2022 Big 12 Championships: Day 2 Prelims Live Recap

2022 BIG 12 SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

The first swimming prelims session of the 2022 Big 12 Championships is underway this morning. As always, Thursday’s action will include the 500 free, 200 IM, and 50 free. Women’s 1-meter diving will be taking place today, as well as timed finals tonight of the 400 medley relays.

Unsurprisingly, Texas swept the relay last nights, establishing leads in the team races. Longhorn Ethan Harder swam a time trial in the 200 back yesterday, clocking a 1:41.85. The swim was a massive season best for Harder, coming in well under his previous mark of 1:44.35 from the Minnesota Invite. Unfortunately, 1:41.85 won’t be fast enough for Harder to earn an invite to NCAAs this year.

Today, we’ll get to see a highly anticipated race between Evie Pfeifer and Erica Sullivan in the 500 free. Both Longhorns are NCAA title-contenders in the race.

WOMEN’S 500 FREESTYLE – PRELIMS:

  • NCAA “A”: A 4:35.76
  • Big 12: * 4:36.35 3/18/2021 Evie Pfeifer, Texas
  • Meet: # 4:36.35 2/25/2021 Evie Pfeifer, Texas
  • 2021 Invited: 4:44.77

Top 8 Finishers:

  1. Evie Pfeifer (TEX) – 4:42.34
  2. Erica Sullivan (TEX) – 4:43.21
  3. Olivia McMurray (TEX) – 4:50.66
  4. Mary Smutny (TEX) – 4:51.08
  5. Abby Reardon (WVU) – 4:52.66
  6. Abby Pfeifer (TEX) – 4:52.72
  7. Brinley Horras (ISU) – 4:52.93
  8. Emily Knorr (WVU) – 4:54.49

Both Evie Pfeifer and Erica Sullivan turned in very pedestrian performances this morning, although Sullivan’s swim was a season best. Despite it being a season best, the swim was nowhere near Sullivan’s personal best of 4:34.07, which she swam last April. Pfeifer has a personal best of 4:35.02, which she swam at NCAAs last year.

Texas freshman Olivia McMurray also turned in a relaxed swim this morning, clocking a 4:50.66, almost 7 seconds off her season best.

West Virginia had a good showing this morning, with both Abby Reardon and Emily Knorr finishing in the top 8. Iowa State’s Brinley Horras took 1.73 seconds off her season best to earn a top 8 finish.

MEN’S 500 FREESTYLE – PRELIMS:

  • NCAA “A”: A 4:11.62
  • Big 12: * 4:08.19 3/28/2019 Townley Haas, Texas
  • Meet: # 4:11.11 2/23/2017 Clark Smith, Texas
  • 2021 Invited: 4:16.75

Top 8 Finishers:

  1. Coby Carrozza (TEX) – 4:14.00
  2. David Johnston (TEX) – 4:14.09
  3. Peter Larson (TEX) – 4:16.10
  4. Luke Hobson (TEX) – 4:18.07
  5. Alex Zettle (TEX) – 4:20.78
  6. Geremia Freri (TCU) – 4:21.02
  7. Ethan Heasley (TEX) – 4:22.23
  8. Sam Artmann (TEX) – 4:25.07

Coby Carrozza, David Johnston, and Peter Larson put together quality prelims swims this morning, with Johnston clocking a season best by almost 3 seconds, and Larson and Carrozza within half a second of their season bests.

Johnston’s swim was not only a season best, he clipped his personal best with the performance. His previous best time of 4:14.36 was swum at last year’s NCAA Championships. While it will likely take a little bit faster swim to make finals at NCAAs, Johnston displaying an ability to swim a best time in prelims of the 500 is a promising sign for his prospects at NCAAs next month.

While some Texas swimmers in the top 8 won’t be competing in the A final tonight, it’s notable nonetheless that TCU’s Geremia Freri was the only non-Texas swimmer to post a top-8 time this morning. Freri was actually well off his season best of 4:17.71, so be on the lookout for him tonight.

It’s also worth mentioning that Texas freshman Luke Hobson, despite finishing 4th this morning, is the fastest 500 freestyler in this field. Hobson has already been under 4:10 this year, and is the 2nd-fastest swimmer in the NCAA this season.

