University Southern California Trojans
USC
2004 NCAA Championships
Mellouli 2nd, Fahey 6th In 400 IM At NCAA Championships
March 26, 2004 | Men's Swimming & Diving
March 26, 2004
USC sophomore Ous Mellouli was second in the 400 IM (SCM), less than four tenths of a second from first, and set a school record in the process, while junior Paul Fahey took sixth in the event to highlight USC's finals efforts on the second evening of the 2004 Men's NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on Friday (March 26) at the Nassau Aquatics Center in East Meadow, N.Y.
USC is in 14th after the second day with 65 points, moving up six spots after the first day. Auburn leads with 435 points, comfortably ahead of second-place Stanford (248.5) and third-place Texas (246).
Mellouli swam a 4:04.90, touching just a stroke behind Florida sophomore Ryan Lochte's 4:04.52. Lochte's swim set American, U.S. Open and NCAA records, putting in perspective how good both swims were. Mellouli's time did break Trojan great Erik Vendt's school record of 4:09.35 set at the 2000 NCAA Championships.
Lochte and Mellouli were actually the third and fourth seeded swimmers in the final heat, respectively, but Lochte dropped almost seven seconds from his prelim time while Mellouli dropped almost eight. Comparatively, the top two qualifiers, Auburn sophomore Eric Shanteau and Georgia's Robert Margalis, the defending champion in the event, finished fourth and third, respectively, maintaining similar times from their morning swims.
Lochte, third in the 400m IM last year at NCAAs to Mellouli's fourth, led the entire field after 100 meters of backstroke in 55.67, Mellouli trailing in second at 57.15. Lochte extended his lead with the fastest 100 meters of fly in 1:02.13. Mellouli split the second fastest 100 in 1:02.65, but still turned at the halfway point a full two seconds behind Lochte.
Mellouli began motoring on the breaststroke, swimming a blistering 1:09.55, the best breaststroke of the heat and trailed by only 0.05 with 100 meters of freestyle to go. But Lochte's final 100 meters was just a bit too much for Mellouli, the Gator staving off the Trojan in a final split of 55.22 to 55.55, once again best in the heat.
Fahey, appearing in his first NCAA finals race of his career, took sixth in the 400m IM in 4:14.57. USC senior co-captain Trent Staley, who qualified for his first career second swim at the NCAAs, finished seventh in the consolation finals of the event in 4:16.35.
Mellouli's and Fahey's swims gave USC two All-Americans in the 400m IM finals for the fifth year in a row. Mellouli's second-place mark also gave USC at least a second-place finish or better in the event five years running.
USC freshman diver Michael Hilde got on the scoreboard for the second day in a row while junior diver Ray Vincent earned his first points of the meet, both finishing among the top 16 in the 3-meter springboard.
Hilde, 13th on 1-meter on Thursday, was 11th on 3-meter with 532.90. Vincent, meanwhile, scored for the first time on 3-meter in his career, taking 15th in 507.20. Vincent's finish was 19 places ahead of his 34th at last year's meet.
USC's 800m free relay of Mellouli, Staley, freshman Viktor Bodrogi and sophomore Tyler Panos finished 11th in the timed final in 7:15.36, breaking the school record of 7:16.64. Mellouli's opening 200 meters of 1:47.84 was 0.41 off of the school record of 1:47.43 by Bela Szabados.
Panos, competing in his first NCAA Championships, was 37th in the 200m free (1:49.21). Bodrogi, also making his NCAA debut, was 28th in the 100m back in 54.74.
The meet concludes Saturday with prelims at 12 p.m. and finals at 7 p.m. (EST). Results can also be found at: www.nliac.com.
