2015 Texas Invite: Day 1 Finals Recap

2015 Texas Swimming & Diving Hall of Fame Invite

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After just the 800 free relay finals on Wednesday night, tonight marked the first full finals session of the Texas Invite. This meet is the big mid-season meet for some of the best teams in the NCAA, and, while all the swimmers will be in varying stages of rest, shave, and tech suit, many teams will use their performances this weekend to gauge their 2015-2016 season up to this point.

WOMEN 200 FREE RELAY

In a real nail-biter, the Texas women took the 200 free relay, when Mimi Schneider, Rebecca Millard, Brooke Hansen, and Sam Sutton finished just one one-hundredth ahead of the Arizona team of Annie Ochitwa, Katrina Konopka, Taylor Schick, and Laura Kurki. The Texas team posted a 1:28.94, with Arizona just behind at 1:28.95. The fastest splits of the night came from Schick, a senior, and Millard, a sophomore, who each swam 21.94. The University of Southern California team of Anika Apostalon, Kirsten Vose, Chelsea Chenault, and Evan Swenson finished third in 1:29.13, followed by Wisconsin, UCLA, Arizona’s B team, the University of California Santa Barbara, and Texas’s B team.

MEN 200 FREE RELAY

The Arizona team almost hit each split under 20 seconds when Chad Idensohn, Chatham Dobbs, Renny Richmond, and J.P. Beach teamed up to win the 200 free in 1:18.96. Idensohn led off at 20.00, Dobbs hit 19.65, Richmond split 19.56, and Beach anchored 19.75. The Arizona men just out-touched BYU’ s Payton Sorenson, Conner Stirling, Preston Jenkins, and Jake Taylor, who hit in 1:19.04. Third place went to the University of Texas’s B team of Matt Ellis, Tate Jackson, Jeremy Nichols, and Aaron Gustafson in 1:19.90. Fourth went to Arizona’s B team, followed by USC, Wisconsin, Harvard, and Oklahoma Baptist.

The University of Texas’s A relay, the heavy favorites, DQ’ed in the event after a false start by lead swimmer Jack Conger. The Texas men also DQ’ed last night in the 800 free relay, so they have missed out on some crucial top relay points. BYU also faced a disqualification.

WOMEN’S 500 FREE

The University of Southern California’s Chelsea Chenault dropped nearly five seconds from her prelim time to win the 500 free in 4:39.94. Last year, she placed 10th at NCAA Nationals. She was followed by last year’s 15th place finisher, Arizona’s Bonnie Brandon, who swam a 4:40.53,  and last year’s 12th place Danielle Valley from Wisconsin, who posted 4:41.25.

Texas’s Quinn Carrozza came next in 4:42.88, followed by her teammate Joanna Evans in 4:43.07, Arizona’s Emma McCarthy in 4:45.09, Arizona’s Daniela Georges in 4:47.20, and Wisconsin’s Jenny Holtzen in 4:52.14.

MEN’S 500 FREE

Defending NCAA champion Clark Smith posted a 4:08.82 in the 500 freestyle, breaking Cristian Quintero‘s Texas Swimming Center pool record of 4:10.02 and Michael Klueh‘s Longhorn record of 4:09.32. His swim was the fourth-fastest in history, just missing the American record 4:08.54 set by Peter Vanderkaay back in 2008.

Smith was followed by teammate Townley Haas, who swam a 4:14.07. Third place went to Wisconsin’s Matthew Hutchins (4:15.64). Following him were USC’s Reed Malone (4:19.59), Arizona’s Nick Hogsed (4:19.96),  Arizona’s Ty Fowler (4:21.90), Texas’s Sam Lewis (4:23.71), and Arizona’s Chris Weser (4:25.87).

Before this weekend, Smith held the fastest time in the world this season with a 4:21.95, so the entire field brought in some speed.

WOMEN’S 200 IM

Last year’s NCAA third place finisher Madisyn Cox of Texas led the way in the 200 IM, dropping over a second from her prelim time to post a 1:54.29 NCAA A standard, the fastest time in the NCAA this season.

