COLLEGE SWIMMING ROUNDUP

🏊‍♀️ SWIMS OF THE WEEK 🏊🏽‍♂️

Georgia in the SCM Pool - Georgia took on Georgia Tech in a midweek, SCM dual. While Americans might be more used to SCM times due to the advent of the ISL, it still helps to have some context from time converters, imperfect as they are. Georgia's stars put together some solid swims. NCAA 100 Back record holder Luca Urlando led off the 200 MR 24.00 (21.6 converted) 50 Back, won the 100 Back in 51.7 (46.5 converted), 100 Fly in 51.9 (46.7 converted), and finally the 200 IM in 1:58.6 (1:46.9 converted). On the longer side, 2021 NCAA 500 Free Champion Jake Magahey took the 800 Free in 7:52.5 (9:00 converted 1000) and the 400 Free in 3:49.0 (4:21 converted 500). Of other note, the best split on Georgia's 200 Medley Relay wasn't Luca, but rather Wesley Ng, who went a 22.8 50 Fly, which converts to about 20.5. With 50 Free school record holder Dillon Downing anchoring, Georgia is a player in both medley relays in March.

Stanford With the Clean Sweep🧹- Utah was maybe a bit on their back foot - they traveled to the Bay Area to dual Cal the afternoon before so were on the second day of a road back-to-back, but it's still impressive for a D1 team to completely sweep another D1 team. Notably, Cardinal star Torri Huske took on some odd events - winning the 100 Back in 52.62 over freshman do-it-all Claire Curzan's 52.64 and then followed up with a 2:14.6 200 Breast. Those were both best times! Stanford's freshmen men also had a nice debut showing - Rafael Gu from Shanghai took the 200 Free in 1:35.7 and took 2nd in the 50 and 100 in 20.2/44.1, while Hayden Kwan was within spitting distance of his PBs, winning the 100/200 Back double in 48.2/1:45.4. Andrei Minakov not suiting up was a bit of a disappointment, but still no reason to think he won't be back.

USC Invite Fireworks🧨 - The past several years, USC has hosted an early season invite that always results in a few eye-popping times. This year's edition, starring the hosts and Auburn, was no different. On the women's side, Isabelle Odgers went three nation leading times in winning the IMs in 1:56.8/4:10.5 and the 200 breast in 2:09.1. Second place in the 2 Breast, Kaitlyn Dobler, won the 100 version is a stunning 57.8 and also took the 50 Free in 22.30. On the men's side, Auburn demonstrated that they're back in a big way with maybe the most impressive set of in-season relays I've ever seen - they were 1:18.0/2:53.6 in the free relays and 1:24.5/3:07.2 in the medleys. We'll cover that 200 MR later.

Kenyon Punching🤜 Over Their Weight - Division III powerhouse Kenyon College took on D1 mid-majors Cleveland State and St. Bonaventure and went a convincing 4-0. Standouts were junior Yurii Kosian knocking out backstroke B cuts with 49.4/1:47.7 wins, sophomore Gabby Wei doing the same in the 200 Breast with a 2:18.9, and Kenyon's women hitting the consideration standard in the 200 Medley Relay with a 1:45.09.

🏊🏼 RELAY(S) OF THE WEEK 🏊‍♀️

Got a two-fer this week!

Trojan Invite 200 Medley Relays

USC Women, 1:37.18:

• Aria Bernal - 25.14 back

• Kaitlyn Dobler - 26.63 breast

• Anicka Delgado - 23.46 fly

• Elise Garcia - 21.95 free

Auburn Men, 1:24.54:

• Nate Stoffle - 21.57 back

• Reid Mikuta - 23.29 breast

• Aidan Stoffle - 20.66 fly

• Kalle Makinen - 19.02 free

Had to mention both relays as they consecutively put up the fastest times in the nation this year. They're also historically good - I could only find a couple women's 200 Medley Relays that were faster by this time of year over the past 5 years, and as far as I can tell the Auburn men were the fastest 200 Medley Relay ever prior to midseason invites.

🏊🏽‍♂️ MEET OF THE WEEK 🏊🏼

NC State vs Tennessee - Women 208-141, Men 198-155

This is Meet of the Week because of the statement 🐺 both NC State teams made. The Wolfpack opened up their season visiting Tennessee in a two-day full schedule dual. Tennessee is likely a top-10 team on both sides, but NC State absolutely dismantled them, with the women winning 208-141 and the men taking a 198-155 victory. As is so often the case for the deep Wolfpack teams, their relays were sick. NC State combined for Top-5 times in the country in every relay except the Women's 400 Medley...only because they were deeq'ed. The most impressive Wolfpack relay on the day was the Men's 200 Free Relay that went 1:17.5. Fastest time in the country thus far this year.

Some other notables from the meet:

• Tennessee sophomore Jordan Crooks went another 19.36 in the 50 and 19.37 leading off the 200 FR. Perhaps most impressive, he led off the meet ending 400 FR in 42.7.

• Taking second in that 50 was Wolfpack freshman Quintin McCarty in 19.44 - his lifetime best is "only" 19.35. He also led off the B 400 MR in 46.8 and the B 400 FR in 43.2. Impressive debut to say the least. Watch out for this dude.

• NC State fifth year Kacper Stokowski led off NC State's A 400 MR in 45.7. That 100 Back would have qualified for NCAAs last year.

• Staying with the 100 Backstroke theme, Katherine Berkoff won the women's race in 52.4 (she was 52.2 in the DQd relay), while Tennessee's Josephine Fuller led off her team's 400 MR in 52.7. Fuller was less than a second off of her personal best.

• Kylee Alons won the 100 Fly in 52.5, and also contributed toasty 23.1/51.6 Fly relay splits.

🏊🏽‍♂️ WEEKEND PREVIEW 🏊🏼

Two HUGE meets this week, and a few other notables...

• The headliner is Florida traveling to Virginia for a Saturday dual and the unveiling of the 2022 NCAA Championships banner. This'll be the official kickoff for the Cavalier women's title defense. Plus, Emma Weyant returns to Charlottesville to race all her friends. We've come to expect the unexpected with the UVA women. We'll see what interesting lineup twists coach Todd DeSorbo might have up his sleeve this time. On the men's side, the 2022 3rd place Gators lost quite a bit to graduation, but picked up perhaps the biggest recruit of the year in Canadian World Champion Josh Liendo. He goes up against an up-and-coming Virginia sprint group who arrived perhaps a little ahead of schedule last year to break the American Record in the 200 Free Relay.

• Indiana and Texas A&M are traveling to Austin to take Texas. The Longhorns and the Hoosiers are both expected to contend for Top-5 finishes in March while the Aggies are looking to follow up on those relay wins and an overall sterling performance at the SMU Classic.

• There are a few other noteworthy D1 duals: NC State vs Kentucky, Wisconsin traveling to Arizona and Arizona State, and Louisville vs Tennessee.

• A strong D2 field is headed to Metro East St. Louis on Friday for the McKendree Invite. The host Bearcats men finished 4th at NCAAs last year and are led by a trio of national title contenders in flyer Jack Lustig, breaststroker Felipe Pinheiro, and sprinter Gregg Lichinsky. They welcome Oklahoma Christian, Missouri S&T, and St. Louis University. Especially of interest is the men's breaststroke, where 2021 200 champ Pinheiro takes on 2022 200 champ OC's JT Amrein while S&T brings 2 men that have also been under 2.

• A bit under the radar is a D2 Midwest dual between Findlay and Saginaw Valley State. Both programs have been building rapidly through development and recruiting the past several years. I think we may be ready for a breakout.

ICYMI: An interview with Mary T. Meagher