Freshman Camden Taylor Hits 50 Free PB As Texas and TCU Square Off in Long Course

Texas vs. TCU

• Friday, February 2, 2024
• Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, Austin, TX
• LCM
• Full Results
• Unscored

Friday was senior day for the Texas men (although they’d swim the next day as well), and Texas and TCU opted for a fairly unique format: an unscored meet in a long course (50m) format. With a few weeks until conference meets, there weren’t any super-crazy fast times, but there were definitely a few notable swims as the teams continue to fine-tune heading into championship season.

This was the penultimate regular-season home meet for longtime Texas men’s coach Eddie Reese, who is set to retire this summer after 46 season in Austin.

In context of championship-season implications, perhaps the biggest swims came from Texas freshman Camden Taylor. With the Longhorn men having lost so much sprint talent over the last two seasons, they’re relying heavily on freshmen this year, and Taylor is their fastest freshman who’s primarily a freestyler. He anchored the medley relay in 22.30, then came back to win the individual 50 free in 22.97. That’s a big improvement over his previous lifetime best of 23.77, which came last summer.  Taylor should be a key relay piece heading into Big 12s and NCAAs, so hitting lifetime bests at this point in the season has to be promising. Taylor also flexed some versatility, winning the 200 IM in 2:03.40. His previous best of 2:04.96 also came last summer.

Luke Hobson is prepping to represent the US in Doha, but Coby Carrozza, who has international experience as part of the USA’s 4×200 free relay team, won the 200m free in 1:48.95.

The race of the night may have been the 100 breast. TCU’s Kito Camossato ran down Texas’ Will Scholtz over the second lap, and just got his hand on the wall first, touching 1:02.72 to Scholtz’s 1:02.73. Another Horned Frog, Jadon Wuilliez, came in just behind at 1:02.89, followed by Longhorn Brayden Taivassalo at 1:03.25. Camossato would double up with a 2:16.71 win in the 200 breast, again beating both Scholtz and Taivassalo.

On the women’s side, Kelly Pash also hit a big lifetime best, clocking a 4:45.60 in the 400 IM. Don’t expect to see Pash swim this during championship season — she’s one of the top 200 freestylers in the country, and those two events conflict. But it still had to be fun for Pash to hit her first personal best in that event in almost 5 years, since she went 4:50.62 back in March 2019. Pash also won the 100 free in 55.11, not far off her personal best of 54.71.

The Longhorn women boast maybe the best 1-2 punch in the 100 breast in the nation, and so it wasn’t a surprise to see Olympians and Texas teammates Lydia Jacoby and Anna Elendt battle it out in their signature event, the 100 breast. Jacoby led by just .08s at the halfway point, and she retained the lead until the end, touching in 1:06.91 to Elendt’s 1:07.21. Elendt would come back to win the 200 breast in 2:30.02.

Other notable wins for the Longhorn women included Olivia Bray in the 200 free (2:00.79) and 100 fly (58.42) and Alicia Wilson taking the 10 back in 1:01.70. Ava Longi also got in on the lifetime best collecting with a 25.50 in the 50 free.

Texas opted not to enter anyone in the 200 fly, arguably the Longhorns’ signature event, and TCU’s Alessandra Senis responded with a 2:16.74 win, setting a new school record in the event, one of seven in total on the day for the Horned Frogs.

Swimming action continued Saturday at the Jill Sterkel classic, which you can read about here.

Texas Release

Courtesy of Texas Athletics 

AUSTIN, Texas – No. 2 Texas Women’s Swimming & Diving earned 15 victories and the ninth-ranked Men’s Swimming & Diving squad earned 14 against TCU on Senior Day at the Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center on Friday.

Racing on the long course, the women’s team opened the swim session with the quartet of Berit Berglund, Lydia Jacoby, Emma Sticklen and Erin Gemmell winning the 200-meter medley relay, clocking 1:51.21 for the victory.

