Regan Smith, Hubert Kos Score Two Wins Apiece Friday Night at Indy Cup
After jumping up the world rankings with a 56.52 100 butterfly Thursday night, Regan Smith won two further events in Friday’s session while Hungarian Hubert Kos, the Olympic champion in the 200 backstroke and another University of Texas-trained swimmer, shined as well.
Smith comfortably led the way in the 200 butterfly in 2:06.54, a bit more than a second off her season-best of 2:05.38 that ranks No. 2 globally, but Summer McIntosh is the only non-American swimmer to eclipse Smith’s most recent effort this year. Smith’s training partner Lindsay Looney took second in 2:09.38, followed by Kathryn Forrester (2:11.93).
Later on, Smith clocked 59.11 to win the 100 backstroke, a bit slower than her prelims time of 59.07 and well behind her top-ranked time of 57.46 from the Fort Lauderdale Pro Series in May. Smith owns the world record in the event at 57.13. Here, she was followed by Mya Dewitt (1:01.11) and Miranda Grana (1:01.95).
Kos swam a time of 1:56.49 in the men’s 200 fly, about a second ahead of teammate Carson Foster (1:57.52) while Tommy Bried took third (2:00.80). Later on, Kos went 53.57 in the 100 back, well behind his 52.24 in April that ranks No. 4 globally. Another Texas swimmer, Shaine Casas, was second here in 54.01, followed by Kai Van Westering (54.42).
Simone Manuel followed up her strong runnerup finish in the 200 free Thursday with a winning time of 24.94 in the 50 free, beating out Anna Peplowski (25.29) and Julia Dennis (25.40). Peplowski, who beat Manuel by two hundredths in the aforementioned 200 free final, was back in the pool later in the session to win the 400 free comfortably in 4:10.71, followed by Kate Hurst (4:12.37) and Summer Cardwell (4:17.49).
Rex Maurer was well off his stellar 400 free form from U.S. Nationals earlier this month, but he still took command of the eight-lap race over his Texas teammates, a time of 3:48.21 putting him ahead of Foster (3:49.65), David Johnston (3:52.30) and Luke Hobson (3:53.48).
Indiana University swimmers posted a strong session as well. In addition to Peplowski’s win and runnerup finish plus top-three results for Forrester, Dewitt, Grana and Van Westering, Matt King won the 50 free in 22.04 ahead of Chris Guiliano (22.11) and Matthew Klinge (22.99) while Josh Matheny topped his signature 200 breaststroke in 2:12.99 ahead of teammate Jassen Yep (2:15.30), with Nate Germonprez third. Matheny will join Smith, Foster, Casas, Manuel, Peplowski, Maurer, Johnston and Hobson on the U.S. team at the Singapore World Championships next month.
In the women’s 200 breast, Kim Herkel got the win in 2:29.92, well ahead of Mia Cheatwood (2:34.05) and Paige Delma (2:35.71).