Let’s not beat across the bush pals—this was a ridiculously quick week in school swimming. The primary week of midseason invitations are within the books and there have been jaw-dropping swims throughout the nation, together with a number of NCAA record-breaking performances. We’ll be placing out articles on the brand new prime instances of the season and the NCAA relay qualification panorama individually; right here, the objective is to easily have fun as most of the glorious performances this previous weekend in a fairly sized article size.
To do this, we’ve damaged this digest down into a number of totally different “award” classes. Clearly, there have been many extra nice swims throughout midseasons than we’ve got house to say so in case you don’t see your private efficiency of the week talked about, be happy to drop it within the feedback under.
Swimmers Of The Week
- Jacob Hamlin, Tampa: Hamlin had a sensational weekend on the Gamecock Invitational. He set two DII NCAA data, taking on the five hundred/1650 freestyle data. On the primary night time of the competitors, he clocked a 4:16.84, breaking a report that had stood since 2016 (4:17.09). It was Hamlin’s second private better of the day, as he broke 4:20 for the primary time in prelims. On the ultimate day, he swam 14:55.02, breaking the outdated report from 2021 by a tenth. It was one other huge drop for Hamlin; he’d by no means damaged quarter-hour earlier than.
- Gretchen Walsh, Virginia: Simply because jaw-dropping SCY swims are the usual that Gretchen Walsh has set for herself, doesn’t make her performances any much less particular. Her week was highlighted by her new NCAA report within the 100 fly, the place she swam 47.35 to take .07 seconds off her customary. She now owns the highest six swims in historical past, all carried out within the 18 months since Kate Douglass set the NCAA report at 48.46 at 2024 NCAAs. Walsh additionally swam a lifetime greatest 1:48.18 within the 200 again and clocked 20.54/49.31 within the 50 free/100 again. She virtually broke 20 seconds on a relay break up once more, swimming 20.09 for the second-fastest efficiency ever.
- Kaley McIntyre, NYU: The reigning D3 Swimmer of the Yr went to work this weekend on the Phoenix Fall Traditional. She swam season-bests of twenty-two.76/49.07/1:47.59. She’s now the highest swimmer of the season within the 100/200 freestyle, and the one individual sub-50 seconds within the former. She’s inside a half-second of her private greatest within the 100 free.
- Noah Millard, Yale: Millard turned heads two seasons in the past with a 4:10.62 within the 500 freestyle, the quickest swim by a mid-major swimmer in NCAA historical past. He’s again with Yale after a season out of faculty swimming and is again serving to mild up the mid-majors. On the Ohio State Invite, he swam lifetime bests of 1:32.42/14:33.47 within the 200/1650 freestyle, shifting as much as third amongst mid-major swimmers within the 200 freestyle and second within the 1650. He’s lower than two seconds off the all-time mid-major report within the 1650 freestyle, held by Penn’s Chris Swanson at 14:31.54. His freshman teammate Nicholas Finch additionally climbed on to the rankings, tying for sixth within the 100 fly.
Swims Of The Week
- Claire Curzan, Virginia: In her first midseason invite with the Virginia Cavaliers, Claire Curzan smashed the ladies’s 200 backstroke NCAA and American data. She swam 1:46.87, breaking Beata Nelson’s NCAA report of 1:47.26 and Regan Smith’s American report of 1:47.16. Curzan had a disappointing Olympic Trials and didn’t qualify for the 2024 U.S. Olympic crew however she’s turned the web page right here and proven that the Virginia coaching is working for her. It’s additionally the sixtieth American report for the Cavaliers since 2021 (women and men mixed).
- Agata Naskret, Colorado Mesa: Agata Naskret, the defending DII champion within the 100 backstroke, reset her personal DII report whereas at altitude on the 2024 CMU Invitational. Naskret opened her race with a 25.39, already below her outdated report, then closed in 26.57 to cease the clock at 51.96, bettering her report by .56 seconds and bringing the DII mark sub-52 seconds for the primary time.
- Julian Smith, Florida: It’s not every single day that somebody breaks a Caeleb Dressel report. Smith has been a key piece of the Gators’ relays for seasons now, and has steadily improved in his particular person occasions as properly. We’ve identified about his clutch relay performances for some time now, however his 49.98 within the 100 breaststroke—and SEC report—was a breakthrough to a brand new stage for him. He’s now launched himself as a legit risk for the 2024 NCAA title after his Seventh-place end final yr.
Relays Of The Week:
- Drury Males, 400 MR: On the 2024 SMU Invite, the Drury males took down the Division II 400 medley relay report—the fourth DII report damaged this previous week. Ivan Adamchuk (46.24), Davi Mourao (51.99), Alejandro Villarejo (45.74), and Lucas Mineur (42.86) swam 3:06.83, breaking the report of three:07.11 that McKendree set on the 2024 DII NCAA Championships by .28 seconds.
- For the primary time in 18 seasons, the Pitt ladies will ship a relay to the NCAA championships. This technology of the Pitt ladies’s crew hit an essential benchmark for the vitality of a program on the Texas Corridor of Fame Invite as Claire Jansen (24.25), Cecilia Viberg (26.89), Sophie Yendell (22.52) and Avery Kudlac (22.15) swam 1:36.24 within the 200 medley relay for an NCAA ‘A’ minimize and a faculty report.
