Anna Hopkin Drops 47.05 100 Freestyle On Final Night Of Mizzou Invite

2018 MIZZOU INVITATIONAL

Tonight’s action at the Mizzou Invite was highlighted by a scorching 47.05 100 freestyle swim from Arkansas’ Anna Hopkin, giving her an ‘A’ cut, a new school record and the #2 time in the country. Read a full recap of the final night of finals below.

Women’s 1650 Free

  1. Courtney Evensen, UMIZ, 16:09.08
  2. Peyton Palsha, UARK, 16:32.44
  3. Ana Pozder, UMIZ, 16:40.86

Courtney Evensen of Missouri swam a personal best to win the women’s 1650 by 23 seconds in 16:09.08, improving on her 16:11.10 from the 2018 SEC Championships. Peyton Palsha of Arkansas was a distant 2nd in 16:32.44, 20 seconds off her lifetime best but within two of where she was at this time last season.

Men’s 1650 Free

  1. Jacob Wielinski, UMIZ, 14:55.84
  2. Jack Dubois, UMIZ, 15:15.86
  3. Throstur Bjarnason, MKU, 15:28.20

Jacob Wielinski of Mizzou joined the list of men to go sub-15:00 this season in the 1650, clocking 14:55.84 to go over three seconds faster than he did at this meet last year. He went his best time of 14:44.24 at the 2018 SEC Championships.

His teammate Jack Dubois was 2nd in 15:15.86, a new personal best time by seven seconds.

Along with Wielinski, Zach Yeadon of Notre Dame, Michael Brinegar of Indiana and Robert Finke of Florida have also broken 15 minutes in the mile tonight, with Yeadon leading the pack in 14:39.60.

Women’s 200 Back

  1. Jennifer King, UMIZ, 1:53.67
  2. Audrey Guyett, UMIZ, 1:55.68
  3. Kylie Dahlgren, UMIZ, 1:56.07

Jennifer King won the women’s 200 back in a 1-2-3 sweep for the Tigers, as she was .07 faster than the morning to finish .07 off of her best time from the 2016 Invite in 1:53.67.

Audrey Guyett had set a new best time in the heats in 1:57.39, and lowered it tonight all the way down to 1:55.68 to take 2nd, with Kylie Dahlgren adding three-tenths from the morning for 3rd in 1:56.07.

Men’s 200 Back

  1. Nick Alexander, UMIZ, 1:40.31
  2. Jack Dahlgren, UMIZ, 1:42.26
  3. Alex Walton, UMIZ, 1:42.98

After swimming the first sub-1:40 200 back of the NCAA season in the prelims, Mizzou’s Nick Alexander was three-tenths slower tonight to still easily get the win and post his 2nd-fastest swim ever in 1:40.31. There have been plenty of 1:40s across all of the invite meets tonight, but no one has beaten his 1:39.98 from this morning.

Freshman Jack Dahlgren lowered his PB from the NCSAs in March of 1:42.54 in 1:42.26 to place 2nd, and Alex Walton got under 1:43 for the first time in 1:42.98 for 3rd. The Tigers swept the top-6 spots in the event.

Women’s 100 Free

  1. Anna Hopkin, UARK, 47.05
  2. Annie Ochitwa, UMIZ, 48.05
  3. Alma Thormalm, SDSU, 48.81

After setting the Arkansas school record in this morning’s preliminaries in 48.07, Anna Hopkin exploded tonight to slash a full second off that time as she won the women’s 100 free in 47.05. That ranks her 2nd in the country, trailing only Mallory Comerford and her 46.96 from the ACC/B1G Challenge. Tonight, Comerford was just .01 faster in 47.04 at the IU Invite.

Hopkin’s swim is also well under the NCAA ‘A’ cut of 47.35, giving her two after also achieving the 50 free standard earlier in the meet.

Annie Ochitwa of Mizzou added a couple of tenths from this morning to take 2nd in 48.05, while San Diego State’s Alma Thormalm broke 49 seconds for the first time to take 3rd in 48.81.

Men’s 100 Free

  1. Mikel Schreuders, UMIZ, 42.76
  2. Kyle Leach, UMIZ, 43.73
  3. Payton Sorenson, BYU, 43.84

Mikel Schreuders of Missouri lowered his personal best time by .04 to win the men’s 100 free in 42.76, clearing the field by almost a full second. His teammate Kyle Leach was the runner-up in 43.73, a tenth off his best time set this morning.

Payton Sorenson of BYU added six-tenths from the heats to settle for 3rd in 43.84, and Mizzou’s Giovanny Lima got under 44 for the first time in 43.88 for 4th.

Women’s 200 Breast

  1. Kayla Jones, UMIZ, 2:10.36
  2. Lauren Savoy, UMIZ, 2:10.89
  3. Klara Thormalm, SDSU, 2:11.72

Kayla Jones of Missouri had brought her 200 breast best time down from 2:14.54 to 2:12.92 in the prelims this morning, and then took another 2.56 seconds off tonight to win the event in a time of 2:10.36.

Her teammate Lauren Savoy went sub-2:11 for the fifth time in her career to take 2nd in 2:10.89, and Klara Thormalm of San Diego State took .04 off her prelim best time for 3rd in 2:11.72.

