Senior Caeleb Dressel confirmed what many Florida fans had already suspected.
On the second day of the NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships in Minneapolis on Wednesday night, Dressel proved he’s one of the fastest swimmers in the world.
The 21-time All-American recorded a 17.63 in the finals of the 50-yard free, shattering the record of 18.11 he’d set in the prelims earlier in the day.
In the process, Dressel became the first man in NCAA history to win a national title in the 50 free four times.
“He’s really good any time he swims (the 50 free), he gets a better feel for it and corrects the things he needs to correct,” UF coach Gregg Troy said in a release. “This one was pretty darn good.”
Dressel also broke Ryan Lochte’s previously held program record of seven individual NCAA championships.
He — along with teammates Jan Switkowski, Enzo Martinez-Scarpe and Mark Szaranek — won the 200 free relay with a time of 1:14.39. Dressel now has eight individual national titles (four in the 50 free, two in the 100 free, one in the 100 fly and one in the 200 free relay).
For UF’s other swimmers, Switkowski took home his first individual NCAA championship with a time of 1:39.54 in the 200 IM. Szaranek also won the bronze in that event with a time of 1:40.27.
Florida closed out the day on a high note when the four members of the 400 medley relay team received All-American honors with a fifth-place finish. Dressel, Switkowski, Bayley Main and Maxime Rooney were part of that squad. They set a school record time of 3:03.16.
Florida will be back in action this morning at 11 a.m. for Day 3 of the meet.
Follow Sam Campisano on Twitter @samcampisano and contact him at scampisano@alligator.org.
Former UF swimmer Caeleb Dressel took first in the 100-fly at the Phillips 66 National Championships in Irvine, California. He, along with two other UF notables, will advance to the Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo.