Relay Performers Of The Week:
- Jordan Crooks, Tennessee: Jordan Crooks had a unbelievable midseason meet from prime to backside (together with a 40.26 flat begin 100 free), but it surely was the relays the place he shined. He tell us what was up from night time one, main off the Vols’ 800 freestyle relay in a lifetime greatest 1:30.00 for the eighth quickest swim all-time. Then, he dropped a 17.57 50 freestyle break up—the third quickest all-time—which makes him the 2nd quickest performer in historical past. He closed out his meet with a 39.89 100 freestyle break up, turning into the primary man to interrupt 40 seconds on a relay break up.
- Loyola males’s breaststrokers: The Loyola males’s breaststroke crew went off on the 2024 H2ounds Invitational. On the relay entrance, they joined an unique membership with Indiana, Texas, and Alabama as the one faculties this season that had their male breaststrokers break up sub-24 seconds on the 200-medley ‘A’ ‘B’, and ‘C’ relays. Not solely that, however the Greyhounds had been the one program with three 23.70 or higher splits as freshman Brennan Coyle break up 23.35, Michael Gozdan went 23.70, and Michael Venit swam 23.69.
Breakout Of The Week:
- Rex Maurer, Texas: Rex Maurer’s standout week makes a legit case for nearly each part of this digest. However we’ve gone with breakout as a result of though his lifetime bests pointed in the direction of the truth that he may very well be an influence swimmer on the nationwide stage in school swimming, his performances this weekend pushed him into a brand new stratosphere. Maurer has been quickly enhancing since starting to coach at Texas, however in case you predicted that he was going to show in a 4:04 500 freestyle this weekend—properly, we tip our caps to you. Maurer’s 4:04.45 is a brand new American report, taking down the mark that Carson Foster swam hours earlier. He blazed by means of the remainder of the weekend as properly, swimming private bests within the 200 free (1:31.59), 1650 free (14:30.47), 100 again (45.36), 200 again (1:38.27), 100 fly (49.02), and 400 IM (3:34.19).
Odds and Ends from the First Week Of Invitations:
A few issues didn’t match properly into our classes—it felt like we had been cramming them into a piece they didn’t belong, or placing yet another factor would’ve been one too many entries. However there are a few issues that we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out…
The Ladies’s Distance Renaissance Continues
Final yr, we wrote in regards to the resurgence of girls’s distance swimming as 17 ladies had damaged 4:40 within the 500 freestyle by means of the primary week of midseason invitations. That quantity pales compared to this season as 24 ladies have already been below that mark. They’re led by Jillian Cox (4:30.68), Bella Sims (4:31.06), and Aurora Roghair (4:31.63) who’re the one ladies who’ve damaged 4:34 this season. Sims received the ball rolling on the Georgia Invite, swimming the second-fastest 500 freestyle of her profession and quicker than her time to win 2024 NCAAs. About an hour later on the Texas Corridor of Fame Invite, Cox and Roghair handled us to the primary of their thrilling distance races. They each hit lifetime bests as Cox broke the Texas report for a 3rd time this season. To shut out the meet, they each swam lifetime bests within the 1650 free as properly, with Cox turning into the tenth quickest performer in 15:34.66 and Roghair swimming 15:36.43.
Extra Entries Mid-Main All-Time Rankings
Yale teammates Millard and Finch weren’t the one ones so as to add their names to the all-time mid-major rankings this previous weekend. (We’ll do a full post-invite replace individually that features marks set earlier than midseason after Princeton and Harvard have competed of their invitations).
- Johnny Crush reset the Military males’s 100 backstroke program report for the third time this season, clocking 45.08 to maneuver as much as fourth all-time amongst mid-major swimmers. Dean Farris holds that mid-major report at 43.66.
- There have been two updates to the boys’s 100 breast all-time rankings. 200 breast NCAA ‘A’ finalist Jack Kelly moved as much as third in mid-major historical past with a 51.36 on the 2024 Bruno Invite. Delaware’s Matvei Namakonov broke onto the record at sixth total with a program report 51.63, knocking Toni Sabev, one other Delaware swimmer, off the record.
- Finch and LaSalle’s Felix Jedbratt each clocked 45.50 within the 100 butterfly at their respective invitations, tying for sixth within the all-time rankings.
Males’s Division III 50 Freestylers Proceed To Impress
The DIII sprinters have been impressing all season they usually confirmed out at invitations this previous weekend. Earlier than the primary spherical of invitations, Casey Jacobs owned the quickest time of the DIII season in 20.28. That swim now ranks eighth, as sprinters on the Whole Efficiency Invitational and the Phoenix Fall Traditional impressed. Carnegie Mellon’s Brayden Morford grew to become the primary DIII swimmer to interrupt 20 seconds this season, swimming a program report of 19.82 main off the 200 freestyle relay. It was his first time sub-20, enhancing from the 20.08 he swam final season.
Jonathan Tang and Sebastien Vernhes broke the College of Chicago faculty report in consecutive heats. First, Vernhes swam a 20.05, then Tang shaved three-hundredths off the mark instantly after with a 20.03.
Additionally breaking Jacobs’ earlier prime time within the division had been Djordje Dragojlovic (20.14), Arnaj Deshpande (20.17), DJ Lloyd (20.25), and Luke Schwenk (20.26).
