Texas Invitational: Jillian Cox, Emma Sticklen Impress for Longhorn Girls on Remaining Evening
Throughout the last session of the Texas Invitational, the house group continued to dominate for each the men and women. The Texas ladies received huge swims from faces previous and new, with the two-time defending NCAA champion within the 200 butterfly, Emma Sticklen, as soon as once more reducing her finest time whereas freshman Jillian Cox swam a mark that will have gained final yr’s NCAA title within the 1650 freestyle.
As for the boys, the Longhorns swept all occasions on the ultimate night time, with sophomores Rex Maurer and Will Modglin every concluding breakout meets with their third particular person win apiece.
Girls’s 1650 Freestyle
In her first time racing the one-mile race at a university invitational, Jillian Cox continued her spectacular freshman season by leaping into the all-time top-10 within the occasion. She beforehand swam the nation’s quickest time this faculty season whereas shifting to seventh all-time within the 500 free, and now she has posted a time faster than anybody else in school swimming.
However this one didn’t come simply as Cox needed to shake off a late surge by Stanford’s Aurora Roghair, who briefly pulled to inside a second of the lead within the closing third of the race. Solely within the last 150- yards did Cox actually assert herself, ending in 15:34.66 to take her place among the many all-time greats within the occasion whereas knocking a whopping 24 seconds off her earlier finest time of 15:58.68 from final March.
Roghair, in the meantime, completed in 15:36.43 to go to No. 12 all-time, a second forward of the 15:37.74 that Georgia’s Abby McCulloh swam on the best way to profitable the nationwide title within the occasion final March. Roghair, who positioned second in that NCAA Championships race, now ranks No. 12 all-time on this occasion. Kate Hurst, a Texas freshman alongside Cox, completed third in 15:48.78, a time which might have positioned fifth eventually yr’s nationwide meet.
Males’s 1650 Freestyle
After setting an American report within the 500 free and shifting into the all-time top-five within the 400 IM, Texas sophomore Rex Maurer has concluded the meet with an enormous finest time within the 1650 free, knocking greater than 24 seconds off his earlier high mark on the best way to a 14:30.47 clocking, a tenth faster than Zalan Sarkany, previously of Arizona State and now at Indiana, swam to win the NCAA title within the occasion final yr.
After a lackluster freshman yr at Stanford, Maurer has been extraordinarily spectacular throughout his debut run at Texas, sending him into championship season squarely among the many national-title favorites within the mid-distance occasions as nicely this mile.
Furthermore, Maurer comfortably defeated a swimmer who represented the U.S. within the 1500-meter free on the Paris Olympics, Texas teammate David Johnston. The veteran really led for nearly all the race, with a margin of 5 seconds in the course of the center portion, however he light badly on the finish as Maurer pulled forward on the 1550-yard mark and surged to the end. Johnston touched in 14:35.42, with USC’s Krzysztof Chmielewski third in 14:53.61.
Girls’s 200 Backstroke
The reigning NCAA champion within the 200 again swam beneath 1:50 for the primary time this season. Wisconsin fifth-year swimmer Phoebe Bacon swam a mark of 1:49.66 as she overtook teammate Maggie Wanezek after trailing by two tenths on the midway level. Bacon will face an enormous problem within the occasion later this yr, nevertheless, as Claire Curzan turned the quickest swimmer ever within the occasion earlier within the day on the Tennessee Invite.
Wanezek took second in 1:50.62, with Stanford’s Levenia Sim third in 1:53.50. 26.58 55.60 (29.02)
Males’s 200 Backstroke
In the future after turning into the primary swimmer this season to interrupt 44 within the 100 again, Will Modglin put forth an enormous swim over 200 yards, clocking 1:37.84 to slice a full second off his lifetime finest. Simply 4 swimmers eclipsed that point eventually yr’s NCAA Championships.
Cal Poly’s Drew Huston (1:41.31) and Texas’ Ben Sampson (1:42.01) rounded out the highest three whereas Rex Maurer swam the occasion in prelims and clocked 1:38.27, a mark solely 5 swimmers beat on the 2024 NCAA Championships.