WOMEN’S 200 IM – PRELIMS:

  • NCAA “A”: A 1:53.66
  • Big 12: * 1:52.58 3/16/2017 Madisyn Cox, Texas
  • Meet: # 1:52.82 2/23/2017 Madisyn Cox, Texas
  • 2021 Invited: 1:57.62

Top 8 Finishers:

  1. Emma Sticklen (TEX) – 1:56.57
  2. Kelly Pash (TEX) – 1:56.86
  3. Olivia Bray (TEX) – 1:57.24
  4. Kate Steward (KANS) – 1:59.52
  5. Dannie Dilsaver (KANS) – 2:01.41
  6. Trinity Gilbert (ISU) – 2:02.21
  7. Brigid Gwidt (KANS) – 2:02.37
  8. Marlene Hirschberg (TCU) – 2:02.42

Texas sophomore Emma Sticklen clocked a new personal best to lead prelims this morning. Sticklen’s time of 1:56.57 is over a second faster than her previous best of 1:57.67, which she established at the Minnesota Invite less than 3 months ago. Although Sticklen is primarily a butterflier, she put together a well-rounded race this morning.

Kansas had an excellent showing in this event, earning 3 A finalists. Kate Steward led the way, dipping under 2:00 for the first time this season. Steward is primarily a breaststroker, and her breast split of 33.72 led the field, and helped fuel her 4th-place performance.

MEN’S 200 IM – PRELIMS:

  • NCAA “A”: A 1:41.34
  • Big 12: * 1:39.63 3/25/2019 John Shebat, Texas
  • Meet: # 1:41.46 2/25/2021 Carson Foster, Texas
  • 2021 Invited: 1:44.15

Top 8 Finishers:

  1. Tim Connery (TEX) – 1:43.48
  2. Carson Foster (TEX) – 1:43.91
  3. Jake Foster (TEX) – 1:44.54
  4. Halvor Borgstroem (TEX) – 1:46.16
  5. Caspar Corbeau (TEX) – 1:46.50
  6. Braden Vines (TEX) – 1:46.69
  7. Luke DiMiceli (TCU) – 1:47.57
  8. David Dixon (WVU) – 1:47.72

Texas freshman Tim Connery swam a personal best to post the top time of prelims this morning. Connery’s performance marks his first time under 1:44 in his career, downing a personal best which was set in 2019. He led the Foster brothers this morning, both of whom were off their season bests.

TCU grabbed another outright top 8 finisher this morning, with Luke DiMiceli posting a 1:47.57, about half a second off his season. best.

Fresh off his 1:42 200 fly time trial last night, West Virginia’s David Dixon made his way into the A final of the 200 IM, also swimming about half a second off his season best.

WOMEN’S 50 FREESTYLE – PRELIMS:

  • NCAA “A”: A 21.66
  • Big 12: * 21.73 3/15/2017 Rebecca Millard, Texas
  • Big 12: * 21.73 11/29/2018Grace Ariola, Texas
  • Meet: # 21.87 2/26/2009 Hee-Jin Chang, Texas
  • 2021 Invited: 22.32

Top 8 Finishers:

  1. Grace Cooper (TEX) – 22.29
  2. Bridget Semenuk (TEX) – 22.52
  3. Julia Cook (TEX) – 22.70
  4. Kyla Leibel (TEX) – 22.81
  5. Olvia Rhodes (TCU) – 23.08
  6. Ana Zortea (WVU) – 23.16
  7. Keyla Brown (KANS) – 23.31
  8. Harna Minezawa (WVU) – 23.33

Grace Cooper put together an excellent 50 free this morning, leading the way with a 22.29, inching closer towards an NCAA invite. Cooper swam her previous best time of 22.36 in February of 2018, and since then, had been on a plateau, where she was consistently around 22.5. Her swim this morning is a breakthrough of sorts, so we’ll keep an eye on her tonight.

Bridget Semenuk was just 0.03 seconds off her season best with her 22.52 this morning. TCU, West Virginia, and Kansas each got at least one swimmer into the A final.

