e 800 last night, finishing in a time of 7:53.87, three seconds behind OSUs Charlie Clark. For his part, Clark enters as the 3rd seed in the 400 (3:49.54). Sandwiched between the pair is Kieran Smith. Smith enters with a seed time of 3:45.77, which he swam to finish 9th at the 2023 World Champs.
The first of the circle-seeded heats saw Kieran Smith and Drew Kibler go at it hard. Kibler had the lead at the 200, 1:54.01 vs 1:54.97, but Smith used a strong back half to close the gap and took the win in 3:50.69, posting the top time of the morning so far. Kibler for his part, slides into the #2