Hello, everyone and welcome back for another NCAA digest for this exciting 2024-25 season. It was another busy week across all three divisions–let’s get into it.
Kirabo Namutebi Breaks 50 Freestyle DII Record
The fast swims just keep coming this season. Last week, we saw the first division record of the season, thanks to UIndy’s Kirabo Namutebi. The sophomore broke her women’s 50 freestyle Division II record, swimming a 22.03 at a tri-meet against Division I opponents Eastern Illinois and Butler (which the Greyhounds swept).
Namutebi set the previous record at 22.08 when she won the DII NCAA title in the event. Before that, the record was owned by then-UIndy fifth-year Johanna Buys, from her title-winning swim the previous year.
Namutebi ranks as the sixth-fastest swimmer in the NCAA this season. By breaking this record before the mid-season invites, Namutebi has made it a real possibility that she could bring the DII record to sub-22 seconds.
At the same meet, 400 IM Olympic finalist Cedric Buessing took down his school record in the 200 backstroke, clocking 1:42.85.
Dual Meet Attendance Continues To Rise
During the 2022-23 season, Texas was one of the first schools to follow the lead that Howard set with the inaugural edition of the Battle of the Burr in October 2022. Later in the season, Texas drew a record 1,127 fans to a January dual meet with bells and whistles that included a light show and a visit from the school mascot.
During the second session of their Nov. 1 dual meet with Indiana, the Longhorns surpassed that dual meet attendance record, bringing in 1,265 fans as they once again pulled out all the stops to pack the stands and set a new dual meet attendance record. (The crowds were rewarded with fast swims—more on that later.)
As we head into a new era of college swimming, it’s become increasingly important for Olympic sports like swimming to show that they can turn a profit for their athletics departments and show that people want to watch their sport. One of the most obvious ways for college swim teams to do that is through increasing dual meet attendance. As more schools have bought into the idea of making dual meets as entertaining as possible for a fan base beyond the biggest swim nerds out there, we’ve seen each school put its own spin on the task.
This season alone, LSU hosted a cannonball competition, ASU had a beer garden at their Oct. 4 dual meet, and UGA is promoting their upcoming Nov. 8 dual meet against NC State as a “Swimpalooza” with promotions like commemorative t-shirts, food, and face painting.
The crowd for the Indiana vs. Texas dal meet is the largest we’ve seen for a college dual meet this season, but it certainly isn’t the first attendance record. Wisconsin broke its attendance record with 968 fans at their meet against Minnesota, and Minnesota broke its dual meet attendance record when 1,058 fans showed out for the Golden Gophers’ meet against Army. Both were stops on swim-influencer Kyle Sockwell’s dual meet tour—the purpose of which is to set attendance records and aid the effort to reenergize college dual meets.
With 1,058 fans, Minnesota joins Howard, Texas, South Carolina, Virginia, and Army as schools that have hosted a dual meet with over 1,000 fans in the last three seasons.
Schools like Howard and UConn are having success getting people to attend regular season meets even without setting records. Howard had 1,058 fans at the third Battle of the Burr and the event was completely sold out before the day arrived. UConn sold out their meet against Sacred Heart and Southern Connecticut State University.
This season, Minnesota, Howard, and Texas have all hosted over 1,000 fans for a dual meet—matching the total number of programs that had at least 1,000 fans attend a dual meet last season. And, much like we’ve been saying about the fast swims we’ve seen this season, it’s only November.
What Did We Learn From Indiana vs. Texas?
Ok, it’s time to talk about the actual swimming at the Indiana vs. Texas dual meet. The Longhorns swept the meet—but everything changes in the championship format. What did this meet actually tell us about these two teams?
Of course, everything changes for the Texas men now that Chris Guiliano is joining them. Coming out of the meet, it looked like Texas had proved that they could beat Florida at NCAAs for the #3 spot behind Cal and Indiana, but Guiliano’s addition arguably vaults them into the title conversation.
But leaving that aside for the moment, one of the things that stood out to me about the meet was how many less recognizable names swam well. Freshman Garrett Gould swam two 50 free PBs in one day, getting down to 19.53. Other freshmen went personal bests as well, with Cooper Lucas swimming 1:43.35 in the 200 fly and Landon D’Ariano hitting 1:46.00 in the 200 IM. Logan Walker matched Gould with two personal bests (100 fly, 46.45/200 fly, 1:41.70), and Will Scholtz swam 1:52.80 for PB in the 200 breast.
