NCAA Men’s Championships: Yamato Okadome Wins 200 Breast to Cap Special Double
A year ago, in his debut NCAA season, California’s Yamato Okadome was learning the ropes in first championship season.
As a sophomore, things are much different in terms of the talent of the Golden Bears around him. But Okadome has shined, with some direct help from one of his mentors.
A night after joining the exclusive sub-50 club in winning the 100 breast, Okadome delivered a composed swim to hold off the field and win the 200 breast in 1:48.61. The Japanese international entered as the top seed, was third in prelims, then was tops at night, lowering his best time by .26 seconds from the ACC Championships.
“I’ve been working on the 200 more than the 100 in practice through the season,” Okdaome said. “So I want to go 1:47 to be honest, because it was my goal time this season and that’s the time I’m talking about with David Marsh. But 51 going out is on my plan. … I kind of died on the last lap, so I think I have still some things to fix in there.”
Okadome cited motivation provided by Destin Lasco, the Cal graduate who he calls something of a “master” for his guidance through the world of college swimming. A promise Lasco made is one Okadome is now about to cash in.
“He promised me if I won NCAAs, he’s going to give me the cap with his name on it,” Okadome said. “That was the biggest motivation for me. He said he’s going to give the number of caps that I won at NCAAs, so I won twice, so he’s going to give me two Destin Lasco caps.”
Okadome was out fastest in 51.87. He delivered the fastest second 50 of the race, the fastest third 50 and the third-fastest final 50, all enough to hold off Indiana’s Josh Bey by .18 seconds. Okadome had him by two tenths at the 150-yard mark and held him off coming home, with Bey looking to join former teammate Jassen Yep as back-to-back Hoosiers to win.
Bey got silver in 1:48.79, with teammate Toby Barnett sixth as the final guy to break 1:50. Third was Michigan freshman Luka Mladenovic in 1:49.34. UNC’s Ben Delmar, who had set the pace in prelims, was fourth in 1:49.66, three tenths off his morning time. Nate Germonprez, who was first at the first wall, was fifth for Texas in 1:49.69.
Three freshmen made the A final, with the top five scorers all gone from last year, led by Indiana fifth-year Yep. That left Okadome, who was sixth last year as a freshman, the lone holdover from last year’s championship final. Only three A finalists – Okadome, Germonprez in ninth and Delmar in 13th – got a second swim last year.
Indiana was close to an outstanding morning, going 6-8-9-10. Noah Cakir and Alexei Avakov are the latter two scorers, with both Bey and Barnett jumping substantially at night.
Texas has another scorer with Will Scholtz in 16th for the second straight year, though he was seeded third entered prelims. (He had plummeted from the ninth seed to an unscoring 25th in the 100 breast.) California’s Hank Rivers was 17th, leaving Okadome as the Golden Bears’ only scorer in the event.
Germonprez was third in the 100 breast with Mladenovic fifth, the only swimmers to join Okadome in both A finals. Tennessee’s Gabe Nunziata, who was seventh in the 200 breast, had been ninth in the 100.
Event 11 Men 200 Yard Breaststroke
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NCAA: N 1:46.35 3/30/2024 Leon Marchand, ASU
Meet: M 1:46.35 3/30/2024 Leon Marchand, ASU
American: A 1:47.91 3/25/2017 Will Licon, Texas
U. S. Open: O 1:46.35 3/30/2024 Leon Marchand, ASU
Pool: P 1:48.12 3/26/2016 Wil Licon, Texas
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
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=== Championship Final ===
1 Okadome, Yamato SO California 1:50.54 1:48.61 20
r:+0.65 24.46 51.87 (27.41)
1:19.93 (28.06) 1:48.61 (28.68)
2 Bey, Josh FR Indiana 1:50.77 1:48.79 17
r:+0.65 24.34 52.04 (27.70)
1:20.13 (28.09) 1:48.79 (28.66)
3 Mladenovic, Luka FR Michigan 1:50.63 1:49.34 16
r:+0.64 24.62 52.68 (28.06)
1:20.94 (28.26) 1:49.34 (28.40)
4 Delmar, Ben JR UNC 1:49.37 1:49.66 15
r:+0.70 24.75 52.42 (27.67)
1:20.67 (28.25) 1:49.66 (28.99)
5 Germonprez, Nate JR Texas 1:49.59 1:49.69 14
r:+0.65 24.16 52.11 (27.95)
1:20.59 (28.48) 1:49.69 (29.10)
6 Barnett, Toby JR Indiana 1:51.22 1:49.80 13
r:+0.61 24.49 52.66 (28.17)
1:20.94 (28.28) 1:49.80 (28.86)
7 Nunziata, Gabe FR Tennessee 1:50.66 1:50.26 12
r:+0.65 25.11 53.08 (27.97)
1:21.53 (28.45) 1:50.26 (28.73)
8 Martin, Eli SO VT 1:51.08 1:52.04 11
r:+0.67 25.50 53.91 (28.41)
1:22.92 (29.01) 1:52.04 (29.12)