March 25, 2000
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Junior Adam Messner (Ann Arbor, MI/Dexter HS) is the NCAA champion in the 200-meter butterfly and Stanford finished in the top four for the 19th consecutive year at the 2000 NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championships, held at the University Aquatic Center. A prelude to the U.S. Olympic Trials, the meet has produced numerous fast times, including two American records and one world record Saturday.
Messner won his first career national championship in the 200-meter fly, edging South Carolina sophomore Zsolt Gaspar by .09 seconds. Messner's winning time was 1:55.79. He becomes Stanford's first NCAA titlist this year.
Messner's performance helped Stanford hold off arch-rival California for fourth place in the final team standings. Even though the Golden Bears won the meet's final race, the 400-meter freestyle relay, Stanford's fourth-place finish in that event gave the Cardinal fourth place overall, beating Cal 279.5-279. Stanford has won 19 consecutive Pac-10 championships, and has followed each one of those titles with a top-four showing at the NCAA meet.
Sophomore Reid Gustin (Cincinnati, OH/St. Xavier HS) earned his first All-America honors with a 15th-place finish in the 1500-meter free. Freshman Dan Westcott (The Woodlands, TX/The Woodlands HS) won the consolation final in the 200-meter backstroke, good for an overall finish of ninth. Freshman Randall Bal (Fair Oaks, CA/Bella Vista HS), who qualified tied for eighth in the 100-meter back but lost a swim-off and was placed in the consolation final (ninth through 16th), qualified tied for 16th in the 200-meter back. He again lost a swim-off and did not score.
Junior Anthony Robinson (Houston, TX/ Memorial HS) made the final in the 100-meter free for the first time in his career, placing eighth. Junior Rob Canales (San Jose, CA/Bellarmine Prep) won the consolation heat of the 200-meter breaststroke to place ninth. Then Messner took the 200-meter fly title. Junior Steven Brown (Reno, NV/Reno HS), who had the fastest qualifying time in the event, placed sixth. That set the stage for the final relay. The Golden Bears were expected to win, and did, so Stanford knew it had to finish at least fourth in the race to stay ahead of Cal in the overall points. Stanford did just that, claiming fourth by more than a full second.
Top-ranked Texas won the NCAA title with 538 points while defending NCAA champion Auburn placed second at 385. Arizona was a close third at 360.5, then Stanford edged Cal by 0.5 point for fourth. USC took sixth at 249, with Tennessee and host Minnesota tying for seventh at 219. Florida and Arizona State rounded out the top 10.
2000 NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championships -- Final Day
March 23-25 -- Minneapolis, MN -- University Aquatic Center
(short-course meters -- winners and Stanford finishers only)
Final team scores - 1) Texas 538, 2) Auburn 385, 3) Arizona 360.5, 4) Stanford 279.5, 5) California 279, 6) USC 249.
1500 freestyle - 1) Erik Vendt (USC) 14:31.02 (new American record), 15) Reid Gustin (S) 15:16.95, 28) Greg Long (S) 15:30.41.
200 backstroke - 1) Matt Cole (Florida) 1:53.68, 9) Dan Westcott (S) 1:55.87, 17) Randall Bal (S) 1:57.72.
100 freestyle - 1) Anthony Ervin (Cal) 47.36 (new U.S. Open record), 8) Anthony Robinson (S) 50.61, 20) Jeff Guyman (S) 49.27, Glenn Counts -- DQ, John Waters -- DQ.
200 breaststroke - 1) Ed Moses (Virginia) 2:06.40 (new world record), 9) Rob Canales (S) 2:11.74.
200 butterfly - 1) Adam Messner (S) 1:55.79, 6) Steven Brown (S) 1:57.16.
Three-meter springboard diving - 1) Tyce Routson (Miami) 596.10.
800 freestyle relay - 1) California (Matthew Macedo 47.81, Anthony Ervin 47.32, Bart Kizierowski 46.92, Lars Merseburg 49.20) 3:11.25 (new U.S. Open record), 4) Stanford (Anthony Robinson 49.02, Adam Messner 47.92, Glenn Counts 48.63, John Waters 48.51) 3:14.08.