Schooling places 2nd in NCAA heats
Singapore's Olympic champion Joseph Schooling clocked 18.77sec in the men's 50 yard freestyle heats at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Men's Swimming & Diving Championships on Thursday night (March 23, Singapore time).
The 21-year-old butterfly king placed second among 60 swimmers, behind University of Florida's Caeleb Dressel, at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, and also competed in the finals in the morning of March 24.
The Singaporean's individual event is likely to be a dress rehearsal for the defence of his 100 yard fly title on March 24, and his 200 yard fly a day later.
The Olympic 100m fly champion has won both the 100 yard and 200 yard fly NCAA titles in the past two seasons, and holds the NCAA records in both events.
He clocked 44.01sec to win the 100 fly title, and 1min 37.97sec to clinch the 200 fly gong last year.
The Singaporean will face stiff competition though.
In the 100 fly, he is up against Tom Shields, who is the first swimmer to go below 44 seconds in the US, when he clocked 43.84sec last December.
Schooling's teammate Jack Conger, and Dressel, are also contenders in this event.
Conger is also looking to wrest the 200 fly title from Schooling, with the latter's Singapore teammate Quah Zheng Wen is also a legitimate threat; Quah, a UC Berkeley freshman, is seeded second behind Conger.
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