College Invite Roundup: Gretchen Walsh breaks NCAA Record, Leon Marchand sick

COLLEGE SWIMMING ROUNDUP

🏊‍♀️ SWIMS OF THE WEEK 🏊🏽‍♂️

College invites have begun! Here are 10 amazing swims for Women, Men, and Relays.

10 Amazing Women’s Performances

1. Gretchen Walsh, UVA: 20.79/1:41.32 free, 22.98/50.05 back, 48.30 fly, 20.36/45.18 free relay splits - Hard to overstate how good a weekend Gretchen had. PR 50 and 200 free, 100 fly, and 100 free relay split. Tied NCAA record in the 50, unofficial (since she swam it in a 100 free heat) 100 fly NCAA record.

2. Justina Kozan, USC: 4:38.47 free, 1:56.81 fly, 4:03.25 IM, 22.51/48.25/1:43.73 free splits - Kozan had a nice meet overall (the 500 and 4IM were PRs), but the reason she’s on this list is that 400 IM - she split a mind-boggling 27.19/25.97 (53.16) free leg to run down Stanford’s Caroline Bricker and tie Lucy Bell for the win. Only Katie Ledecky has even come home that fast, and only barely faster (27.08/25.98 at ‘18 Pac-12s). Not something new for her either, she came home 29.38 in the LCM 200 IM in winning at Euro U23s this past summer.

3. Kaley McIntyre, NYU: 23.18/50.18/1:48.19 free, 22.99/49.18 free relay splits - The breakout freshman star of D3 in the ‘22-’23 season is back on top of the leaderboards in all three sprint frees now.

4. Bengisu Caymaz, Kenyon: 1:49.65/4:52.03/16:39.30 free, 2:02.93 fly - Turkish freshman with four times that would have been top-4 at DIII NCAAs last year - in fact, the mile would have been 2nd.

5. Stephanie Balduccini, Michigan: 22.23/47.26/1:43.30 free, 1:56.94 IM, 46.68 free relay split - Brazilian freshman leading a bit of a resurgence for the Michigan women, leading a really strong 100/200 free field at the UGA Invite.

6. Georgia’s Distance Trio: Abby McCulloh (1:46.44/4:38.11/15:51.93), Rachel Stege (1:45.07/4:32.87/15:58.57), Dune Coetzee (1:43.70/4:35.29/15:59.18) - While these women all have different best events, they’re all elite at the three longer frees and promise to rack up the points for the Bulldogs at SECs and NCAAs.

7. Izzy Ivey, Florida: 22.29/47.54/1:43.21 free, 51.18 back, 50.60 fly, 1:54.18 IM, 21.19/46.67 free relay splits - Bella Sims was big in her college taper debut, but Ivey will arguably be even more important in the trajectory of the Lady Gators’ season. She was everywhere this weekend.

8. Celia Pulido, Southern Illinois: 23.28 free, 24.88/51.82/1:55.30 back - Turns out last weekend at home was just a warmup for Pulido, who went three best times here and more or less locked up her second NCAA invite with that 100 back.

9. Mona McSharry, Tennessee: 22.01/48.78 free, 56.87/2:06.64 breast, 26.15/56.57 breast relay splits - Last year’s 100 breast runner up PRd here in a time that would have won, also with a strong 200 and capable relay legs.

10. Emily Trieschmann, Nova Southeastern: 50.76/1:47.08/4:44.12/16:24.97 free, 4:15.80 IM - Last year’s CSCAA D2 Womens’ Swimmer of the Year apparently has more up her sleeve with 5 big PRs at the Queens Fall Frenzy, including adding a top-notch 400 IM to her freestyle repertoire.

10 Amazing Men’s Performances

1. Jordan Tiffany, BYU: 19.67/42.60 free, 21.20/45.24 back, 44.85 fly, 42.04 free relay split - Transfer from Tennessee is leading a resurgence in Provo. BYU hasn’t scored at NCAAs since Jake Taylor and Payton Sorenson in 2016, and haven’t made a relay since 2007. Great chance of breaking both those streaks this year.

2. Ben Sampson, Colorado Mesa: 20.04/1:36.62 free, 21.01/45.90/1:40.83 back, 1:43.24/3:45.20 IM - For the second year in a row, Sampson puts up historic D2 times at home at altitude. The trick for him is carrying that through to March.

3. Derek Maas, NYU: 21.35/46.55/1:43.75 back, 1:44.23 IM, 19.13/42.76 free relay splits, 52.06 breast relay split - The med student and Alabama transfer still has it. Better known as a breaststroker, Maas showed off some PR backstroke speed here, and his versatility could have ripple effects through D3 in March.

4. Hubert Kos, ASU: 1:34.31 free, 44.37/1:36.54 back, 1:39.26/3:35.82 IM, 42.06 free relay split - An all-PR weekend for the Hungarian sophomore, he’s really keeping the momentum up after a World Championship this summer. Trying to hold the list to one per team, but honorable mention to Ilya Kharun and his school record 44.33/1:39.10 flys.

5. Khalil Ben Ajmia, Wayne State: 1:38.75/4:23.98/9:05.10/15:08.81 free, 1:48.55 back - The freshman announced himself as a challenger for the D2 distance throne with a fantastic midseason mile.

6. Cooper Costello, UChicago: 47.57/1:46.05 fly, 1:49.94 IM - Freshman dropped over a second in his 100 fly and over two in his 200 fly to now sit #2 and #1 in D3, respectively.

