Braden Keith contributed to this report.
2025 Tennessee Invite
- November 20-22, 2025
- Alan Jones Aquatic Center, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
- SCY (25 Yards)
- Live Results
The CSCAA Dual Meet Challenge starts Friday, but racing started today with many of the top swimmers from ASU, Virginia, Tennessee, and Michigan racing in a prelims/finals session. This is expected to be the only swimming session of this meet with stars before they shift focus to the dual meet session on Friday; the rest of the weekend will more likely be swimmers from the back-end of teams’ rosters, plus divers.
The highlight of the day was five ASU men swimming under 19 seconds in the men’s 50 freestyle, spotlighting the deepest 50 freestyle group in the NCAA this season, and maybe any season.
Led by Ilya Kharun, the Sun Devils took the top six spots at the Tennessee Invite day 1 session. The top five of those went under 19 seconds – though four of them had already been sub-19 this season.
Top 6 in the 50 free on Thursday:
- Ilya Kharun, Junior – 18.41
- Tommy Palmer, 5th year – 18.90
- Adam Chaney, 5th year – 18.92
- Tolu Young, Sophomore – 18.96
- Remi Fabiani, 5th year – 18.98
- Jonny Kulow, Senior – 19.07
Last season, the Sun Devils had three swimmers under 19 seconds all season (Kharun, Kulow, Palmer), but the development of the underheralded Young, plus the transfers-in of Fabiani (Cal Baptist) and Chaney (Florida) makes this group even deeper – with Kulow expected to join them under 19 by season’s end.
Last season, several teams had three guys under 19 seconds. Besides Arizona State, Tennessee (Crooks, Caribe, Taylor); Florida (Liendo, Painter, Buff); and NC State (McCarty, Fox, Salls) did it.
A season earlier, Arizona State, NC State and Florida (including Chaney) did it. In 2022-2023, NC State, Florida and Cal did it. In 2021-2022, NC State became the first program to do it. In the last full season before COVID hit, there were only four swimmers nationally to do it (two Cal, one Indiana, and Colin Wright from William & Mary).
So only a handful of programs have even had three in the same season, and Arizona State had five in the same meet, mid-season, with a sixth likely on the way later in the year.
This is a Sun Devil team that rebuilt in a hurry after losing a massive number of transfers, and their head coach, following their 2024 title. It’s one with a crop of sprinters that feels built to challenge the University of Texas for an NCAA title – in any other year, where Texas wasn’t loaded with talent at nearly every position.
The women’s 50 freestyle was also a highlight, though it was Virginia leading the charge rather than ASU.
Italian freshman Sara Curtis swam 21.34 to win the event, coming in two tenths over her lifetime best of 21.18 from UVA’s dual meet with UNC at the end of October.
She beat teammate Bryn Greenwaldt by nearly three tenths, with Greenwaldt touching in 21.60, a new personal best by almost two tenths from the 21.76 she swam at the same dual meet against UNC. Greenwaldt has dropped more than three tenths this season, coming into Charlottesville at 21.92, which she swam to win the DII National title in the event.
Sophomore Anna Moesch finished 3rd, setting her first best time in the event since April of 2024. She swam 21.61 to come in just behind Greenwaldt, dropping a little more than a tenth from the 21.73 she swam before she got to college.
Claire Curzan did not race the final, but in prelims she swam 21.69, just missing her season best time of 21.48.
While we saw incredible speed in the shortest events, the meet started with the 1650 freestyles, and Virginia sophomore Katie Grimes had a strong showing to win the event. She touched in 15:52.95, which was more than 20 seconds off her lifetime best of 15:26.17 from the 2022 Winter Junior Champs, but she was a little more than three seconds faster than the 15:56.31 she swam to finish 13th at last season’s NCAA Championships.
She came in more than 10 seconds ahead of teammate Cavan Gormsen, who swam 16:03.37 for 2nd, and ASU’s Deniz Ertan, who was 16:05.98. Gormsen is the only one who swam the event in the first semester last year, and she went 16:12.78 at the Tennessee Invite.
On the men’s side, Michigan senior Joshua Brown swam 14:58.82 to win, coming in just 10 seconds off his lifetime best of 14:48.57 from December of 2023. He was only seven tenths off the 14:58.12 he swam at the 2025 Big Ten Championships in the event.
The mile is not one of the events at the Dual Meet Challenge. The longest events will be the 500 free and 400 IM, so this was the only opportunity for distance swimmers to race the event.
The men’s 200 back went to Tennessee’s Nick Simons in 1:40.14, which would have been the 4th fastest time in the country before this week. His lifetime best stands at 1:40.05 from the 2023 SEC Championships, but after taking the 2023-24 season off, he did not quite make it back to form last year, with his fastest time coming in at 1:40.77 from the Tennessee Last Chance Invite in February.
Virginia’s Leah Hayes had one of her strongest races of the season so far, winning the women’s 200 breaststroke in 2:08.46. This was a slight add from her lifetime best of 2:07.85, but it was faster than the 2:08.69 she swam at last season’s NCAA Championships. It was also more than a second faster than the 2:09.47 she swam at last season’s Tennessee Invite.
