With his victories in the 50 and 100 freestyle at the 2023 Big 12 Championships, Texas’ Daniel Krueger became the first swimmer to ever win 5 consecutive Big 12 Titles in an event, doubling-up on the record-breaking feat.
Krueger, a fifth-year student this season, opened the meet by finishing first in the 50 freestyle with a time of 19.48, coming in about a tenth ahead of the field. His swim officially made him the first Big 12 swimmer to ever win 5 consecutive titles in an event, adding to his titles from 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. Though his time was the slowest time he’s posted in the event at the Big 12 Championships, it was still good enough for the victory. His fastest performance came during his junior year, where he posted a 19.10.
Daniel Krueger’s 50 Freestyle Big 12 Winning Times
- 2019 – 19.40
- 2020 – 19.19
- 2021 – 19.10
- 2022 – 19.17
- 2023 – 19.48
On the final day of the meet, Krueger repeated the feat, snagging the Big 12 title in the 100 freestyle with a time of 42.12, beating his opponents by a wide margin of a half second. Like the 50 freestyle, his time was one of his slowest performances at the meet, but still showed a significant margin of victory over the field.
Daniel Krueger’s 100 Freestyle Big 12 Winning Times
- 2019 – 42.33
- 2020 – 41.26
- 2021 – 41.33
- 2022 – 41.49
- 2023 – 42.12
Krueger’s feat was only made possible due to the extra year of eligibility granted to athletes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This was first observed last season, when several ACC swimmers, including Nic Albiero, became the first to win 5 consecutive conference titles. Students with the extended eligibility period had to have been enrolled at an institution during the 2020-2021 season, meaning that the extended eligibility will only be applied for two more years after this season.
Even without it, winning four consecutive Big 12 titles is a fairly uncommon feat, especially to do so in two events as Krueger did. Including Krueger, there are only 15 swimmers with 4 consecutive Big 12 Titles in individual events, all of which are from Texas. Krueger joins Jimmy Feigen and Brendan Hansen as the only swimmers to accomplish the feat in multiple events.
Swimmers with 4 Consecutive Big 12 Titles
- Tasija Karosas, Texas, 200 Backstroke, 2014-2017
- Madisyn Cox, Texas, 200 IM 2014-2017
- Jimmy Feigen, Texas, 50 Free 2009-2012* (tie in 2009)
- 100 free 2009-2012
- Evie Pfeifer, Texas, 400 IM 2018-2021 (2nd in 2022)
- Daniel Krueger, Texas, 50 Freestyle 2019-2023
- 100 Free, 2019-2023
- Townley Haas, Texas, 200 Freestyle 2016-2019
- Scott Goldblatt, Texas, 500 Freestyle, 1998-2001
- Jackson Wilcox, Texas, 500 Freestyle, 2009-2012
- Brendan Hansen, Texas,100 breaststroke, 2001-2004
- 200 breaststroke, 2001-2004
- Caspar Corbeau, Texas, 200 breaststroke 2020-2023
- Will Licon, Texas, 200 Breast 2014-2017
- Ian Crocker, Texas, 100 fly, 2001-2004
- Rainer Kendrick, Texas, 200 fly, 2002-2005
- Nate Dusing, Texas, 200 IM, 1998-2001
- Kelly Pash, Texas, 200 IM, 2020-2023
Notably, Texas senior Kelly Pash will have the opportunity to join Krueger as a 5-time champion next season, if she elects to use her extra year of eligibility, as she just won her 4th consecutive title in the 200 IM. Evie Pfeifer was close to obtaining the feat in the 400 IM last season. However, she finished 2nd to Pash in the event.
This is the beauty of swimming in the Big 12
Krueger is swimming worse than his freshman year, yikes
Maybe less rested than any other year?
Seems like the double rest for conference and ncaa hasn’t been working out as well for him as they want. Might be trying to rest less for this meet as you stated
Dan and Andrew floor me with their comments re: rest. Does anyone remember the late, great Coach Ray Bussard from Tennessee? He must be rolling over in his grave by all the talk about rest. Ray demanded excellence every time out, and had no use for the outdated concept of swimming fast once a season.