7. Will Modglin, Texas: 19.55/42.49 free, 20.60/44.49/1:38.99 back, 1:41.84 IM - Another freshman with a big meet, Modglin broke some major barriers here and showed he may be the lynchpin to keeping Texas on the podium in March.

8. Parker Knollman, Tampa: 44.45/1:36.75 free, 22.05/47.08/1:43.53 back, 1:47.49 IM - Tampa as a whole had an unbelievable meet in winning the South Carolina Gamecock Invite and may be the current favorites for D2, but Knollman really had the banner weekend with 6 big PRs.

9. Jaek Horner, Utah: 19.93/43.45 free, 51.32/1:53.37 breast, 1:46.43 IM - Last year, Horner made NCAAs from his Pac-12 performance only to add a second in the 100 at the big show. This year he most likely got his qualifying done early with a 0.3 second PR that sits him #1 in the country thus far this year.

10.  Tristan Jankovics, Ohio State: 48.31/1:43.62 back, 1:59.16 breast, 1:42.76/3:40.89 IM, 44.83/1:35.33 free relay splits - A breakout summer carried into a breakout midseason meet for Jankovics, jumping him from mid-A final Big Ten IMer last year to challenging for NCAA points this year - that’s a 2.5 second 200 IM drop and 5 second 400 IM drop.

🏊🏼 RELAY OF THE WEEK 🏊‍♀️

10 Amazing Relay Performances

1. Southern Cal Women’s 800 Free Relay - 6:53.54: Tuggle 1:44.54/Buinaia 1:43.75/Kozan 1:43.73/Abraham 1:41.52. Hard to pick one relay each between these first two squads. USC didn’t field an 800 free relay at NCAAs last year, and their season best was 7:06. This time would have placed them 3rd, and Abraham’s anchor would have been second fastest in the race - she’d later hit a 1:41.38 school record in the individual.

2. Tampa Men’s 400 Medley Relay - 3:10.35: Knollman 47.08/Polasek 53.71/Aguilar 46.56/Moran 43.00. Would have been 4th at 2023 NCAAs (where they were 3:14.06, albeit with ¾ of a different relay). Pool record at an SEC pool for a D2 team. Honorable mention to their B relay who also went faster than their school record (3:12.79). They’d probably be the favorites for March in this relay if not for…

3. Drury Men’s 400 Medley Relay - 3:09.05: Adamchuk 47.27/Mourao 52.90/Villarejo 46.48/Cabral 42.40 - Drury keeps chugging along from ol’ Springfield, Missoui - this time is only a couple tenths off their best from last year, and with ¾ of a new relay.

4. Michigan Women’s 400 Free Relay - 3:10.30: Balduccini 47.40/Newman 47.90/Flynn 47.17/Liang 47.83 - Bit of a renaissance for the Wolverine women, who were only 3:13 last year with only 1 47 split (Flynn).

5. Augustana (SD) Women’s 200 Medley Relay - 1:41.28: Greenwaldt 25.31/Jelliti 27.93/Chan 25.06/Montgomery 22.98 - Over a second faster than this relay went last year, this time would have placed third at 2023 D2 NCAAs. The key here is breaststroker Nesrine Jelliti, who was 29.26 in that 22-23 season best time. Their 200 free relay is also faster than they were last year, in a time that would have placed them second at NCAAs.

6. ASU Men’s 200 Medley Relay - 1:21.85: Dolan 20.88/Marchand 23.51/Kharun 19.24/Kulow 18.22 - All of ASU’s sprint relays were absolutely dominant, but this one takes the cake, clearing the rest of the nation by over a second. And, it included an apparently ailing Marchand.

7. Stanford Men’s 400 Free Relay - 2:48.54: Dupont 42.66/Gu 41.86/Tan 42.18/Maurer 41.84 - Lots of questions coming into the season with this team missing Minakov, Polonsky, and others via redshirts or transfer thoughts, but this foursome looked pretty dangerous in beating out Texas, UNLV, Wisconsin, and USC.

8. Liberty Women’s 400 Medley Relay - 3:36.90: Shaw 53.79/Gardner 1:01.36/Cannings 52.32/Stricklin 49.43 - This relay sits #1 out of D1 mid-major schools this year, with a time only .05 off their conference meet relay from last year.

9. Carnegie Mellon Men’s 800 Free Relay - 6:36.90: Goedecke 1:39.25/Gomez 1:39.23/Chung 1:40.08/Morford 1:38.34 - A good five seconds faster than CMU went all last year, this is the top-ranked D3 800 free relay for this year.

10. UCSD Women’s 200 Free Relay - 1:30.46: Kozan 23.52/Lee 22.71/Odgers 22.36/Renner 21.87 - Not all that far removed from making the full transition from D2 to D1, this is the top mid-major 200 free relay on the year. Of special note, Renner’s split was .83 faster than her flat start! If you think you're having deja vu, well, Asia Kozan is Justina's younger sister.

🏊🏽‍♂️ Weekend Preview 🏊🏼

Nothing much going for Thanksgiving weekend, but the week after, we still have the Minnesota Invite, highlight team Cal Bears. Got a number of bigger D3 invites as well - Denison, MIT, TCNJ, Calvin, among others. Miami (OH) hosts a good-sized mid-major invite, while Princeton, Brown, and Loyola (MD) cover D1 in the Northeast.

Enjoy the time with your families this week! Happy Thanksgiving!

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