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COLLEGE SWIMMING ROUNDUP
The College Swimming Roundup is brought to you by The CG Sports Company, the representation behind some of your favorite swimmers like Elizabeth Beisel, Beata Nelson, and Kieran Smith.
πββοΈΒ SWIMS OF THE WEEK ππ½ββοΈ
We touched on some of the best of the best yesterday but here are 20 other impressive performances from this week in college swimming.
Top Women's Performances
Gretchen Walsh, Virginia (20.94/46.89 free, 49.85 fly, 50.13 back, 23.08 back relay split, 49.03 fly relay split) - the best sprinter in the nation with the first sub-21 50 free this year as well as PRs in the 50 Free and the 100 Fly.
Josephine Fuller, Tennessee (1:47.79 free, 24.51/51.81/1:50.12 back, 1:55.54 IM, 22.34/49.13 free relay splits) - Best times all around and the #2 200 Back in the nation for the Lady Vol. In fact, she hadn't been under 1:53.6 in the 200 Back in college yet.
Jasmine Nocetini, Northwestern (21.59/49.37, 58.31 breast, 25.79 br relay split) - The newfound breaststroker (her medley relay split was .01 off the fastest splits at 2022 NCAAs) also hit a best time, A cut, and school record in the 50 Free while breathing the first stroke out of the turn!
Ann Carozza, West Chester (22.67 free/49.71/1:48.19 free, 52.52/1:57.07 fly, 22.46 fr relay split, 23.90/52.51 fly relay split) - The 2022 D2 200 Fly champ and 100 Fly runner-up is developing some nice freestyle chops as well - she's now a title contender in the 50 and 200 Free as well.
Bryn Greenwaldt, Augustana (SD) - (22.50/50.89 free, 25.43/55.48 back) - The freshman dropped over a second in her 50 Free in her first college taper meet to soar straight to the top of the D2 leaderboards and is now firmly in the title conversation.
Eboni McCarty, Georgia (21.89/48.30 free, 51.53 back, 21.63/47.67 free relay splits) - Her first time dipping under 22/49 and 52, she makes a dangerous medley relay front half with Zoie Hartman.
Chloe Stepanek, Texas A&M (22.37/47.94/1:43.83/4:43.68 free, 54.77/1:56.87 back, 21.78/47.58 fr relay splits) - The rangy freestyler was the first to break 1:44 in the 200 this year.
Christina Regenauer, Louisville (21.89/47.97 free, 51.62 fly, 21.54 fr relay, 22.93/51.37 fly relay splits) - Gabi Albeiro might be the Cardinals' star, but Regenauer is the straw that stirs the drink, putting down fantastic relay splits.
Lexie Waller, Drury (26.24/55.10/1:58.40 back) - D2 A final quality times in the backstrokes for the British Drury newcomer.
Top Men's Performances
Ben Sampson, Colorado Mesa (21.43/46.06/1:40.73 backs, 19.89/44.15/1:36.78 free, 1:44.96/3:50.23 IM) - These swims at 3/4 mile altitude too. Broke the D2 record in the 200 Back (held by legendary Matt Josa) by .01. May be the best overall swimmer in D2 right now. And the crazy thing is, his best swim coming out of high school was a 52.2 100 Back!! Shades of another Ben who was an unheralded recruit in D2 20 years ago, Ben Michaelson, who got 3rd at OT's in the 100 Fly behind these two dudes named Crocker and Phelps...
Charlie Hawke, AlabamaΒ (42.55/1:31.89/4:16.57 free, 1:45.18 fly, 41.47 fr relay split) - This weekend's king of 200 Free consistency dropped 3 PBs in a row (prelims, finals, relay leadoff) to vault to the top of the country thus far this year.
Anze Fers Erzen, Texas A&M (46.89/1:43.20 back, 1:44.59 fly, 1:43.36/3:39.05 IM) - Transplant from Iowa's dropped program took out the 400 IM like a hero, and dipped under 3:40 for the first time trying to hold off his freshmen teammate Nelson; then took on the brutal 2 Back/2 Fly double on the last day.
Jack Lustig, McKendree (45.58 free, 46.72/1:42.14 fly, 1:47.50 IM, 20.97/45.81 fly relay split) - Just keeps dominating the D2 200 Fly scene, and building a nice 2 IM for a third event.
Nick Sherman, Purdue (19.64/43.29/1:33.99 free, 47.63 back, 1:54.32/52.95 breast, 1:42.90 IM, 19.25/42.22 free relay splits) - Put him anywhere for Purdue and he'll make things happen. That IM should book his ticket to March.
