Thirteen Gator swimmers invited to men's NCAA Championships

Thirteen Gator swimmers invited to men's NCAA Championships

Thursday, March 9, 2017 | Men's Swimming & Diving

Eight have previously competed at NCAAs

By: Layne Weitzel

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Thirteen Gator swimmers received invitations to the 2017 Men's Swimming & Diving Championships, as announced by the NCAA this week.

Brennan Balogh, Khader Baqlah, Andrew Brady, Chandler Bray, Mitch D'Arrigo, Caeleb Dressel, Ben Lawless, Alex Lebed, Blake Manganiello, Ross Palazzo, Maxime Rooney, Jan Switkowski and Mark Szaranek will represent Florida at the national championships based on their qualifying times in 12 individual events.

Florida will have the fourth-largest showing at the national championships, preceded by California (17), reigning national champion Texas (15) and Stanford (14).

Baqlah, Brady, Bray, Palazzo and Rooney will each be making their first appearances at NCAAs. Balogh, Lebed, Manganiello, Dressel, Lawless, Switkowski, Szaranek and D'Arrigo all have national championship experience.

NAME	EVENT	TIME	STANDARD
Brennan Balogh	400 IM	3:44.58	B
	200 back	1:40.72	B
Khader Baqlah	200 free	1:33.65	B
Andrew Brady	1650 free	14:50.05	B
Chandler Bray	100 breast	52.61	B
Mitch D'Arrigo	500 free	4:12.43	A
	200 free	1:34.07	B
	1650 free	14:45.96	B
Caeleb Dressel	50 free	18.46	A
	100 fly	44.21	A
	100 free	41.24	A
Ben Lawless	1650 free	14:51.03	B
Alex Lebed	200 IM	1:43.80	B
	400 IM	3:44.15	B
Blake Manganiello	1650 free	14:46.33	B
Ross Palazzo	200 breast	1:54.24	B
Maxime Rooney	200 free	1:32.18	A
	100 free	42.45	B
Jan Switkowski	200 IM	1:42.25	B
	200 fly	1:40.94	A
Mark Szaranek	200 IM	1:41.30	A
	400 IM	3:36.54	A
	200 fly	1:42.34	B

Although they were not "invited" to NCAAs in these events, ten Gators can add an optional event in which they've met the minimum time standard. D'Arrigo, Dressel and Szaranek, who were invited in three events already, are not permitted to swim others.

NAME	OPTIONAL EVENT	TIME	STANDARD
Brennan Balogh	200 IM	1:45.06	B
Khader Baqlah	100 free	43.36	B
	500 free	4:19.54	B
Andrew Brady	500 free	4:18.53	B
	400 IM	3:48.51	B
Chandler Bray	200 breast	1:55.86	B
Ben Lawless	500 free	4:16.94	B
	200 free	1:36.13	B
Alex Lebed	200 breast	1:57.98	B
Blake Manganiello	500 free	4:18.28	B
Ross Palazzo	200 IM	1:46.24	B
	100 breast	54.64	B
Maxime Rooney	500 free	4:18.66	B
Jan Switkowski	200 free	1:34.41	B

Florida also qualified all five relays – the 200 free relay (1:15.67), 400 free relay (2:47.09), 800 free relay (6:12.18), 200 medley relay (1:23.44) and 400 medley relay (3:04.52).

While the announcement won't be official until the conclusion of diving zones on March 12, Samuel Smith also qualified on 1-meter and platform at the zone B championships this week.

The 2017 Division I Men's Swimming & Diving NCAA Championships run from Wednesday, March 22 to Saturday, March 25 in Indianapolis.

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