College Swimming Roundup: Pac-12 Madness & More

COLLEGE SWIMMING ROUNDUP

🏊‍♀️ SWIMS OF THE WEEK 🏊🏽‍♂️

Pac-12 Madness

What a weekend on the West Coast. The Arizona Pac-12 schools took a trip up to San Francisco to take on Cal and Stanford, and to say sparks flew would be an understatement. From a team standpoint, the highlight was the burgeoning Cal-ASU men’s rivalry ending in a 150-150 tie in the pouring rain, but each of the four duals were filled with incredible swims.

The race of the weekend, and maybe of the year thus far, came from Friday’s ASU-Stanford clash. Sun Devil freshman Ilya Kharun has been nigh unstoppable in the butterflies this year, but Stanford’s returning star Andrei Minakov made it a race in the 200, taking it out half a second ahead at the 150. His solid 5 stroke per length cadence tightened up from there to 8 strokes on the last 25 and Kharun passed him up at the flags for a 1:37.93-1:38.63 win which was closer than the times indicated as Minakov mistimed the finish. That’s the top two times on the year and two of the fastest in history. Minakov would later get the better of Kharun in the 100, with a 44.16 for the #1 ranked swim in the country.

Meanwhile, the 200 medley relay in the ASU-Cal men’s meet was a harbinger of what the rest of the afternoon was to bring. WTF is this even, in the rain, on a random January weekend?

That’s the top two times in the country by over a second. What else happened in this dual? Zalan Sarkany smashed an 8:37.82 1000, only about 4 seconds off the NCAA record, to go with a 4:12.45 500 free PR. Gabe Jett went the nation’s #2 200 free with a 1:31.78. Destin Lasco and Hubert Kos had a 3 race showdown, with Lasco winning the 100 back 44.80-44.97, Kos getting the upper hand in the 200 back, 1:39.07-1:39.29, and Lasco popping a 23.73 last 50 to pass up Kos in the 200 IM 1:41.72-1:41.97 for second behind Leon Marchand’s 1:38.93. Jack Alexy and Bjorn Seeliger showed they are still the best sprint duo in the NCAA as Alexy went 18.97/41.40 and Seeliger 18.92/41.41. Whew.

Other performances of note from these duals:

• Cal and Stanford women might be better overall than expected. For the Cardinal, Aurora Roghair starred, starting out with a 9:29.24 1000 which was briefly the #1 time in the nation, and adding 1:44.56/4:39.94 in the shorter frees plus 55.14/1:56.56 backstroke PRs.

• 200 free was a plus race for both the Cardinal and the Golden Bear women, with Stanford’s Kayla Wilson going the #1 time on the weekend with a 1:43.64 and Cal’s Mia Motekatis and Leah Polonsky going #2 and #3 1:44.05/1:44.06 the next day.

• Both teams had standout backstrokers as well. Isabelle Stadden was her usual steady self, doubling up against ASU with 50.55/1:50.58 times. Meanwhile Natalie Mannion came close to her PRs for the Cardinal with 52.76/1:53.86 swims.

• Stanford put 3 women sub-1:00 in the 100 breast on the weekend, with Lucy Thomas’s 58.93, Caroline Bricker’s 59.39, and Lucy Bell’s 59.45.

• Stanford’s men are starting to back up our prognostication last week that they may lead the second tier of top teams this year. They have, at the moment, one of the deepest sprint groups in the country, best shown by their come from behind touch out win over ASU in the 400 free relay. Rafael Gu (42.76), Jonathan Tan (42.88), Andres Dupont (42.09), and Minakov (41.42) combined for a 2:49.15. They also equaled Cal with 3 weekend top 10 200 frees - Minakov (1:32.19), Henry McFadden (1:32.88), and Ron Polonsky (1:33.06).

Power Five Action

Plenty of other action in the Power Five across the country as teams continue to build toward championship season.

Georgia/Tennessee:

• Georgia’s Abby McCulloh took back her 1000 top ranking from Aurora Roghair with a 9:27.08 swim.

• Fellow Bulldog Eboni McCarty continued her strong second semester with a 51.14 100 back PR.

• Tennessee’s Mona McSharry and Georgia’s Zoie Hartman had a breaststroke showdown, with McSharry getting the upper hand in the 100 58.09-58.89 and Hartman getting the touch in the 200, 2:07.12-2:07.28.

• Bulldog Tomas Koski’s 1:32.86 200 free was only .11 off his midseason PR.

• Georgia’s men’s backstroke group shows up like clockwork - Ruard van Renen led a strong 100 field, with his 45.48 follwed by Bradley Dunham’s 45.60 and Wesley Ng’s 46.86.

NC State/Virginia/UNC:

• Gretchen Walsh is unstoppable if you didn’t already know. This time: 20.98 50 free, 20.19 free relay split, 46.40 100 free, 48.77 100 back, 21.50 fly relay split. Naaaaasty.

• UVA women’s IM dynamic duo still chugging along - Alex Walsh went 4:00.52, Ella Nelson went 4:04.24.

• Ross Dant had a nice distance meet for NC State, with 4:16.65/9:02.19.

• Louis Dramm provided a highlight for UNC with a season best 3:44.41 400 IM.