Kelly Pash collected a pair wins on Senior Day, first in the 400-meter IM with a career-best 4:45.60 in the 400-meter IM, improving her previous best time by over five seconds, then in the 100-meter free with a time of 55.11.

Fellow senior Olivia Bray also won two events, winning in both the 200-meter free (2:00.79) and 100-meter fly (58.42).

Senior Bridget O’Neil posted a sweep on the springboards, winning on 1-meter with 337.50 points and scored 398.18 points on 3-meter for the victory.

Angie Coe earned two victories as well, winning the 200-meter back in 2:14.69 and the 200-meter IM in 2:17.89, while also placing second in the 50-meter free with a personal-best swim of 25.77.

Lydia Jacoby won the 100-meter breast with a swim of 1:06.91 and senior Anna Elendt won the 200-meter breast in 2:30.02.

Alicia Wilson led the Longhorns in the 100-meter back, winning with a swim of 1:01.70, while senior Ava Longi won the 50-meter free with a career-best 25.50, and Erin Gemmell collected the win in the 400-meter free with a time of 4:12.50.

Emma Davidson, Gemmell, Bray and Longi closed out the swim session with a win in the 200-meter free relay, combining for a time of 1:42.97.

On the men’s side, Will Modglin, Will Scholtz, Cole Crane and Camden Taylor kicked off the day with a win in the 200-meter medley relay with a time of 1:39.77.

Crane swept the butterfly events, winning the 100-meter in 53.62 and the 200-meter in 2:20.06.

Alec Enyeart won the 400-meter IM with a swim of 4:31.64 and the 400-meter free in 3:59.74.

Senior Coby Carrozza earned the win in the 200-meter free, touching the wall in 1:48.95, and took second in the 100-meter free with a time of 50.97.

Nate Germonprez won the 100-meter free in 50.84 and was the runner-up in the 200-meter free with a swim of 1:50.97.

Modglin was the victor in the 100-meter back with a time of 55.22 and Logan Walkerwon the 200-meter back in 2:09.07. Modglin also earned a runner-up finish in the 100-meter fly with a swim of 54.12.

Taylor swam a pair of personal-bests in wins in the 50-meter (22.97) and the 200-meter IM (2:03.40).

The Horns wrapped up racing with a win in the 200-meter free relay with the quartet of Modglin, Germonprez, Aleksej Filipovic and senior Peter Paulus IV combining for a swim of 1:31.06.

On the springboards, senior Noah Duperre captured wins on both 1-meter with 397.43 points and 3-meter with a season-best 449.63 points.

Texas returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 3 in The Sterkel Classic at the Texas Swimming Center. Racing is slated to begin at noon.

Longhorn Notes:

• The Longhorns celebrated 19 seniors prior to the start of competition.
• From the women’s squad, Texas honored Olivia Bray, Grace Cooper, Emma Davidson, Anna Elendt, Ava Longi, Bridget O’Neil, Kelly Pash, Abby Pfeifer, Jordan Skilken, Emma Sticklen and Erica Sullivan.
• For the men’s team, the Horns recognized Sam Artmann, Coby Carrozza, Cole Crane, Noah Duperre, Jake Foster, Brendan McCourt, Chris O’Connor and Peter Paulus IV.

Women’s Team Notes:

• Elendt registered a season-best 1:07.21 in the 100-meter breast to place second.
• Campbell Stoll swam 1:01.07 in the 100 fly to take second.
• Sticklen took second in the 200 IM with a swim of 2:19.68
• Skilken earned a runner-up result on 3-meter with 341.70 points and took third on 1-meter with 287.73 points.
• Amanda Stalfort scored 322.80 points on 3-meter to finish third and complete the Longhorn sweep of the event.
• Davidson finished as the runner-up in the 100-meter free in 57.05 and Brook Adams placed third with a personal-best 58.01.
• Berit Berglund posted a time of 1:02.17 in the 100-meter back to finish second and Emma Kern took third in 1:02.28.
• Sullivan was the runner-up in the 400-meter free with a swim of 4:16.72.
• Alexa Fulton placed third in the 50-free with a swim of 26.02.

