Drew Kibler Returns to Sprint Roots, Opts for 50 Free Over 500 At NCAAs

2022 MEN’S NCAA SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, March 23 – Saturday, March 26, 2022
• McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, Georgia
• Pre-Selection Psych Sheets

We’re living in an era where “rangey freestyler” is becoming increasingly less of an aberration, and more of the norm, but there still aren’t many swimmers who have the freestyle range of Texas senior Drew Kibler; specifically, few swimmers have a real dilemma between the 50 and the 500 free on the first full day of the NCAA Championships.

Today’s NCAA psych sheets revealed that Kibler is forgoing the 500 free and opting for the 50 free instead.

On one hand, this isn’t surprising at all. He hasn’t actually competed in the 500 free at all this season, so he isn’t even eligible to swim it at NCAAs.

On the other hand, he is the 5th-fastest man ever in the event, with his lifetime best of 4:08.26 coming from October of 2020. He swam this event at NCAAs last year, finishing 5th with a time of 4:10.04. He was also seeded 6th in the event in 2020 before NCAAs were canceled in light of the then-burgeoning Covid-19 pandemic.

And while in previous years, the 200 free relay was just before the 500 free, creating a bit of a conflict, a new schedule this year means that the 200 free relay comes at the end of Thursday’s session, making the prospect of that double a little less daunting.

Still, Kibler begun his college career focusing on the 50 free over the 500 free. As a freshman in 2019, he swam a 19.08 in prelims, just missing the A-final, then tied with Cal’s Michael Jensen to win the B-final with a 19.15.

This year, he has a season-best time of 19.19, which puts him as the 19th seed in the 50 free. His lifetime best is still 19.08, which would put him at 15th on the psych sheet. That leads to the supposition the he and the Texas coaching staff feel confident about his ability to drop time in the 50 free and score well above seed in the 50 free if they’re going to give up what figured to be guaranteed A-final points in the 500 free.

Of course, this also leaves Kibler fresher for relays — he should be on all three free relay — and his other two events, the 200 free and the 100 free. He’s the 8th-fastest man ever in the 200 free, and he finished 3rd in the event in 2019 and 2nd last year. He finished 16th in the 100 free as a freshman, and last year, he and teammate Daniel Krueger tied for 2nd in the 100 free. He’s seeded 6th in the 200 and 34th in the 100 this season.

Coming up through the age group ranks, Kibler was known more of a sprinter, before he began to expand his wheelhouse midway through high school. He still set a NFHS public school record in the 50 free (although Caeleb Dressel had been faster leading off a 200 free relay), but he also was able to swim up well enough to set a 15-16 NAG record in the 500 free.

With 11 men seeded under 19.0 in the 50 free, it’ll presumably take an 18-something to make the A-final, but if Kibler can make that drop, he stands a good chance of once again becoming a triple A-finalist, something that will go a long way towards helping the Longhorns fend off a Cal Bears team that looks strong coming out of Pac-12s.