2018 Big 12 Championships: Day 2 Finals Live Recap

2018 BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 2018 Big 12 Championships continue tonight in Austin, Texas. Swimmers will compete individually in the 500 free, 200 IM, and 50 free. We’ll also see finals of the 400 medley relays and the women’s 1-meter diving. One of the highlights of this morning’s prelims was Tate Jackson‘s quick 18.99 in the 50 free prelims, marking his first time below 19 seconds individually. He’ll battle for the title with All-American teammates Brett Ringgold and Joseph Schooling.

WOMEN’S 500 FREE:

  1. GOLD: Evie Pfeifer, Texas, 4:37.81
  2. SILVER: Quinn Carrozza, Texas, 4:41.11
  3. BRONZE: Lauren Case, Texas, 4:43.88

Texas freshman Evie Pfeifer dropped over a second and a half from her lifetime best, earning a likely NCAA bid with her winning time. Teammates Quinn Carrozza and Lauren Case followed for a Longhorn sweep of the top 3. Carrozza dipped under the 2017 NCAA invite time (4:41.84), but has been slightly faster this season with a 4:40.97 from the Texas Invite.

Kansas’ Jenny Nusbaum was the only other swimmer to crack 4:50, turning in a 4:47.62 for 4th place. Teammate Lauryn Parrish (4:50.40) battled Iowa State’s Mary Kate Luddy (4:50.68) for 5th, outpacing Luddy enough on the final 50 to out-touch her.

MEN’S 500 FREE:

  1. GOLD: Parker Neri, Texas, 4:15.40
  2. SILVER: JohnThomas Larson, Texas, 4:15.60
  3. BRONZE: Townley Haas, Texas, 4:16.00

The Texas freshmen battled for the win, with Parker Neri leading by a second with 100 yards to go. Teammate JohnThomas Larson made a late charge, hammering home in 24.13 on the final 50, but came up just short as Neri held on for the gold. Both men were over a second under the 2017 NCAA Invite time (4:16.67), finishing ahead of All-American Townley Haas. Neri dropped almost a second tonight, while Larson knocked a little over a second from his lifetime best.

Fellow Longhorn freshman Chris Yeager broke the 4:20 barrier for the first time, touching in 4:19.44 to hold off a hard-charging Jeff Newkirk (4:19.74) on the final 50. Yeager has made huge improvements today. According to the USA Swimming database, his best time before the meet was a 4:24.01. Another Texas freshman, Austin Katz, dropped over a second and a half to take 6th in 4:20.20.

WOMEN’S 200 IM:

  1. GOLD: Nora McCullagh, Texas, 1:56.96
  2. SILVER: Morgan Bullock, West Virginia, 1:57.66
  3. BRONZE: Brooke Hansen, Texas, 1:57.85

Nora McCullagh cracked 1:57 for the first time, leading from start to finish as she knocked almost 6 tenths from her best. West Virginia’s Morgan Bullock and Texas’ Brooke Hansen battled for the silver. Bullock had the edge on fly, but Hansen moved ahead through the back and breast legs. On the freestyle, however, Bullock bounced back, coming home in 27.73 to get the job done. Bullock continued to make huge improvements at this meet, dropping over 3 seconds from her former best. Texas’ Maxine Wolters (2:00.60) used her front-end speed to edge out Kansas’ Elizabeth Armstrong (2:00.83) to round out the top 5.

MEN’S 200 IM:

  1. GOLD: Jonathan Roberts, Texas, 1:43.54
  2. SILVER: Ryan Harty, Texas, 1:44.21
  3. BRONZE: Nate Carr, West Virginia, 1:45.05

Jonathan Roberts and Ryan Harty battled closely through the front half, separated by 3 tenths as Roberts led through the back leg. Harty took over the lead with a 29.77 breast split, turning about half a second ahead of Roberts. Through the free leg, Roberts made a big move, coming home in 24.50 to Harty’s 25.70 as he brought home the gold. Both men were under the 2017 NCAA Invite time (1:44.34). West Virginia’s Nate Carr rounded out the top 3, slightly outpacing Texas’ Mason Tenney (1:46.33) on all but the breast leg.