• Daniel Diehl, one of the top HS class of 2024 recruits, enrolled at NC State early and made his college debut this weekend - highlight 1:42.64 200 back. If the Wolfpack swim to their potential they’re already going to have to leave a number of qualifiers at home for NCAAs, but Diehl and his 1:39.6 PR is value added if he’s prepped to peak for champs.

Michgan vs Indiana, then Ohio State:

• Brendan Burns did his thing for Indiana, doubling the backstrokes in 46.83/1:43.99 while also taking the 200 fly 1:44.37. Those are surprisingly season bests for Burns in the longer two events.

• Even with the overall strength of the Hoosiers’ breaststroke group they can’t help but turn random dudes into breaststrokers. This time it’s nominal sprint/fly guy Finn Brooks, who popped a 24.05 50 breast relay split in their A 200 medley relay.

• Ohio State’s women’s sprint group looks as strong as ever - Teresa Ivan and Amy Fulmer posted sub-22 relay splits, and Kit Kat Zenick added a 23.24 50 fly relay split.

• Breakout Buckeye Tristan Jankovics is continuing his nice midseason momentum, he posted 1:44.68 200 back and a 1:45.95 200 IM.

• Michigan’s Tyler Ray is having a strong sophomore bump season, he came close to his huge midseason PRs with 46.58/1:44.38 flys, with a 20.46 fly relay split to boot.

Alabama/Auburn:

• Charlie Hawke, midseason #1 in the 200 free, is the mid-distance Man for the Crimson Tide - 1:32.90/4:18.62 in those events, plus 19.13/42.16 free relay splits.

• Auburn’s Mason Mathias met him on the way down in that 500 with a 4:19.88 after an 8:58.97 1000.

• Avery Wiseman is rounding into form for Alabama, with a 2:08.22 season best 200 breast with a scorching 32.07 last 50; teammate Jocelyn Fisher finished close behind in 2:10.05 for another season best.

• Auburn’s women’s backstroke group put 4 sub-54 - Kensley Merritt (52.21), Ellie Waldrep (52.46), Kyla Maloney (53.15), Jade Castro (53.83).

• And don’t sleep on the Tigers’ Stoffle brothers - older bro Aidan went 21.34/46.08/1:42.46 backs, younger bro Nate added 21.29/1:40.87 backs and a 19.63 50 free.

Virginia Tech/Princeton/Penn State:

• VT’s Carles Coll Marti is building momentum this semester. His latest showing included 52.00 100 breast and 1:43.61 200 IM.

• Princeton’s Mitchell Schott is collecting Power Five wins in the 200 free. A week after taking down Chris Guiliano, he got the win here in 1:34.14.

• Keep an eye on VT freshman Brendan Whitfield - he went season bests 42.75/1:35.78, but also flew to an 18.74 200 medley relay anchor.

• Caroline Bentz was a highlight on the women’s side, offering up 22.43/48.73 sprints and a 1:58.28 200 IM - all season bests, with the 100 free a PR.

• Emma Atkinson added another season best for the Hokies with a 1:54.40 200 back.

• Eliza Brown put up a couple season bests for the Princeton women with 1:01.56/2:13.53 breaststrokes.

Lower Division Action

Power Five wasn’t the only thing going on this weekend. Some highlights:

• Saginaw Valley State’s Ben Wainman had a PR-fest dual meet weekend first semester, and another one this weekend, dropping his best in a couple distance races down to 4:31.96/9:16.45. His best in-season 1000 last year was a 9:42…

• Denison’s Emily Harris already was a scorer in 3 events at D3 NCAAs last year, but looks to be leveling up with PRs 51.94/1:50.45 frees against Youngstown State.

• Sophia Verkleeren put up some strong swims for Williams, including 56.74/2:04.76 flys and a 2:03.64 IM.

• Hope’s Ben Catton is a D3 100 fly title contender - he went a season best 48.48 against SVSU and Oakland.

• D2 men’s 100 fly runner-up Steven Aimable transferred to NAIA St. Thomas this year, he took a couple wins against D1 Florida Atlantic with 48.06/1:48.47 flys.

• Teammate Stella Warborn went a pair of PRs at this meet in the breaststrokes in 1:03.20/2:16.44. She’s now #2 in NAIA in the 100 and #1 in the 200.

• Penn men took it to Harvard for the first time since 1971 - highlights were Matt Fallon and Jason Schreiber going 1:56s in the 200 breast, James Curreri with a 9:06.33 1000 win and a 1:45.80 200 back, and Andrew Dai taking the butterfly double with 47.68/1:46.29.

• Army’s Kal Hahn was the best Class of 2023 recruit from the state of Nebraska not named Nate Germonprez. He’s been quiet thus far this season, but nearly hit his midseason times against Columbia this weekend with a 1:59.80 200 breast and a 3:49.28 400 IM.

🏊🏽‍♂️ Weekend Preview 🏊🏼

Hard to top this weekend’s racing, but still some good stuff coming up. Texas opens up their second semester against NC State - the Wolfpack were a little sluggish this weekend but if they pick it up there could be some great races here. Florida/FSU should be a good one. Towson/Delaware pits two of the best mid-major breaststrokers in Brian Benzing and Toni Sabev. Notre Dame typically throws down some fast times at their Tim Welsh Invite. NYU/Williams/MIT is a D3 podium contender tri-meet.

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