Colin Feehery, SMU (43.61 free, 53.39/1:53.17 breast, 1:43.45/3:43.82 IM, 52.12 br relay split) - This steady improver made another leap forward with breast and 200 IM PRs. SMU as a whole is looking as strong as they have in a decade at least.
Yurii Kosian, Kenyon (44.78/1:38.88 free, 22.10/47.03/1:43.38 back) - 2022 D3 200 Back runner-up looks like he's working on his sprinting with PRs in the frees and the shorter backstrokes.
Julian Smith, Florida (19.49/42.09/1:34.67 free, 51.60 breast, 1:43.47 IM, 51.23 br relay split) - The breakout season continues with PRs all around. This guy might make the Gators forget about another Smith graduating last year.
Inigo Marina, St. Thomas (53.46/1:58.02 breast, 20.61/45.40/1:41.73 fr relay, 24.47 br relay splits) - NAIA 200 Breast champion drops another bit of time in his specialties, and those free relay splits aren't anything to sneeze at for NAIA.
Cedric Buessing, UIndy (1:37.57/4:22.37/15:19.42 free, 1:46.37 back, 3:46.02 IM) - Former European Junior LCM champion might be figuring out the short pool with a bunch of PRs.
ππΌΒ RELAY(S) OF THE WEEK πββοΈ
Top 5 Women's Relays
Stanford 400 Free Relay 3:09.82 (Ruck 47.44/Nordmann 48.21/Curzan 47.21/Huske 46.96) - They're gonna give UVA a run for their money in this relay if their season trajectory is anything like it usually is.
Louisville 200 Free Relay 1:27.03 (Albiero 22.09/Regenauer 21.54/Dennis 21.55/Welch 21.85) - Louisville's another team that usually builds through the year, so that this team is right on their best from last season is a great sign.
Indianapolis 200 Free Relay 1:30.86 (Buys 22.49/Vaselli 22.64/Magierowska 22.86/Paaske 22.87) - A D2 relay all under 23 is not something you see every day. Indy women looking deep!
Colorado Mesa 800 Free Relay 7:20.96 (Matoskova 1:50.55/Hansson 1:49.48/Qunell 1:50.97/White 1:49.96) - This is an altitude-adjusted 7:16 relay, which would have won 2022 NCAAs by 2 seconds. Gonna be a slugfest in this race between them and West Chester.
Kenyon 400 Free Relay 3:22.94 (Smith 51.07/Torrecillas-Jouault 50.53/Campbell 51.64/White 49.70) - Trade out 3/4 of your relay, graduate one of the best swimmers in D3 history, and still come within a couple tenths of your teams best from last year? That'll play.
Top 5 Men's Relays
Tennessee 400 Free Relay 2:47.27 (Caribe 41.55/Crooks 40.87/Kammann 42.61/Tarasenko 42.24) - Came out on top of this week of 400 free relays (virtually against the likes of ASU and Florida). That front half is handing the second half nothing but clean water.
Arizona State 800 Free Relay 6:08.97 (House 1:32.04/Hill 1:32.60/Sammon 1:31.96/Marchand 1:32.37) - This kind of time would have been unheard of a decade ago, now ASU is just casually popping this out at midseason.
SMU 200 Free Relay (Baker 19.75/Butler 19.02/Bruns 19.19/Kaye 19.21) - The best mid-major relay performance of the weekend, and the fifth best 200 Free Relay in the entire NCAA thus far this year.
Drury 800 Free Relay (Nogueira 1:37.45/Craig 1:36.53/Djaballah 1:37.56/Karacic 1:35.78) - The 8 free relay was Drury's bread and butter when they were winning umpteen consecutive national championships. This is a national championship-quality relay right here.
South Dakota 200 Medley Relay 1:26.72 (Fisher 22.58/Berdahl 23.93/Sathre 20.77/Kopp 19.44) - Broke their school record by almost a second at the Augustana Invite!
ππ½ββοΈ FINAL THOUGHTS ππΌ
Here are some thoughts I had while results-watching:
Luca Urlando's shoulder injury is really a huge bummer for the Georgia Bulldogs. First no more Matt Sates. Now, no Luca. Georgia has lost two absolute studs.
Florida men look locked and loaded. They don't usually show all their cards until at least SECs, so their performances this weekend might indicate they're ready to crash the Cal/Texas party.
Division 2 is shaping up to be something special - I think this is going to be the closest team meet on both sides we've ever seen!
Sprinting has gone bonkers. So far 30 men have gone 19.5 or faster and 13 women have been under 22.
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