Girls’s 100 Freestyle
The category of the sector within the ladies’s 100 free was Torri Huske, the Olympic silver medalist within the lengthy course equal race on the Paris Video games. Huske was greater than a half-second up on the sector on the midway level, and he or she completed in 46.62, a mark that solely Gretchen Walsh and the graduated Katharine Berkoff beat eventually yr’s NCAA Championships. Huske was redshirting from school swimming in the course of the 2023-24 season.
Texas’ Ava Longi completed away from the remainder of the sector in second at 47.46, with USC’s Minna Abraham touching out Texas’ Grace Cooper for third, 47.74 to 47.78.
Males’s 100 Freestyle
Texas’ Camden Taylor continued his robust week within the freestyle occasions with a 100-yard time of 42.35, holding off a powerful end from Stanford’s Luke Maurer, who got here in at 42.50. Pitt’s Julian Koch took third in 42.61.
Girls’s 200 Breaststroke
Stanford’s Lucy Bell has been a revelation within the 200 breaststroke in current weeks. Finest recognized for her exploits within the IM and butterfly occasions, Bell clocked the nation’s quickest time within the Cardinal’s meet at Arizona State, and he or she completed simply two tenths off that mark in her win on the Invite.
Bell pulled away from the sector and put up a time of two:06.55. Wisconsin’s Hazal Ozkan positioned second in 2:08.46, with Texas’ Piper Enge third in 2:09.38.
Males’s 200 Breaststroke
Texas’ Will Scholtz completed second to teammate Nate Germonprez within the 100-yard occasion Thursday, however within the 200 breast, Scholtz blasted forward of the sector and held on regardless of a painful last 50 yards. He clocked 1:51.66 to beat teammate Brayden Taivassalo by a half-second, with Taivassalo coming in at 1:52.20.
USC’s Ben Dillard took third in 1:52.42 whereas Germonprez clocked 1:52.25 in prelims earlier than scratching within the last.
Girls’s 200 Butterfly
For the second time this season, Texas fifth-year swimmer Emma Sticklen has gone beneath her finest time within the 200 butterfly whereas making a run on the NCAA and American information within the occasion.
Sticklen, the two-time defending NCAA titlist within the race, paced the sector by greater than two seconds on the midway level and held her tempo to complete in 1:49.54, beating her earlier finest time of 1:49.77 from final month’s Texas-LSU twin meet. The Stanford duo of Lillie Nordmann (1:53.79) and Caroline Bricker (1:54.62) rounded out the highest three.
Sticklen stays the fourth-fastest performer ever, with Regan Smith the quickest performer ever at 1:48.33, Alex Walsh holding the NCAA report at 1:49.16 and former Stanford star Ella Eastin holding a finest time of 1:49.51.
Males’s 200 Butterfly
It was a wire-to-wire win within the last particular person occasion of the meet for Texas’ Logan Walker, who held off the sector down the stretch to swim a time of 1:41.01, three-quarters of a second away from teammate Ryan Branon Jr. (1:41.76) and USC’s Michal Chmielewski (1:41.82).
Girls’s 400 Freestyle Relay
In a meet filled with tight races between the Texas and Stanford ladies, the Longhorns got here out on high within the last alternative as U.S. Olympian Erin Gemmell executed a come-from-behind anchor leg to provide her group the win.
The Longhorns’ group of Emma Sticklen, Ava Longi, Grace Cooper and Gemmell got here in at 3:10.22, with Longi offering the quickest cut up of 47.30 and Gemmell ending in 47.49. That was sufficient to beat the three:10.87 recorded by Stanford’s Aurora Roghair, Gigi Johnson, Torri Huske and Annika Parkhe. Huske offered by far the very best cut up within the race, going 45.98 on the third leg.
USC positioned third in 3:12.44 with Vasilissa Buinaia, Minna Abraham, Caroline Famoud and Macky Hodges.
Males’s 400 Freestyle Relay
The Texas males concluded their dominant week with a 1-2 end within the 400 free relay. The group listed because the “B” squad got here out on high in 2:49.67, with Will Modglin main off in 42.08 earlier than teammates Kobe Ndebele, Kyle Peck and Coby Carrozza completed in 2:49.67. Carrozza had the one sub-42 cut up of the race.
The opposite Texas squad consisted of Camden Taylor, Luke Hobson, Nate Germonprez and Rex Maurer, clocking 2:50.37. USC’s Oliver Sogaard-Anderson, Luke Maurer, Ben Dillard and Ian Pickles took third in 2:51.05.