Yes, stars like David Johnston, Luke Hobson, and Hubert Kos went fast. Rex Maurer popped four lifetime bests (100 free, 42.83/200 free, 1:32.13/500 free, 4:11.20/1000 free, 8:44.62). Nate Germonprez, who the Longhorns asked a lot of in his freshman year, swam two lifetime bests (100 breast, 51.60/200 breast, 1:53.60). But their “next-tier” of guys having success under Bob Bowman in his first year with the program is huge for them, especially this early in the season. While none of their times last week would score 2024 NCAAs, there’s plenty of season left for them to get closer to the cuts.
It’s going to be hard to crack the Longhorns’ postseason rosters, but it takes more than a couple of stars to win conference and national titles; that “next tier” of swimmers is crucial for picking up those little points that add up. And the fact that those guys are responding so well so early is an important part of rebuilding Texas into a long-term NCAA title contender, with or without Guiliano.
For the Texas women, it’s clear that Emma Sticklen is the anchor of this team. She led the way again for the Longhorns as they beat Indiana, swimming a school-record 49.62 in the 100 fly and breaking 1:50 in the 200 fly for the fourth time in her career (1:49.99), giving her the most sub-1:50 swims of anyone.
Jillian Cox set a program record of 4:34.41 in the 500 freestyle. It’s the redshirt freshman’s second record of the school year, and she will be an important contributor in the distance events. She and fellow freshman Piper Enge will be crucial to this team as they look to defend their runner-up position in the NCAA against Stanford team with a ton of momentum. With the loss of Anna Elendt and Lydia Jacoby, Enge is going to be their go-to breaststroker this year and she’s performing well against that pressure.
Indiana has a lot of newcomers on the team this year and they continued to shine for the Hoosiers at this meet. Sophomore transfer Miranda Grana has been lights out in her primary backstroke events this season; she clocked 51.04 in the 100 back (faster than NCAAs) and a 1:50.50 lifetime best in the 200 back at this meet. On the men’s side, Zalan Sarkany and Owen McDonald were two key pieces; Sarkany lost a close race in the 1000 free to Johnston, swimming 8:39.44, while McDonald swam 1:38.13 in the 200 back to beat Kos by .01 second.
Returners Kristina Paegle (50 free, 21.92/100 free, 48.11), Anna Peplowski (200 free, 1:43.48), Jassen Yep (200 breast, 1:51.94, Josh Matheny (200 breast, 1:52.28) and Finn Brooks (50 free, 19.25) swam well too, adding a positive for the Hoosiers.
Head coach Ray Looze spoke to SwimSwam after the second session of the meet. Looze spoke about trying to get on the right side of the close finishes during the second session, as well as the men’s team rebounding after a slew of DQs in the 200 medley relay to open the second session. Looze shared they came to the meet for elite-level competition. They got it, and it sounds like they learned lessons it was important to learn now, in November, rather than March.
Odds & Ends
More 200 Fly Intrigue: The 200 fly has been one of the most exciting events through the early part of the NCAA season, with swimmers like Sticklen, Ilya Kharun, and Luca Urlando putting up speedy in-season times. During Minnesota’s dual meet loss to Wisconsin (their first loss of the season) freshman Jacob Johnson broke the 200 fly program record for the second time this season. After first setting it at 1:42.41 in October. Last weekend, he lowered it to 1:41.70, which is also a new personal best. Further south, Josh Liendo tried on the 200-yard fly for the first time in his college career. He clocked an NCAA ‘B’ 1:43.51 even after the piano fell with 50 yards to go (23.58/26.06/26.31/27.56).
Gretchen Walsh At It Again: At Virginia’s meet against Auburn, the team’s first yards meet of the season, Gretchen Walsh was her usual self, swimming fast seemingly whenever and wherever. She logged the fastest 50 free in a dual meet in history (20.84), which is the first time anyone’s been sub-20.90 outside of the postseason or a midseason invite. She did the same in the 100 fly, swimming 48.43 for the fourth-fastest official time in history and her fourth time under Kate Douglass’ 48.46 from 2023, then an NCAA record.
Down To The Last Relay: And finally, let’s close out with two meets that were as close as they could get. The Northeastern women launched a comeback during the second half of their meet against UConn, which was enough to edge ahead of the Huskies for the win, 151-149. Ohio State did the same—down against Virginia Tech after almost two days of competition, the Buckeyes won the 400 free relay, giving them the meet win by a point, 177-176.
