One more meet, and one more swimming record for Caeleb Dressel.
Make that two - then three.
In his last NCAA championship meet, the former Clay High School star broke the college and national 50-yard freestyle records with a time of 17.63 seconds in the title race in Minneapolis and setting his third record of the day.
Before today, no person had ever swam the 50 free in under 18 seconds.
Florida's Caeleb Dressel just did it TWICE! (17.81, 17.63) pic.twitter.com/JbJlfpij23
He became the first man ever to break 18 seconds in the short-course sprint - and the first to do it twice.
That’s because just 50 minutes earlier, Dressel cracked the 18-second barrier with a 17.81 leadoff leg for the University of Florida’s 4x50 free relay, joining teammates Jan Switkowski, Enzo Martinez-Scarpe and Mark Szaranek on the Gators’ first-ever free relay title.
In the morning, Dressel swam 18.11 in the preliminaries of the men’s 50 free, breaking his own national record of 18.20 seconds from March 24, 2016.
Before Dressel began his college career, no one had surpassed 18.66 seconds, a record then held by eight-time Olympic medalist Nathan Adrian. Dressel completed a rare sweep, winning the 50 free in all four years at Florida.
The 21-year-old, who tied the achievement of Michael Phelps last summer by winning seven gold medals at the world championships in Hungary, also helped Florida qualify for the finals of the 400 medley relay.
Dressel is also scheduled to race the 100-yard butterfly and 100 free at the competition, which continues through Saturday evening.
