Men’s Swimming and Diving Travels to Indianapolis for NCAA Championships

Wednesday, March 22

Indianapolis, Ind.

3:00 PM

University of Arizona

NCAA Championships

Men’s Swimming and Diving Travels to Indianapolis for NCAA Championships

03/21/2017 | Men's Swimming & Diving

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By: Arizona Athletics

Men: ARIZONA at NCAA Championships
When: Wednesday, Mar. 22
            Thursday, Mar. 23
            Friday, Mar. 24
            Saturday, Mar. 25
Where: IU Natatorium | Indianapolis, Indiana
Streaming: NCAA.com

Pac-12 Championships Recap
Arizona took fifth overall at the 2017 Pac-12 Championships with a total score of 360. Stanford took the men's Pac-12 team title (784) followed by California (767) and USC (657).

The Cats' best finish came from the 200 medley relay team and sophomore Blair Bish and the 200 medley relay team. The team of Chatham Dobbs, Bish, Renny Richmond and J.P. Beach started off the championships taking second in the 200 medley relay with a season-best time of 1:22.34. Bish then placed second in the 100 breast with 52.32.

Juniors Justin Wright (200 fly) and Nick Thorne (400 IM) had the next-best finish, both finishing third in their respective events.

In the remaining four relay events, the Cats notched fifth-place finishes. Overall at the Championships, Arizona tallied 13 top-eight finishes.

NCAA Championships Information
A total of 270 participants (235 swimmers and 35 divers) will compete in the championships. The Cats had five swimmers selected to compete individually. There will also be four additional swimmers going as relay alternates.

Blair Bish – 100 breast
Chatham Dobbs – 100 fly, 100 back
Nick Thorne – 400 IM
Chris Wieser – 500 free
Justin Wright – 200 fly

Arizona's J.P. Beach, Chad Idensohn, Thomas Anderson and Jorge Iga will be the relay alternates.

The Cats will be taking two freshmen, three sophomores and four juniors. Hackett and Konopka lead the team with three events each.

Justin Wright: Flying onto the Podium
Sophomore Justin Wright has yet to finish lower than third in the 200 fly all season. Wright set the school record in the event last season at the Pac-12 Championships with 1:41.76.

At both the Texas Invitational and 2017 Pac-12 Championships, the sophomore won in the preliminaries. His season-best time came from the finals at the Pac-12 Championships where he finished third overall (1:41.88).

Other notable victories came against No. 2 Texas, No. 5 Stanford and No. 15 ASU. Wright also finished second versus No. 1 California. He is going into the NCAA Championships with the 13th-fastest time in the country in the 200 fly.

Arizona in the Rankings
The Cats have multiple swimmers in the USA Swimming Top-100 Times this season. The men have 42 times in the top-100 coming from 22 different swimmers, five of which will be competing at the NCAA Championships.

The men have five total times in the top-20 rankings coming from five swimmers. Junior Justin Wright has the highest-ranked time at 13th in the 200 fly, his school record-holding event. Junior Nick Thorne is close behind with the 15th-fastest time in the 400 IM.

Junior Chris Wieser is ranked 18th in the 1,000 free and sophomore Blair Bish is tied for 18th in the 100 breast. Sophomore Chatham Dobbs rounds out the list with the 20th-fastest time in the 100 fly. The five swimmers with a top-20 time are the 2017 NCAA qualifiers.

Follow Arizona Swimming and Diving: For further coverage of Arizona swimming and diving, visit ArizonaWildcats.com and follow the team's Twitter (@ArizonaSwimming) and Instagram (@ArizonaSwimDive) accounts.