Lucas Lang Repeats as All-American in the 1650 for CMS Swim and Dive
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Lucas Lang earned All-America honors in the 1650-yard freestyle for the second year in a row to highlight the final day of the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships at the Greensboro Aquatics Center.
Lang ended in fifth place with a time of 15:28.47, taking 1.54 seconds off his fastest time of the year. He adds his fifth-place finish to his runner-up from last year and his 11th place finish in the 500-yard freestyle on Wednesday.
Kellen Roddy of WashU earned the national title in the 1650 with a 15:15.86. Lang was 2.74 seconds ahead of Thomas Pritchard of NYU in sixth place, and was just over seven seconds ahead of the cut-off for first-team All-America honors.
With only two qualifiers (Lang and Frank Applebaum), CMS was able to finish in 20th place in the team standings with 47 points, out of the 43 teams which scored. Lang was fifth in the 1650 and 11th in the 500, while Applebaum repeated as national champion in the 200 fly, and finished 10th in the 100 fly.
The Stags will look to contend for one of the top spots in the NCAA standings next season, after only losing two seniors off of this year's squad, Thayer Breazeale and Alec Vercruysse, who were SCIAC finalists in the butterfly and breaststroke, respectively. CMS barely missed several other national qualifiers this year, by as little as under a tenth of a second, and will look to bring a large contingent to next year's nationals to get back into the top 10.
