Brendan Burns Swims 45.8 Back, 46.1 Fly, Frankel Shines at IU Time Trials

Sophomore Brendan Burns was just .05 seconds off a lifetime-best in the 100-yard backstroke at Indiana’s two-day time trial meet.

The Hoosiers competed in short course yards on Friday and long course meters on Saturday. IU’s highly-ranked college team mostly headlined the short course session, while a number of big-name professionals training out of Bloomington stole the show in the long course session.

Burns, a top-ranked recruit who appeared primed to score in all three of his events at last spring’s canceled NCAA Championships, came up with two huge swims on Friday.

The 19-year-old went 45.80 in a 100-yard backstroke. That’s just a tick off of Burns’ career-best 45.75 put up at last spring’s Big Ten Championships. While it’s not clear if the meet will officially count for NCAA rankings, that swim would put Burns #7 in the NCAA for the season in official short course yards times.

Burns also blasted a 46.12 to win the 100-yard fly. That was a great race all-around for IU, with star freshman Tomer Frankel going 46.29 to push Burns. Frankel, from Israel, is one of the top international prospects joining the NCAA this year, and based on current NCAA ranks, the Hoosiers could have two contenders for big NCAA points in the 100 fly. Burns would sit#14 right now, and Frankel #17.

Also on the men’s side, sophomore Michael Brinegar has returned from a redshirt season, and he went 8:52.15 in the 1000-yard free. So far this season, only two men have been faster than that – Texas’s David Johnston (8:45.38) and Notre Dame’s Jack Hoagland (8:51.68).

For the women, junior Noelle Peplowski stuck a new career-best of 1:57.34 in the 200 IM. That’s a drop of almost four seconds, and her first time under two minutes. Peplowski was also 2:12.16 in the 200 breast, holding off a stiff charge from sophomore Emily Weiss (2:12.74).

A few other notable short course swims:

• Senior Jacob Steele was 1:43.84 in the 200 back, wonly about 2.3 seconds off his lifetime-best.
• Freshman Maxwell Reich nearly hit a lifetime-best in the 100 breast. He was 54.55, carrying a lifetime-best of 54.47 from last December. Reich was also 1:58.31 in the 200 breast.
• Junior Jack Franzman went 19.79 in the 50 free and 43.65 in the 100 free.
• Senior Abby Kirkpatrick had two solid swims, taking second to Peplowski in the 200 IM (1:58.77) and winning the 100 breast in 1:00.63. She was only about half a second off of lifetime-bests in both swims.
• Sophomore Ashley Turak wasn’t far of her best times in the sprint freestyles. She was 22.52 in the 50 free and 49.13 in the 100 free, both four tenths off her best times.
• Junior Maggie Wallace was 16:17.32 in the 1650 free, only nine seconds off her best time, from Big Tens in 2019.
• Highly-touted freshman Ella Ristic went 1:46.62 in the 200 free, just over a second from her best.

Long Course Session

IU pro Laura Morley was just six tenths of a second off of her own Bahamian national record in the 200-meter breaststroke, one of several post-grads highlighting Saturday’s long course session. Morley was 2:28.46 in a very solid in-season swim. She set her national record almost exactly one year ago, going 2:27.83 at U.S. Open.

On the men’s side, breaststrokers also starred. U.S. Olympian Cody Miller won the 100-meter breast in 1:01.76. That’s about two seconds off what he went at the Indy site of the U.S. Open last month. Miller was also 2:18.24 in the 200 breast, finishing behind two current IU freshmen: Maxwell Reich (2:16.48) and Jassen Yep (2:17.52).

Coming off of ISL season as the standout MVP of the DC Trident, Zach Apple went 1:49.42 in the 200 free. That should check in at #5 among Americans this season in the event, a good sign for Apple’s Olympic prospects across the relay-distance freestyle events.

A few other notable long course swims:

• Junior Van Mathias went 53.73 in the 100-meter fly, within a second of his lifetime-best.
• Sophomore Ashley Turak supplemented her strong sprint free swims from the yards session with a 25.68 in the 50-meter free. That’s just .04 from her career-best swim.
• Junior Jack Franzmann was 23.00 in the 50 free, a half-second from a best time.