MEN’S 50 FREESTYLE – PRELIMS:

  • NCAA “A”: A 18.96
  • Big 12: * 18.76 2/23/2017 Joseph Schooling, Texas
  • Meet: # 18.76 2/23/2017 Joseph Schooling, Texas
  • 2021 Invited: 19.46

Top 8 Finishers:

  1. Cam Auchinachie (TEX) – 19.17
  2. Daniel Krueger (TEX) – 19.21
  3. Drew Kibler (TEX) – 19.33
  4. Raphael Paiva (TCU) – 19.93
  5. Jadon Wuilliez (TCU) – 20.03
  6. Noah Cumby (TCU) – 20.23
  7. Andrew Couchon (TEX) – 20.30
  8. Jake Litchfield (TCU) – 20.35

In a massive prelims performance for TCU, the Horned Frogs have earned 4 A finalists in the 50 free tonight. It would take a heroic performance from any of TCU’s A finalists in order for them to crack the top 3 tonight, but nonetheless, TCU has a huge haul of points coming.

Cam Auchinachie led the way this morning, although his time of 19.17 is well off his season best of 18.80.

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Source: dude trust me
2 years ago

Gotta give some credit to TCU’s new coach. He inherited a program that was for all intents and purposes a dumpster fire with 3 head coaches in 2 years and immediately leaped over WVU despite having nowhere near the facilities the mountaineers now enjoy.

Last edited 2 years ago by Source: dude trust me
SwimNick37
2 years ago

On the results page there are some swimmers who have an asterisk next to their names, does anyone know why?

Admin
Reply to  SwimNick37
2 years ago

I’m not 100%, but I believe those are non-scoring swimmers.

We’ll find out for sure when finals heat sheets come out.

Source: dude trust me
Reply to  Braden Keith
2 years ago

Correct. big 12 teams are allowed to bring their whole roster due to the relatively small size of the meet, but must designate their scoring team beforehand.

SwimNick37
Reply to  Braden Keith
2 years ago

Thank you.

Caleb
2 years ago

Disappointed to see Kibler drop the 500 this year. Thought he might bring it back for championship season…

Slade
2 years ago

Dual meet times on both sides. Yawn.

Michael Andrew Wilson
Reply to  Slade
2 years ago

Which teams have 2 guys going 4:14.0 or 3 going 19.3 in dual meets? 😳

Susan
2 years ago

An intersquad meet? Geesh! Congrats to the few non Longhorns who made it into finals

Joe
2 years ago

why was Grimm exhibition in the 50?

MCH
2 years ago

Can we please get them in the SEC and soon. This is such a waste of time.

Joe
Reply to  MCH
2 years ago

SEC will pretty much be NCAAs at this rate

SEC
Reply to  MCH
2 years ago

They’d get smoked in the SEC if the swim this way through the meet

MCH
Reply to  SEC
2 years ago

Good.

Stewie
Reply to  SEC
2 years ago

For the 100th time, Texas doesn’t care about conference meets. Not the SWC, not the Big 12, and not the SEC. See you at NCAAs, when it counts…

MIKE IN DALLAS
Reply to  Stewie
2 years ago

Wisdom has built herself a house and speaks thru SEC

Horninco
Reply to  Stewie
2 years ago

It doesn’t matter how many times it gets said, they still won’t listen

Horninco
Reply to  SEC
2 years ago

And still win the National title

Stewie
Reply to  Horninco
2 years ago

December 2025: Texas men head to the Minnesota Invite, and qualify a record 28 swimmers for NCAAs.

February 2026: Texas finish 6th at SECs.

March 2026: Texas win a record 20th NCAA title.

#markit

Horninco
Reply to  Stewie
2 years ago

Texas would be perfectly happy with that outcome

Texas would be at worst second at SEC’s though

Texas A&M Swim Fan
Reply to  SEC
2 years ago

Doubt anybody tapered for this. Texas will have to taper to win SEC! Not having to taper for this meet & only having to taper for NCAA has helped them immensely! They will have to taper twice if they want a shot at being SEC champion. If you look at the times put up in SEC Championship meet, most of these times won’t cut it!!

Yabo
Reply to  Texas A&M Swim Fan
2 years ago

I don’t think they care

Joe
2 years ago

Does anyone have the ups/downs on the mens side of this meet?