Moving on to the third day in the championships, this is the day with probably the most clear-cut event favorites out of them all, which is certainly not to say there won't be exciting races throughout. Here's the lineups:
500 Free
Women:
Indy's Maura Donohue is the top returning finisher, coming in 2nd to dominant Casey Hurrell-Zitelman last year, but Nova Southeastern's Erin Black has already bettered Donohue's best time. Senior Catherine Leix has steadily improved over her career and Drury's Erin Dolan always drops big time from her winter invite times.
Dark Horse: Inha Kotsur, Grand Canyon – Lost a close battle for consolation champ last year, been consistently fast in the distance races all year.
Men:
Wingate's Iaro Denysenko ran away with this race on the last 150 last year, and has already been half a second faster this year. University of Tennessee transfer Norbert Kovacs of Tampa is solid and has SEC Championships experience in the race. Returning All Americans Ryan Arabejo (Drury), Oskar Nordstrand (NSU), and consistent Matt Herman (UCSD, took out the first 100 of all his distance races in 1:45 and 1:46) look to challange Denysenko, and 2010 champ Conrado Chede looks to return to the form his meters times would suggest.
Dark Horse: Tommy Rhoads, West Chester – Has range all the way from the 50 (20.7) to the mile (16:02), but this is his best race.
100 Back
Women:
This race is pretty wide open after the graduation of Sara Franklin, the first DII woman under 53. UCSD's Alex Henley will have to choose between this and the 200 fly, where she is the defending champion, but she's the top seed here and the only woman under 55 entering the meet. Sprint ace Ashland's Julie Widmann comes in with the second fastest time, but should be considered the favorite since she has the top returning time at national last year by 8 tenths.
Dark Horse: Tiffany Bell, Drury – She's been trying out different 4th events every year, with varying degrees of success. I think she'll be better suited staying more toward her sprint tendencies here.
Men:
Bridgeport's Oscar Pereiro blew this race out of the water last year, and should definitely challenge legendary North Dakota backstroker Rodrigo Ferreira's 47.31 record this year. He will still have to contend with always-improving 200 back national record holder Jeb Halfacre of FSC and GVSU's Raphael Santos as well as underwater ace Hudson Tucker of Mars Hill and Marcus Schlesinger of OBU, all of whom have been under 49 in their careers.
Dark Horse: Josh Davis, Nova Southeastern – Hitting his stride after adjusting from low-key (and cold) South Dakota high school swimming, and has already crushed his times from last year.
100 Breast
Women:
Wayne State's Kayla Scott is the top seed in this event by almost a second, but Drury's Monica Alvarez was a tenth away from her at last year's national meet and probably hasn't been tapered much at all this year. In fact, the entire A final from last year besides champion and recordholder Ana Gonzalez Pena return, as well as half of the B final, so this should be a great race from top to bottom.
Dark Horse: Allyson Mitideri, IUP – Really had a breakout season her sophomore year, she's a 400 IMer by trade but could make waves here as well.
Men:
FSC's Miguel Ferreira was a just barely mistimed turn from a national championship and sub-53 swim last year, but the best races come down to the smallest margins. Two newcomers will challenge him in GCU's Eetu Karvonen and UIW's new 200 breast national recordsetter Thiago Parravicini as well as UCSD's workhorse Nick Korth. And don't discount the other sub-55 swimmers NSU's Armin Hornikel, Wingate's Rory Julyan and GLIAC rivals Cheyne Fisher and breakout sophomore Aaron Marken of Ashland and Grand Valley respectively. Would I be entirely out of line to say there's a chance big Alex Hetland's record will go down?
Dark Horse: Tyler Remmel, Ashland – Olympic Trials qualifier in this event is looking for a signature short course swim to match.
200 Fly
Women:
Southern Connecticut's Amanda Thomas is the defending runner-up and current top seed, but UCSD's Alex Henley (if she decides to swim this over the 100 back that is) will be looking to break her 2010 nemesis Yuan Qing Li's national record. Caitlyn Madsen of Grand Valley and Jacyln Hynson of IUP will also be players in this race.
Dark Horse: Gabrielle Rossback, UCSD – The only freshman in an older final last year, she'll be looking to drop some big taper time from her current 18th seed.
Men:
GVSU's Aaron Beebe will be looking to continue his coming-out-from-Kim's-shadow meet with a win here, the next closest best time comes from Wingate's Liubomyr Lemeshko, a second and a half behind. UCSD's freshman Dane Stassi is the second seed coming in, but he hasn't swum all second semester, leaving question marks. Indy's Guy Kogel has had previous issues with the last 50 of this race, but looked to have solved them with a huge swim at GLIACs a few weeks back. Tampa's Kovacs could be facing a tough, tough double if he decides to do both this and the 500, but they are probably his two best races.
Dark Horse: Phil Arve, S&T – Has been one of the best back half swimmers in this race for his career, added some speed this year with the payoff being a best time from even rubber suit year.
800 Free Relay
Women:
Drury ran away and hid in this race last year, and return the very same relay, and the same result could ensue. UCSD is pretty evenly balanced, while Indy, Wayne State and Grand Canyon each have some powerful legs. I know next to nothing about Alaska-Fairbanks, but it's good to see a different team up high in the rankings.
Men:
This has also been Drury's relay to own the past few years. Their only possible question mark is 6'8″ freshman Sean Feher, who qualified for the meet on this relay, but I'm convinced Coach Reynolds could make anyone into a sub-1:40 200 freestyler. Florida Southern is powerful as well, depending on how the lineups shake up. Grand Canyon could challenge the two, but I would think they would have to leave one or more of their best in the event off as they have even better chances to win the other relays. I would expect the race for the rest of the podium places behind Drury will be at least as close as last year, with 5 teams switching places in the last leg.
One day to go, and it's my personal favorite as far as events go. I'll have my predictions for team finish and record breakers as well.