SMU Invite Day 4: Liam Custer Sets New Pool Record in 1650 Free (14:40.58)

by Charlotte Wells 8

November 27th, 2024 ACC, College, News, Previews & Recaps

2024 SMU Invite

The final day of the SMU Invite saw a number of records fall as each team made a final bid to land on top of the podium.

After leading by a wide margin throughout much of the competition, Stanford’s men’s team emerged victorious, racking up over 1000 points. Miami (FL) pulled ahead on the women’s side, while SMU fell to 3rd after holding the lead earlier in the meet.

Stanford’s Liam Custer kicked the action-packed evening off with a bang by setting a new pool record in the 1650 freestyle in a time of 14:40.58. His record-breaking performance handed him the victory in the event by over 14 seconds and was just under three seconds off of his lifetime best.

The men kept the excitement going in the 200 back final, as the top six competitors were all under the NCAA ‘B’ cut time standard. Stanford’s Aaron Sequeira led the way in a time of 1:40.80, just off the season best time of 1:40.50 that he set during prelims, and was the only swimmer in the field to go sub-1:41.

Posting a top performance from the ‘B’ final in the 100 free was SMU’s Ward Lockhart, who placed 9th in a personal best time of 42.73. His performance made him the Mustangs’ fastest swimmer of all-time in the event, and his time would have placed 4th over in the ‘A’ final. Lockhart took over a second off of his previous best time of 43.81 that he just posted in prelims.

The 200 breast saw no shortage of fast swims, as the top 11 swimmers posted times under the NCAA ‘B’ cut standard. Ron Polonsky turned in yet another top performance for Stanford, throwing down a time of 1:52.36 to secure the win and shave 1.15 seconds off of his season best.

The women’s races were no less exciting, with several school records being broken across the board.

Miami’s Giulia Carvalho capped off a weekend that saw her set two new school records and one pool record with a winning performance in the 100 free. She posted a lifetime best of 47.78, taking nearly a second off of her previous time, and broke the Miami program record in the event.

SMU’s Rachel Anderson enjoyed a tremendous race in the 200 back. She threw down a personal best time of 1:54.92, almost two seconds faster than her previous time of 1:56.63, winning the event and setting a new program record in the process.

Drury University sophomore Jonette Laegreid set the Division II National Record in the prelims with a time of 2:08.86, breaking Bailee Nunn’s record of 2:09.12 from 2017. Laegreid won the finals with a slight add from prelims at 2:09.37.

Another SMU team record fell in the final event, as the team of Madison Parker, Madeleine Hebert, Summer Osborne and Teia Salvino won the 400 free relay in a time of 3:16.59. They bested the previous program record time of 3:18.32 by nearly two seconds, which was set just a few weeks ago in early November.

FINAL TEAM SCORES

Women

  1. Miami (FL) – 936
  2. Hawaii – 770
  3. SMU – 763.5
  4. Drury – 687.5
  5. North Texas – 83
  6. North Carolina – 80
  7. Wyoming – 36
  8. BYU – 32

Men

  1. Stanford – 1043.5
  2. SMU – 957.5
  3. Drury – 727
  4. Hawaii – 545
  5. BYU – 124
  6. North Carolina – 112
  7. Wyoming – 24

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D1 Nomad
1 hour ago

Doesn’t Lars Frolander still hold the SMU record in 100 Free?

Admin
Reply to  D1 Nomad
1 hour ago

He does! 42.13.

Swimmer
2 hours ago

Jonette is a freshman at drury university.

Woods
2 hours ago

Anyone know why Hoagland stopped swimming during the meet? Maybe I missed something but seemed like he swam 400im prelims and then scratched the rest of the way.

CSMF
3 hours ago

Jonette Laegreid broke the DII National Record in the 200 Breaststroke in prelims swimming for Drury at 2:08.86, too!

Swimmer
3 hours ago

Stanford working overtime to beat the “Rex Maurer left and immediately dropped in everything” allegations

Dylan
Reply to  Swimmer
3 hours ago

Liam Custer went faster than this when he was 16

ArtVanDeLegh10
Reply to  Dylan
2 hours ago

I think he was 14:37 in HS.