Quah Zheng Wen wins first individual NCAA medal

Singapore swimmer Quah Zheng Wen was among the 1,000-plus athletes taking part in the 2017 Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships at the OCBC Aquatic Centre. PHOTO: CHINA LIFE

SINGAPORE - Quah Zheng Wen won his first individual National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) medal on Saturday (Sunday morning, Singapore time).

He posted 1min 38.83sec to finish 2nd in the 200-yard butterfly final at the NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in Indiana .

Jack Conger of the University of Texas (UT) won the race in 1:37.35, while the University of Georgia's Gunnar Bentz was third (1:40.07).

Quah, 20, had earlier won his heat in 1:40.44min and was the second-fastest qualifier going into the final, behind Conger (1:39.88).

Quah's fellow Singaporean Joseph Schooling, the two-time defending champion, was ill with fever and crashed out in the heats after clocking 1:45.47 to place 37th overall.

The 21-year-old UT junior holds the 200-yd butterfly NCAA record of 1:37.97.

Quah, a freshman at the University of California, Berkeley, is making his NCAA debut at the March 22-25 Championships.

He swam his first individual NCAA final on Friday (Saturday morning, Singapore time), clocking 45.06sec to place fifth in the 100-yd butterfly race.

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