Fanfare and Spectacular Racing Lift College Swimming During Record-Breaking Four-Team Derby
This was the best of what the college swimming regular season can offer: high-level racing in the often-lethargic month of January inspired by the stakes of competition against other high-level programs. Sure, it’s interesting to see swimmers mess around in off-events during one-sided dual meets (think Torri Huske racing the 200 breaststroke against UCLA) , but the environment in Austin, Texas, this weekend is what swimmers and coaches thrive — and fans, too, with 2331 of them showing up for Friday evening’s session.
As expected, the Eddie Reese Texas Showdown produced a slate of record-threatening performances along with one actual national mark, with the Virginia women’s 400 medley relay setting an American record while falling just short of the U.S. Open and NCAA marks they set with Italian breaststroker Jasmine Nocentini on the team last season.
That relay gave Gretchen Walsh the chance to claim one of the few college swimming records missing from her ledger, the fastest relay split ever in the 100-yard butterfly. In previous years, Kate Douglass and Gretchen’s older sister Alex Walsh had handled that leg on UVA’s medley relays with Gretchen on backstroke, but with Claire Curzan now leading off, Gretchen is off to fly, and her 47.15 was the quickest split ever by a full 1.61 seconds. Between that and her 47.48 clocking in the individual event, the first 46s are surely coming in the next two months.
Not that there was any doubt, but the Virginia women reaffirmed their status as national-title favorites over the weekend, particularly with defeats of three-time national runnerup Texas and pesky conference rival NC State. Alex Walsh did not compete for Virginia in the fall, but she is position to finish her college career with a bang after recording the country’s fastest times in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke over the weekend. Katie Grimes is fitting in perfectly at UVA, having posted college swimming’s fastest 400 IM of the season with a 3:59.02.
Hubert Kos — Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
Meanwhile, we got another clue that the Texas men will be extremely tough to beat in year one under Bob Bowman as they downed defending national champion (and Bowman’s former team) Arizona State. While no records were set on the men’s side, Hubert Kos and Luke Hobson continued to show their mettle as individual Olympic medalists, and we’re sure that Texas is thrilled to have Chris Guiliano on board as the centerpiece sprinter the roster lacked.
Rex Maurer continues to back up his breakthrough to the country’s elite, and breaststrokers Nate Germonprez and Will Scholtz continue to take steps forward. Cal and Indiana will have plenty to say when it’s time to award trophies, but Texas has made its intentions clear.
Eddie Reese Texas Showdown Links
Meanwhile, the Sun Devil sprint crew continues to see ridiculous results. The work of the sprinters guided by Herbie Behm during his time as associate head coach was a big reason for last year’s title run, and Behm has continued that momentum following his ascension to head coach. Ilya Kharun is best known for winning a pair of Olympic bronze medals in the butterfly events, but he clocked 18.52 in the 50 free and 41.03 in the 100 free at the Showdown. Jonny Kulow produced a 41.01 100 free plus relay splits of 17.97 and 40.55.
Finally, the head-to-head racing lived up to expectations: the Texas women’s team had reason to cheer when Jillian Cox pulled away from Grimes to win the 500 free and when Emma Sticklen went sub-1:50 again in the 200 fly to hand Alex Walsh a defeat in the 200 fly. Curzan had to deal with Grimes plus the NC State duo of Leah Shackley and Kennedy Noble in the 200 back, and it’s a shame that only two swimmers per school were allowed in the top heat since Erika Pelaez actually had the second-best time overall from the consolation heat.
For the men, Kharun vs. Kos in the 100 fly was a highlight, and don’t say distance racing is a bore, not when David Johnston had to maintain his intensity for 66 laps to take down NC State’s Lance Norris in the 1650 free. In a down-to-the-wire battle, ASU’s Andy Dobrzanski overtook Germonprez on the last 50 to win the 200 breast by three tenths.
Cap it all off with some professional exhibitions held during the breaks of collegiate action: fresh off a short course world title, Shaine Casas flexed in the 400 IM by moving into the all-time top-five while Regan Smith put on a backstroke show and Simone Manuel competed for the first time since the Paris Olympics, throwing in a lifetime best in the 200 IM in the process.
Yes, the Eddie Reese Texas Showdown was everything college swimming needed right now, a three-session flash of intensity putting some of the best swimmers in the country in the same pool two months earlier than expected. Fans at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center got everything they could have wanted, and fans around the country can eagerly anticipate the follow-ups to come, between conference championships in February and the NCAA Championships in March.
I watched the meet both live Friday and on the replays. We need to do better on TV coverage and to be more spectator friendly we need to both announce the swimmers by lane and start using different colored lane lines for lane 4 and t so spectators can better determine which lane is which.