Freshman Minna Abraham Swims 1:43 in 200 Free, USC Turns Heads on Day 1 of 2023 SMU Classic

2023 SMU Classic

• October 6-7, 2023
• Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center, SMU, Dallas, Texas
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Results on Meet Mobile: “2023 SMU Classic”

The USC women and a University of Texas freshman turned heads on day 1 of the 2023 SMU Classic, a meet that’s regularly home to some of the top early-season swims in the country.

In this uniquely-formatted meet, 6 men’s teams and 6 women’s teams bring limited rosters, with each program getting 1 relay and 2 individual entries per event. The individual races are swum as an A flight and a B flight, with points awarded for finish within each heat.

Women’s Teams (and Day 1 Scores):

• #11 USC – 175
• #3 Louisville – 171
• #25 Auburn – 155
• Missouri – 123
• SMU – 104
• #19 Miami – 100

Men’s Teams (and Day 1 Scores):

• #16 Louisville – 165
• #13 Auburn – 157
• #6 Texas – 143
• #19 USC – 138
• (TIE) #20 Missouri/SMU – 117

Women’s Recap

Led by a 17-year-old freshman, the USC women impressed on day one of the meet, outscoring the unanimous #3 team in the nation from Louisville.

Minna Abraham, a freshman from Budapest, won the women’s 200 free in 1:43.53. That’s the top collegiate time of the season so far ahead of Paige Hetrick of Louisville, who finished 2nd on Friday in 1:45.41. Abraham’s time was just a few tenths off what US Olympians Simone Manuel (1:43.15) and Regan Smith (1:43.25) swam as pros at Arizona State’s dual meet on Friday.

Abraham’s best long course time is a 1:58.23 from the 2022 World Junior Championships.

While Florida freshman Bella Sims becomes the presumptive favorite in the 200 free this season, Abraham’s time on Friday would have placed 6th at last year’s NCAA Championship meet.

Abraham split 1:44.67 on USC’s 800 free relay, which won in 7:02.06 – more than 7 seconds ahead of Louisville.

The USC women swept the relays on day 1 of the meet. In the 400 medley relay, the team of Macky Hodges (54.23 back), Kaitlyn Dobler (57.14 breast), Anicka Delgado (51.85 fly), and Vasilissa Buinaia (47.68) combined for a 3:30.90. That is the fastest NCAA swim in the 400 medley relay this year by a wide margin and already within 1.4 seconds of what USC swam at NCAAs last year.

While Hodges has some work to catch up to Aria Bernal’s NCAA Championship split from last year, the other three legs of this relay were faster than the Trojans’ equivalent split at nationals, including Dobler and Delgado outpacing their own marks.

That bodes especially well for Kaitlyn Dobler, who was 4th at NCAAs last year but whose mid-season 56.94 was tops in the country.

She swam 57.35 in the individual 100 breaststroke on Friday, which matched her prelims time and was faster than her finals time from NCAAs last year.

Other Day 1 Winners & Notables:

• USC sophomore Justina Kozan won the 400 IM in 4:07.60, which was 1.7 seconds better than she swam last season and a time that would have placed her 12th at NCAAs last year. Louisville’s Kim Herkle, who is off to a good start this season after missing last year with injury, placed 2nd in 4:09.46, which also would have earned points at NCAAs last year.
• Louisville’s Gabi Albiero won the 50 free in 21.75. After swimming a nation-leading 22.42 in last week’s dual meet against Xavier, her 21.75 is another new leader amongst bona fide competition. USC’s Annika Delgado was 2nd in 22.59, but Christiana Regenauer from Louisville had the 2nd-best time overall in 22.33 out of the B heat. That time ranks 2nd in the NCAA this year so far as well.
• Albiero also won the 100 fly in 51.16, with Delgado again 2nd in 52.52. That time for Albiero, one of the big favorites to win the race at NCAAs, jumped her half-a-second ahead of the time Texas’ Olivia Bray wam on Friday evening for the best mark in the NCAA this year. While her 50 free was much faster than this meet last year (22.17), her 100 fly was almost identical to what she swam in 2022 (51.19).
• Auburn’s women flexed their deep backstroke group by winning both heats of the 100 back and grabbing the top two times of the event. Ellie Waldrep won the A flight in 52.63, while Kensley Merritt won the B flight in 52.59. For Waldrep, that time is significantly faster than she was at any dual meet last season – a year that wound up with her missing All-America honors in this event by one slot. Merritt’s swim is the even more exciting revelation – that’s a new lifetime best for her, bettering the 52.73 that she swam at last year’s mid-season invite. It should only take a few more tenths drop later in the year to book a ticket to her first NCAA Championship meet.
• Louisville’s Else Prassterink won the women’s 3-meter diving with a score of 297.55, beating Auburn’s Ashlynn Sullivan (296.55). Miami was without their powerhouse diving squad for the 2nd straight meet on Friday.
• While the SMU women didn’t win any races on day 1, they did post several best times under first year head coach Ozzie Quevedo. Among those: Maddy Lewis swam 1:02.23 in the 100 breast, lopping half a second off a previous best swum in 2021.

Men’s Recap

It was freshmen who impressed in the men’s meet too – led by USC’s Krysztof Chmielewski and Texas’ Will Modglin.

A pair of teams expected to be in rebuilding mode this year, both will count on big boosts from their rookies at the end of the season.

Chmielewski won the 100 fly in 46.56, beating out Auburn All-American Aidan Stoffle (46.68). Chmielewski’s better distances is the 200 fly, where he was the 2023 World Championship silver medalist, but now ranks 10th all-time in USC program history in this 100 fly.

He will almost definitely take out the USC Record in the 200 fly this season, which currently sits at 1:41.04, and it might come as soon as Saturday.

Stoffle, meanwhile, swam the backstroke races at last year’s NCAA Championships, finishing in the B final of both distances, but scratched the 100 fly. This weekend, he swam the 100 back on Friday, but will shift back to the 200 back (9th at NCAAs) on Saturday.

He also swam the butterfly leg of Auburn’s runner-up medley relay on Friday, splitting 46.16. His brother Nate swam the backstroke leg in 46.48. That relay was anchored by Finnish sophomore Kalle Makinen in 42.61. He was a bit of an under-the-radar sprint breakout as a freshman last season for the Tigers.

He won the 50 free on Friday in 19.66, beating-out Texas freshman Will Modglin, who was 2nd in 19.82. Modglin swam both of his individual events for Texas on Friday, winning the 100 back in 45.93. That’s his best time outside of a championship event and ranks him 2nd in the NCAA this season.

That 400 medley relay was won by Louisville in 3:07.76. That relay included a 51.62 breaststroke split from Denis Petrashov and a 42.69 free split from Matias Santiso.

Petrashov would later win the 100 breast in 51.95. That’s an early NCAA leader by a full second ahead of UNLV’s Danny Beji, who swam 52.98 on Friday out west.

The Texas men, who have young talent but not the depth or experience they’ve had in the past, struggled in relays on Friday. They were 5th in the men’s 400 medley, a relay that would have improved by over a second with Modglin’s presence, and 3rd in the 800 free relay in 6:28.38, which was an event they won at NCAAs last year (25 seconds better).

Louisville concluded the session with a win in tat 800 free relay, swimming 6:25.95. That included a 1:35.03 leadoff from Murilo Sartori.

Other Day 1 Winners & Notables:

• Texas continues to have a strong driving crew – sophomore Nicholas Harris won the men’s 1-meter on Friday with a score of 370.45. That was 19 points better than USC’s 1-meter specialist Laurent Paradis. Harris finished 7th in that event at NCAAs last year. USC was without Shangfei Wang at this meet – he placed 5th at NCAAs last year.
• SMU’s star 5th year transfer Jack Hoagland from Notre Dame won the 400 IM in 3:45.39. That’s his first win for the Mustangs.