Men’s Team Notes:

• In the 100-meter back, O’Connor placed second (56.19) and Filipovic took third (57.16).
• Artmann took second in the 200-meter fly, clocking 2:03.76 for the runner-up result, and Ryan Branon posted a time of 2:05.01 to finish third.
• Brayden Taivassalo was the Longhorns’ top finisher in the 200-meter breast, placing second in 2:18.01.
• Sasha Lyubavskiy took second in the 400-meter free with a time of 4:00.27.
• Nick Harris had a pair of runner-up results on the springboards, taking second on 1-meter with 377.70 points and scored a season-high 446.33 points on 3-meter.
• McCourt took third on 1-meter with 374.03 points and Tanner Braunton placed third on 3-meter with a season-high 419.63 points.

TCU Release

Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Austin, Texas – The TCU swimming and diving team wrapped up its final tune up before the 2024 Big 12 Championships Feb. 27- March 3. The Horned Frogs fell to Texas on Friday, Jan, 2 in final dual meet of the season before competing in the Sterkel Classic on Saturday, Feb. 3 at Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.

The Frogs tallied 10 first place finishes, 18 second place finishes and 27 third place finishes over the course of the weekend.

IN THE POOL VS TEXAS
TCU set seven new school records in Long Course Meters against Texas on Friday. The excitement began with the women’s 200 Medley Relay team setting a new record with a time of 1:55.69. The men’s 200 medley relay team matched the women’s team setting a record of their own with a time of 1:41.12.

Nina Vadovicova had a successful day going 2-2 on setting new school records in both events she competed in. The freshman set a new TCU record in the 100 breast LCM with a time of 1:10.79 before touching the wall at 2:32.59 in the 200 breast LCM.

Alessandra Senis was one of three Horned Frogs to touch the wall first against the Longhorns. Senis broke a 28-year-old school record in the 200 fly LCM while earning the gold with a time of 2:16.74.

Kito Camossato finished at the top of both of his individual races against Texas with a time of 1:02.72 in the 100 breast LCM and 2:16.71 in the 200 breast LCM.

The women and men’s 200 freestyle relays wrapped up the meet while also setting two more school records. The women’s team touched the wall at 1:45.14 and the men at 1:33.15.

ON THE BOARDS VS TEXAS
Five diving Frogs earned Zone Cuts against the Longhorns. Anna Kwong got things started with a score of 329.25 on the 1-meter. Alec Hubbard and Oliver Cazaly earned zone cuts in the 1-meter with scored of 339.38 and 307.20, respectively.

Emma Lacarda Herrera set a new career high on the 3-meter springboard and earned a zone cut with a score of 292.80. Kwong followed right behind her with a score of 288.90

Hubbard earned a score of 370.43 on the platform to earn his second zone cut of the day before Leah Fletcher earned her first of the weekend on the platform scoring a 247.80.

IN THE POOL STERKEL CLASSIC
TCU tallied seven first, seven second and eight third place finishes at the Sterkel Classic on Saturday which featured Rice and Texas.

Luke DiMiceli kicked things off in the 200 IM touching the wall first at 1:46.52.

Camossato closed off a successful weekend going 2-2 in the 200 breast and 100 breast with times of 1:55.93 and 53.82, respectively.

Piotr Sadlowski earned his first-place finish in the 200 fly with a time of 1:47.01.

Tania Quaglieri and Germia Freri finished in first place in the 200 freestyle with times of 1:48.82 and 1:37.89. Edgar Cicanci closed out the weekend for TCU with a first-place finish in the 200 back touching the wall at 1:46.40.

UP NEXT 
The Horned Frogs will head to Morgantown, W. Va. for the 2024 Big 12 Championships Feb. 27-March 3.

FOLLOW THE FROGS
For more information on TCU Swimming and Diving, visit gofrogs.com and follow the team on social media: @TCUSwimDive on Twitter and Facebook, @TCU_SwimDive on Instagram.