Rex Maurer Swims Nation’s Fastest 500 Freestyle, Anastasia Gorbenko Triples at Eddie Reese Texas Showdown
This weekend, the University of Texas is hosting one of the signature meets of the college swimming regular season, the Eddie Reese Texas Showdown. Named in honor of the longtime men’s head coach who won 15 national titles, the meet features three season highlighted by a fan-centric Friday evening complete with Olympian autograph sessions and an appearance by Longhorns mascot Bevo. The Texas men were the dominant team of the meet, helping the Longhorns score 791 points Friday night to defeat rivals Louisville (666) and Ohio State (593).
In Friday morning’s session, Texas reeled off wins from Nate Germonprez in the 50 breaststroke (23.56), Rex Maurer in the 400 IM (3:41.17) and Will Modglin in the 50 backstroke (20.75), with Hubert Kos taking second (20.98) in his first college meet of the season. Modglin, Germonprez, Kos and Garrett Gould won the 400 medley relay in 3:03.03
In the evening, the Longhorns welcomed a large crowd for the main event, and the men’s team started things off with a show in the 200 medley relay. Modglin, Germonprez, Kos and Gould combined for a time of 1:22.01 in the 200 medley relay, winning by 1.79 seconds over Louisville. Next up, Maurer dominated the 500 free with a time of 4:09.13, the fastest time in the country so far this season. Previously, the top result belonged to Indiana’s Zalan Sarkany at 4:09.57.
Modglin took down Kos by three hundredths in the 100 back, 44.45 to 44.48. Modglin set an American record in the event at midseason with his time of 43.26 while Kos is the fastest man ever at 43.20, achieved at the 2025 NCAA Championships. Germonprez won again in the 100 breast, touching in 50.86, and Kos scored his first collegiate victory this season with a dominating performance in the 200 IM. His final time was 1:40.69. The 400 free relay went to the Texas team of Ksawery Masiuk, Gould, Camden Taylor and Maurer in 2:48.88.
The morning saw Louisville’s team of Nikita Sheremet, Charlie Crush, Aiden Musso and Guy Brooks win the 200 free relay in 1:16.33. Louisville then got two men’s victories in the evening session. Brooks won the 200 free in 1:32.61, with Maurer just behind (1:32.77), and Sheremet finished first in the 100 free in 41.96. Ohio State’s Matthew Klinge was the winner of the 50 butterfly (20.38) in the morning before clocking 45.12 to finish atop the 100 fly at night.
Campbell Stoll had the first win of the meet for the Texas women as she dominated the 400 IM Friday morning, finishing in 4:05.79. Stoll was just over a second behind her season best of 4:04.48, which ranks her eighth in the country. The Longhorns’ Eva Okaro sizzled with a 21.54 50 free effort leading off her team’s 200 free relay, and she came back shortly thereafter to win the 50 fly in 23.35. In 1-meter diving, Bayleigh Cranford won with a score of 291.55.
The evening saw 500 freestyle national champion Jillian Cox put on a show for the home crowd. She notched a mark of 4:34.28, not far off her midseason time of 4:32.96 that is first in this season’s national standings. Stoll was the winner of the 100 fly (51.23) while Okaro topped the 100 free in 46.71.
The Louisville women opened the morning with a win in the 200 free relay as Caroline Larsen, Julia Dennis, Julie Mishler and Ella Welch finished in 1:26.36. Dennis propelled the team with a 20.96 second leg. Louisville’s Anastasia Gorbenko was first in the 50 breast (26.28), and teammate Camille Murray topped the 50 back (24.31). Murray, Gorbenko, Welch and Dennis won the 400 medley relay in 3:27.40.
Later on, Mishler, Gorbenko, Larsen and Dennis won the 200 medley relay in 1:33.49, and Dennis went even quicker on her 50 free split at 20.72. Gorbenko topped the 100 breast in 57.67. That performance vaulted her into a tie for No. 2 in the country alongside NC State’s Eneli Jefimova, with only Florida’s Anita Bottazzo (56.87) having been quicker. Gorbenko’s third individual win came in the 200 IM at 1:53.53, a mark that only Stanford’s Lucy Bell and Texas’ Campbell Chase (who was third here) have topped this season.
Additionally, Murray won the 100 back in 51.67 while Dennis finished second in the 100 free, checking in five hundredths behind Okaro at 46.76. Larsen, Dennis, Mishler and Gorbenko won the 400 free relay in 3:10.21.
Ohio State’s Rachel Bockrath picked up the win in a competitive 200 free race, recording a time of 1:42.92 to edge out Texas’ Nikolett Padar (1:43.12).