WOMEN’S 50 FREE:

  1. GOLD: Rebecca Millard, Texas, 21.91
  2. SILVER: Remedy Rule, Texas, 22.48
  3. BRONZE: Julia Nilton, West Virginia, 22.51

Rebecca Millard was just 4 hundredths shy of the Meet Record, breaking 22 to top the field by half a second. Teammate Remedy Rule won a tight battle to the wall for silver, touching a nail ahead of West Virginia’s Julia Nilton, Iowa State’s Laura Miksch (22.53), and Texas’ Anelise Diener (22.54).

MEN’S 50 FREE:

  1. GOLD: Tate Jackson, Texas, 18.95
  2. SILVER: Brett Ringgold, Texas, 19.07
  3. BRONZE: Joseph Schooling, Texas, 19.36

Tate Jackson shaved a few more hundredths off his time to lead a Texas sweep of the top 3. Brett Ringgold was about a tenth behind, while 2017 NCAA runner-up Joseph Schooling picked up bronze. Also breaking 20 seconds for 4th place was West Virginia’s Merwane Elmerini in 19.58.

WOMEN’S 1-METER DIVING:

  1. GOLD: Alison Gibson, Texas, 356.25
  2. SILVER: Meghan O’Brien, Texas, 352.30
  3. BRONZE: Murphy Bromberg, Texas, 320.75

Texas’ Alison Gibson and Meghan O’Brien had a close contest, with Gibson pulling off the win by about 4 points. Both women were above the former Meet Record and Big 12 Record, which stood as a 346.35 done by Maren Taylor in 2014.

WOMEN’S 400 MEDLEY RELAY:

  1. GOLD: Texas, 3:29.51
  2. SILVER: West Virginia, 3:37.43
  3. BRONZE: Kansas, 3:38.53

Claire Adams established Texas’ lead up front with a 51.72 back leg. Kennedy Lohman, a transfer in her first season with the Horns, took over the breast leg in 58.21. Lohman handed off to butterflier Remedy Rule (52.18), and Rebecca Millard (47.40) sealed the deal on the anchor leg. Notably, the Longhorns’ Lauren Case had the fastest fly split with a 51.82 from the B relay.

WOMEN’S TEAM SCORES THROUGH DAY 2:

  1. University of Texas               374   2. University of Kansas              218
  3. West Virginia University          199   4. Iowa State University             176
  5. Texas Christian University        145

MEN’S 400 MEDLEY RELAY:

  1. GOLD: Texas, 3:05.71
  2. SILVER: West Virginia, 3:09.78
  3. BRONZE: TCU, 3:17.02

Austin Katz jumped in first for Texas, putting up a 46.26 on the backstroke leg. Austin Temple swam the breast leg in 52.55, while Joseph Schooling put up a 45.09 on the fly. Sprint ace Brett Ringgold finished things off with his 41.81 free split. West Virginia’s Jake Armstrong put up the fastest breast split of the field, 51.81, to help his team to silver.

MEN’S TEAM SCORES THROUGH DAY 2:

  1. University of Texas               380   2. West Virginia University          290
  3. Texas Christian University        215

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Sean Sullivan
6 years ago

Count me among those not worried at all about Texas (except for Shebat), but if I were looking at schools the fact that they have a totally non-competitive conference meet every year would be a bit of a put-off. Probably not one of the first 5 things you consider when weighing schools as a top recruit, but competitive conference meets are fun. As swimmers there are very few opportunities to actually get a little rest and really get going during the season and it’s too bad Texas doesn’t have one more at conference.

dmswim
Reply to  Sean Sullivan
6 years ago

I was thinking the same thing. If you aren’t making NCAAs, your rest meet is a joke (even for the women). As a mid-level recruit looking at a Texas team that has left NCAA qualifiers at home in the past due to squad size limits, that would be concerning to me.