Men’s 200 Breast

  1. Jordan O’Brien, UMIZ, 1:54.55
  2. Eric Tolman, CBU, 1:56.34
  3. Nick Staver, UMIZ, 1:57.31

Mizzou senior Jordan O’Brien earned his second best time of the day to win the men’s 200 breast, lowering his 1:55.27 from the prelims down to 1:54.55. Eric Tolman of California Baptist had a solid drop from the morning for 2nd in 1:56.34, and Missouri’s Nick Staver broke the 1:58 mark for the first time in his career to place 3rd in 1:57.31.

Women’s 200 Fly

  1. Azra Avdic, UMIZ, 1:59.27
  2. Courtney Vincent, SDSU /Devan Sweeney, UMIZ, 1:59.59

Mizzou’s Azra Avdic had a huge middle 100 of 59.70 to open up a lead of seven-tenths over San Diego State’s Courtney Vincent in the women’s 200 fly, and managed to hold on down the stretch to touch for the win in 1:59.27.

Vincent broke 2:00 for the first time in 1:59.59, actually tying for 2nd with Missouri’s Devan Sweeney who closed strong in 31.23. Marlena Pigliacampi of Arkansas was the fastest in the prelims but fell to 4th tonight in 1:59.90.

Men’s 200 Fly

  1. Micah Slaton, UMIZ, 1:43.30
  2. Carter Grimes, UMIZ, 1:47.10
  3. Matija Pucarevic, MKU, 1:47.96

It was a one-man race in the men’s 200 fly, as Missouri’s Micah Slaton blasted a swim of 1:43.30 for his 2nd-fastest performance ever. That makes four 1:43 swims in the last two Mizzou Invites, his four fastest performances ever, with his fastest one coming last year in 1:43.08. He was 1:43.47 this morning.

His teammate Carter Grimes added a tenth from prelims for 2nd in 1:47.10, and Serbian native Matija Pucarevic of McKendree was 3rd in 1:47.96, just off his best of 1:47.71 from the 2018 NCAAs (D2).

Women’s 400 Free Relay

  1. Arkansas, 3:15.05
  2. Missouri, 3:15.11
  3. San Diego State, 3:19.98

Arkansas and Missouri went toe to toe in the women’s 400 free relay, with Anna Hopkin‘s scintillating 46.61 second leg the main difference maker as the Razorbacks won by .06 in 3:15.05. Along with Hopkin, they had solid legs from Kobie Melton (49.17), Molly Moore (49.38) and Kiera Michailoff-Russell (49.89).

Mizzou trailed by around a second and a half at the halfway mark, and managed to claw their way back into the race but fell just short in 3:15.11. Their fastest split came on the second leg as well from Annie Ochitwa (48.00), and they also had strong splits from Samantha Porter (49.37), Sarah Thompson (49.12) and Haley Hynes (48.62).

Both teams narrowly missed the NCAA Auto standard of 3:14.97, bur were well inside the provisional cut.

San Diego State took 3rd in 3:19.98 with Alma Thormalm (48.98) their only swimmer going sub-50 on the #2 leg.

Men’s 400 Free Relay

  1. Missouri, 2:50.05
  2. Missouri ‘B’, 2:54.46
  3. Missouri ‘C’, 2:56.77

The Mizzou men had their teams sweep the top-4 spots in the 400 free relay, led by their ‘A’ team that got under the NCAA Auto standard by over a second.

Mikel Schreuders led them off in a best time of 42.30, and they also got 42-second legs from Giovanny Lima (42.79), Kyle Leach (42.41) and Danny Kovac (42.55) for a final time of 2:50.05, well inside the Auto time of 2:51.39.

Grant Reed had the fastest split on the anchor leg for their ‘B’ team in 43.12, and Daniel Hein (43.44) was the quickest on the ‘C’.

California Baptist University had the highest non-Mizzou finish in 5th, with their top split coming on the anchor from Jacob Leahy (43.54).

FINAL TEAM SCORES

WOMEN

  1. Missouri, 1171
  2. Arkansas, 714
  3. San Diego State, 636
  4. Florida International, 510
  5. Brigham Young, 321
  6. Drury, 275
  7. California Baptist, 123
  8. Southern Illinois, 104
  9. Boise State, 56
  10. Oklahoma Baptist, 53
  11. McKendree, 34
  12. Wyoming, 20
  13. Utah, 13

MEN

  1. Missouri, 1410
  2. Brigham Young, 667
  3. California Baptist, 576
  4. Drury, 467
  5. McKendree, 278
  6. Southern Illinois, 220
  7. Oklahoma Baptist, 183
  8. Utah, 74
  9. Wyoming, 52

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Aquajosh
5 years ago

Still trying to figure out how Hopkin is a junior when she has already graduated college in England and came to Arkansas to work on a master’s degree. She has already won the British equivalent (BUCS) to NCAA Swimmer of the Year.

Dee
Reply to  Aquajosh
5 years ago

My understanding is that NCAA eligibility does not run concurrent to age/past education. Example, Hopkins first year in the USA system was the first year of her Masters so that is when her NCAA eligibility ‘began’. Either that or she got a waiver?

I don’t ‘know’, but after a quick read of NCAA eligibility rules, that’s how I understood it. Pretty confusing though.

Admin
Reply to  Dee
5 years ago

NCAA eligibility does run concurrent to past education. But, there’s lots of loopholes, and lots of room for interpretation of what in a foreign educational system counts as post-secondary and what doesn’t.

I could be wrong, but I do believe that the rule that would be relevant here is the “5 year clock.” She first enrolled in a post-secondary school (in the UK) 3 years ago, so she has 2 more years to race.

About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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