The session ended with the 200 IMs. Tennessee’s Ella Jansen won the women’s race in 1:55.33, which would have been the 6th fastest time in the country before midseason invites. This was a new lifetime best for her, dropping from the 1:56.25 she swam earlier this season at Tennessee’s meet with Auburn and Louisville.
Jansen only swam the race three times last season, but her time tonight is more than a second under last season’s NCAA invite time of 1:56.69. The new NCAA lineup also opens her up to race the 500 free and 200 IM, so we could be looking at a potential new event for her.
ASU transfer Jordan Tiffany won the men’s 200 IM final in 1:42.69. Before this week, that would have been the 3rd fastest time in the country this season only behind Baylor Nelson and Rex Maurer. His best time comes from the 2024 Big 12 Championships, where he was 1:41.88. He sat out last season, but he is quickly coming back into top form.
The CSCAA Dual Meet Tournament action picks up tomorrow with the first round of meets going off at 3 pm EST. Virginia and ASU will be racing each other with the UVA women and ASU men coming in as the #1 seeds and the ASU women and UVA men as the #4 seeds.
Other Event Winners:
- Women 200 free- Emily Brown (TENN), 1:44.88
- Men 200 free- Martin Espernberger (TENN), 1:36.46
- Women 100 back- Jillian Crooks (TENN), 52.74
- Men 100 back- Ulises Saravia (TENN), 45.52
- Women 100 breast- Hannah Marinovich (TENN), 1:01.00
- Men 100 breast- Andy Dobrzanski (ASU), 51.53
- Women 200 fly- Sonia Vaishnani (ASU), 1:59.08
- Women 400 IM- Ella Guilfoil (ASU), 4:18.05
- Women 100 free- Emily Armen (TENN), 48.33
- Men 100 free- Quin Seider (ASU), 42.11
- Women 200 back- Gerda Szilagyi (ASU), 1:54.00
- Men 200 breast- Gabe Nunziata (TENN)- 1:55.13
- Men 500 free- Mattia Mauri (ASU), 4:17.96
- Women 100 fly- Miriam Sheehan (ASU), 52.75
Watching some swims now – Hayes could easily go 2:07 again if she fixes her start, she looked like she had an odd entry and she lost about a half body length on her opening pullout. Promising to have such a visible error and still go a great time!
Notable (other, not listed above) results from time trials (see UVA’s YT channel):
–Curzan 200BK 1:48.4
–Sergile 200IM 1:45.87
–Nicholas 100FL 45:73
–Hartman 100FL 52.7
–Williamson 100FR 42.09
–Mintenko and Novelline 200FL 1:56-mid; Pudar appeared to scratch 🙁
I enjoyed the “highlights” from the article but these times are pretty underwhelming to me, especially the fly times for the men and women. Hoping they are saving something for the competitions to come this weekend.
also-
Aimee Canny 200IM 1:54.65
Canny had a phenomenal swim – is that a best time for her? Also found a few more bright spots – Sophia Umstead 1:56 200 IM and Tess Howley 1:44.69 200 Free. Not bad.
It’s abundantly obvious UVa isn’t gunning for peak performance at this meet. Their times at the UNC dual meet were faster in most instances.
See ya in February.
How fun is that training group? I imagine they have some banger practices
Why does the result only show a few swimmers and not everyone?
Because it was time trials most likely
Trust in Herbie
Nathan Szobota 15:38…. Dude was 14:54 March of 2023….
He didn’t train in distance at all junior or senior year. Wanted to be a backstroker. Did 1:42 senior year but I guess uva trying to make him go back
dude went sub 15 in the 1650 in his 8th ever swim and he wanted to do backstroke? wow
You ever trained distance?
If i was sub 15, I’d be going until my arms fell off
You ever have your main sets be 8×1000 on 10:00, descend 1-4, 5-8 negative split? Yeah I don’t blame him.
again, if I had the ability to go sub 15, I’d do whatever it took lol
Can you blame him? It’s the mile
Fenwick’s gotta go
Thomas Heilman gained time in the 100 fly since joining UVA
Let’s see what he goes at NCAAs first
No, you dont understand. Here we expect UVA swimmers to go a best time every meet or we ridicule the program.
He went 44.54 tonight. That’s his second-fastest time ever.
1 — 43.86 12/13/24
2 — 44.54 11/20/25
3 — 44.55 12/13/24
4 — 44.59 10/24/25
5 — 44.67 12/9/22
6 — 44.80 12/8/23
Let’s see what the year holds before making grand comments
His second-fastest 100 fly time tonight at 44.54. His fourth-fastest ever was in the UNC dual in October. Context matters.
(1) 43.86 (12/13/24) (2) 44.54 (11/20/25) (3) 44.55 (12/13/24) (4) 44.59 (10/24/25)
Damn ASU is gonna dominate the men’s 300 FR
Gets triple points, doesn’t it?