38s. Spectators at the Indiana University Natatorium will be in for a thrilling race on Friday morning (6am) as the two swimmers face-off in the pool in the hunt for honours for their universities.

Schooling, who was the talk of last year’s championships after winning five titles in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly and three relays, will be gunning for his first individual title at this year’s NCAA. But the Singaporean can expect a tough challenge from defending champion Dressel, who also holds the American and US Open records (18.20s) in the men’s 50-yard freestyle.

Schooling and his Texas teammates will also be gunning for golds in the 200-yard freestyle relay and 400-yard medley relay on Friday morning. While the swimmer did not feature in the 200-yard freestyle relay heats on Thursday, he was in action in the 400-yard medley relay heats, posting 45.41s in the butterfly leg to help his team clinch top spot in their heat in 3:03.45. Texas were second-fastest overall in the heats, with Missouri quickest in 3:02.53. The medley relay on Friday will also see Singaporean Quah Zheng Wen making his NCAA finals debut after his team, the University of California, Berkeley, claimed the last qualifying spot in 3:04.95.

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.