Hobson and Johnston Clock 8:43 1000s In Longhorn Defeat of Mustangs

SOUTHERN METHODIST VS. TEXAS

• Friday, February 4, 2022
• Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center, Dallas, TX
• Dual Meet Format
• SCY
• Live Results
• Also on Meet Mobile as “2022 SMU v Texas”
• Scores
  • Men: Texas 164, Southern Methodist 127
  • Women: Unscored

The Texas men defeated Southern Methodist, 164-127, in a dual meet that was supposed to feature the Texas women too. Instead, the Texas women did not make the trip, but the Mustang women still got their swims in. We’ll note here that Texas exhibitioned the last few events, giving SMU those points.

We fired off a quick post about the first event of today’s dual meet between the Texas and Southern Methodist men, but the Longhorn men didn’t really slow down from there.

Minutes later, freshman Luke Hobson and David Johnston dueled each other to a pair of 8:43s in the 1000 free. It was an incredibly close contest; Hobson led Johnston by 0.02s at the halfway point, 4:20.68 to 4:20.70. In the end, Hobson held on to win, 8:43.66 to 8:43.96.

Those are the two fastest times in the NCAA this season, improving on the pair of 8:48s the duo swam two weeks against TCU. Jake Foster, who’s primarily more of an IM/breaststroke type, took 3rd in 8:49.85, actually moving him into #3 in the NCAA this season. Unlike most of those who swim the 1000 free in-season, he’s not likely to swim its championship-season counterpart, the 1650 free, as he’ll be swimming the 200 breast instead.

Hobson and Johnston now rank #8 and #9 all-time in this event, according to the USA Swimming database. The fastest time in history belongs to former Longhorn Clark Smith, who swam a 8:33.93 back in 2015.

As pointed out by one of our commenters, Hobson appears to have set a new 17-18 National Age Group record. The record was previously held by Johnston, who swam a 8:45.38 just over a year ago as a freshman.

Based on the results, not all of Texas’ men appeared prime for big swims today (and we’re not sure who all was or was not wearing tech suits), but there were still several other notable performances.

Carson Foster won the 200 back with a fast time of 1:39.25. That’s now the 2nd-fastest time in the nation this season, behind only the 1:39.24 that Cal’s Destin Lasco swam at the Minnesota Invite.

Drew Kibler, who was the 200 free runner-up at last year’s NCAA Championships, swam a season-best time of 1:32.74, breaking his own pool record and moving to #5 in Division I this season.

Caspar Corbeau swept the breaststroke events with times of 52.35 and 1:53.87. Corbeau’s season best times of 50.79 and 1:50.81 each rank #2 in the nation this season. In a fun twist, Caspar swam against his younger brother, Angus Corbeau, in both events. Angus, a freshman at SMU, went 55.11 in the 100 and 1:59.12 in the 200.

While it wasn’t a win, freshman Anthony Grimm picked up a lifetime best in the 50 free, coming in 2nd with a time of 19.60. His previous best of 19.67 came nearly three years ago as a high school sophomore at the Virginia Class 6 State Championships. Similarly, he had earlier this evening improved his three year-old lifetime best in the 50 back while leading off the Longhorns’ 200 medley relay.

Likewise, his fellow freshman Tim Connery didn’t win an event, but he did set a new lifetime best with his time of 46.53 in the 100 fly.

Teammate Alvin Jiang won the 100 fly, stopping the clock in a time of 45.82 that was nearly identical to his 100 back winning time of 45.83. The Longhorn fifth year was a NCAA A-finalist in both events last year.

Coby Carrozza also picked up a pair of wins, going 1:42.96 in the 200 fly and 43.80 in the 100 free. Alex Zettle won the 500 free with a 4:21.74, while Jake Foster touched first in the 200 Im with a 1:43.78, although that event was exhibitioned.

Texas closed out the day with a 1:17.18 swim in the 200 free relay. Grimm led off in 19.71, followed by Corbeau (19.32), Kibler (19.16), and Daniel Krueger (18.99).

While Texas’ swims generated the big headlines, Southern Methodist had strong performances as well

Justin Baker won the 50 free, getting the touch over Grimm by the smallest margin possible, 19.59 to 19.60.

That was the only outright win on the day, but the Mustang men and the women (who essentially time trialed swims after the Longhorn women didn’t make the trip from Austin) swam to several season-best times.

The 1000 free proved to be a fast event all around. Ilektra Lebl went 9:58.64 in the 1000 free, lowering the team season-best by almost exactly ten seconds. Likewise, freshman Russell Exum lowered his own, and team, season best to 9:10.23 from 9:20.03.

Colin Feehery hit a SMU season-best in the 200 breast with his time of 1:55.78, while Kolos Nagy did the same with a 1:48.69 in the 200 fly.

The Longhorn men next swim about two and a half weeks from now at the Big 12 Championships, while the Mustangs next meet (besides “Pre-Conference Time Trials” tomorrow) will the American Athletic Conference Championships, which begin February 16th.