arena Swim of the Week: Carson Hick Drops 13 Seconds In 1650 Free At NCAA Championships

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Disclaimer: Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The Swim of the Week is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.

University of Kentucky sophomore Carson Hick had a breakout performance at the Men’s NCAA Championships last week, scoring 19 points to lead the Wildcats to their best finish in the team standings in 15 years.

Hick, 19, kicked the meet off by setting a lifetime best in the 500 freestyle, clocking 4:10.27 in the prelims to advance into the consolation final where he finished 11th (4:11.62).

Two days later, Hick was dominant in the early heats of the 1650 free, knocking more than 13 seconds off his personal best time in 14:30.35 to hold the top time in the event heading into the evening session when the top-eight seeds would race.

Hick’s time ended up holding up as the sixth-fastest overall, earning him First-Team All-American status.

 

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Hick came into the meet with a lifetime best of 14:43.70, set earlier this season at the Tennessee Invitational. At the SEC Championships in February, he nearly matched that PB in 14:43.83 to place 4th.

He was out significantly faster at both SECs and NCAAs than he was at the midseason invite, while comparing the conference and national championship meets, Hick had a similar pace through the first two-thirds of the race and then managed to hold 26-mids down the stretch at NCAAs compared to several 27-mids at SECs.

For comparison, his final 500 at SECs was 4:31.71, while at NCAAs, he closed in 4:23.64 (which was also nearly identical to his opening 500 of 4:23.58).

Split Comparison

Hick’s 13 points in the mile, combined with the six he got in the 500, gave him 19 for the meet, while his junior teammate Levi Sandidge took 8th in the 1650 to score 11 points, giving Kentucky 30.

Hick also broke Sandidge’s Kentucky Record in the mile of 14:30.61, and he’s also now the fastest swimmer in school history in the 500 free by more than four seconds.

After scoring zero points in 2024, the Wildcats tied for 20th this season, which is their highest finish since placing 16th in 2010.

As a freshman, Hick set best times in the 500 free (4:15.18) and 1650 free (14:47.84) at the 2024 SEC Championships before placing 25th in the 500 (4:15.43) and 19th in the 1650 (14:49.15) at his debut NCAAs.

In just two seasons with Kentucky, Hick has improved by more than 47 seconds in the mile, having entered college with a lifetime best of 15:17.84 from March 2023.

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