Nah
Reply to  Sean Sullivan
6 years ago

It sure would suck to get a conference ring every single year guaranteed. And have a shot at a national championship ring almost every year and get one even if you didnt make the NCAA team. It would be such a bummer to swim at a world class facility for the greatest coach in history.

All that should matter is that your conference is big.

Sean Sullivan
6 years ago

I’m a little surprised Eddie didn’t just throw Shebat out there on one of the medley relays to give him an extra shot at an invite time. Either they are confident he can get it done tomorrow, or his health is still is at a point where every extra swim still has to be considered.

Swammer
6 years ago

The Cal Bears are gonna put this Texas team to sleep come March ?

PsychoDad
Reply to  Swammer
6 years ago

Maybe. Possible. But you are only looking at Texas upperclassmen. You will be surprised in March my friend.

Jon Babbitt
6 years ago

Seems more teams in D1 are training through their conference meets and waiting to taper later in the season? I could be wrong, but if my hunch is right we are in for a treat NCs.

mikeh
6 years ago

Haas is my favorite swimmer to watch with his incredibly smooth freestyle. But 4:16 is a problem. The 1:39 in the 200 that he went last month was a red flag. He is badly over trained assuming no injury or illness. The question is can he rest and recover in time?

Tammy Touchpad Error
Reply to  mikeh
6 years ago

I’m one of the last people to have anything good to say about Texas, but I feel like Haas is an anomaly in that nothing he does in season means anything. I will be VERY surprised if he isn’t 1:30 or faster and under 4:10 and a 41.

He’s been so consistent at big meets for a long time now.

Dudeman
Reply to  Tammy Touchpad Error
6 years ago

This. Haas is a big meet swimmer and he’s shown up when it counts in 2016 and 2017, I don’t see any problem right now. In terms of over-training I’m not so sure. He’s in for NCAA’s so why waster any rest for conference? Might as well save it all and unload something crazy at NCAA’s

MEH
Reply to  Dudeman
6 years ago

Correct

Just Keep Swimmin'
Reply to  Tammy Touchpad Error
6 years ago

No need to worry. Townley has been training really hard this year and is nowhere near rested for Big 12. It’s all about NCAA Champs for him and his rest/tapper.

PsychoDad
Reply to  mikeh
6 years ago

My only worry about Haas at Big 12 champs was he would fall asleep during 500. He did not and he finished the race. No worries about Townley come March. I am more worried about Tate Jackson. Is this repeat of last year when he was very fast in February but missed taper badly in March? I hope not. Eddie admitted he missed Tate’s taper last year. Hope he can repeat this in March and Texas has 3 swimmers in A final 50 free.

Just Keep Swimmin'
Reply to  PsychoDad
6 years ago

Tate started resting about two weeks earlier this year. Eddie’s got it nailed for him this time.

Daaaave
Reply to  mikeh
6 years ago

*sigh* are we doing this again this year?

dmswim
Reply to  mikeh
6 years ago

Townley came from a very high volume program so I’m not too concerned about overtraining. His body can handle it and I’m sure it will bounce back come March.

PsychoDad
6 years ago

Longhorn haters are on fire! NATIONAL CHAMPIONS LAST 3 YEARS. Until someone beats them, please shut up.

Cheatin Vlad
Reply to  PsychoDad
6 years ago

The horns had their run, now let the rest of us have some fun at their expense!

Nathan Smith
6 years ago

They have Dressel’s record listed as 1:39.13…

Looks like someone at Texas just couldn’t believe it

rsgnsf
Reply to  Nathan Smith
6 years ago

Hello, Hy-Tek…?

bill
6 years ago

awww schooling got schooled

Swimmer
Reply to  bill
6 years ago

He went 18 in practice

Cheatin Vlad
Reply to  bill
6 years ago

What a turn of events for Schooling these past few years. NCAA/Olympic champ and then here comes Dressel.

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Lauren Neidigh

Lauren Neidigh is a former NCAA swimmer at the University of Arizona (2013-2015) and the University of Florida (2011-2013). While her college swimming career left a bit to be desired, her Snapchat chin selfies and hot takes on Twitter do not disappoint. She's also a high school graduate of The …

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