Following Cox were Kirsten Vose of USC (1:56.53), Annie Ochitwa of Arizona (1:56.73), Riley Scott of USC (1:58.79), Sonia Wang of Harvard (1:59.22), Mackenzie Rumrill of Arizona (1:58.21), Nora McCullagh of Texas (2:00.28), and Anna Meinholz of Wisconsin (2:01.26).

MEN’S 200 IM

Texas freshman Ryan Harty won the 200 IM, jumping one slot from his prelim placement to post a 1:43.26. Harty was the 9th ranked recruit in this class of American freshmen. Just behind Harty at 1:43.50 was BYU’s Jake Taylor, updating his own school record set this morning. Next came USC’s Morten Klarskov (1:45.11), Arizona’s Thane Maudslein (1:45.42), Texas’s John Martens (1:46.34), Wisconsin’s Brett Pinfold (1:46.40), Arizona’s Nick Thorne (1:46.57), and Arizona’s Rasmus Skjaerpe (1:47.29).

WOMEN’S 50 FREE

The women of the 50 free all finished within .4 seconds in an incredibly close final. Wisconsin’s Chase Kinney moved up three places to take the race with a 22.23, closely followed by Katrina Konopka of Arizona (22.28), Anika Apostalon of USC (22.29), Rebecca Millard of Texas (22.29), Taylor Schick of Arizona (22.45), Jessica Unicomb of Wisconsin (22.47), Annie Ochitwa of Arizona (22.49), and Evan Swenson of USC (22.58). Kinney is just off Kelsi Worrell‘s fastest time in the world this year, a 22.20 set at the SMU Classic in October.

Notably, in the B final, UCLA’s Linnea Mack dropped half a second to swim a 22.44, scoring points for ninth place, but posting the fifth fastest time of the night.

MEN’S 50 FREE

Texas grabbed first, second and fourth in the 50 free, where Brett Ringold swam a 19.38, Matt Ellis swam a 19.58, and Tate Jackson swam a 19.83. Renny Richmond of Arizona got third with 19.77. Fifth place went to Arizona’s J.P. Beach with 19.93, followed by Wisconsin’s Cannon Clifton (19.96), Arizona’s Chatham Dobbs (20.02), and Arizona’s Chad Idensohn (20.02).

Ringold would have been fast enough to make last year’s B final at NCAA Championships.

WOMEN’S 400 MEDLEY RELAY

The University of Southern California team of Hannah Weiss, Kirsten Vose, Lucy Worrall, and Anika Apostalon hit an NCAA A standard to win the 400 medley in 3:30.62. With that time, the foursome would have placed fourth at NCAA Championships last year, three places ahead of USC’s actual finish last season. Compared to the other teams, USC got a huge boost from their breaststroke leg; Worrall’s 58.57 split was at least half a second ahead of every other breaststroker.

Arizona’s Annie Ochitwa, Emma Schoettmer, Mackenzie Rumrill, and Katrina Konopka finished second in 3:32.71. Next came the University of Texas (3:34.32) and the University of Southern California (3:35.53). USC kept their exchanges tight, as Riley Scott hit a dangerous but impressive 0.00 reaction time on her butterfly relay start. Wisconsin finished fifth in 3:35.85, followed by Texas’s B team (3:36.53), Arizona’s B team (3:36.73), and UCLA (3:38.77).

MEN’S 400 MEDLEY RELAY

Arizona swept first and second place in the 400 medley relay, with both their A and B teams finishing well ahead of third place Texas, who completed their first DQ-free relay of the meet. The Arizona team of Chatham Dobbs, Blair Bish, Mathias Oh, and Renny Richmond won in 3:10.50, while their teammates Thane Maudslien, Gage Crosby, Rasmus Skjaerpe, and Chad Idensohn swam a 3:11.56 for the silver (with Idensohn achieving the risky and elusive 0.00 reaction time).

Texas’s Ryan Harty, Austin Temple, Brett Ringgold, and Jeremy Nichols followed in 3:11.56, then came USC in 3:12.48, Brigham Young in 3:12.78, Wisconsin in 3:13.41, Arizona’s C team in 3:14.81, and Harvard in 3:15.09.