Joseph Schooling Becomes Second Longhorn in History Under 45 Seconds in 100 Fly

2015 BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, February 25 – Saturday, February 28
• Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center – University of Texas
• Prelims 10 AM / Finals 6 PM (Central Time)
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results 

Catching Up

• Day 2 finals recap.

Women’s 400 IM – Prelims

Kansas’ Chelsie Miller laid low through the first two days of this championship, but broke through on Thursday morning by taking the top seed in the women’s 400 IM in 4:11.44, pacing just ahead of Texas’ Madisyn Cox (4:11.78) as the top two seeds – well out ahead of the field.

Both swimmers are capable of going under 4:10 in finals, and both are in pretty good shape for NCAA qualification, though Miller has a little more motivation than does Cox in the final.

The 3rd seed went to Kaitlin Pawlowicz in 4:16.09, and her sophomore teammate Smacker Miles took 4th in 4:20.07. The LOnghorns have three in the A-Final, which is a relatively low tally by their standards for this meet, but Kansas and Iowa State both put two swimmers under the 4:23.6 cutoff.

Men’s 400 IM – Prelims

Will Licon is already challenging another Texas School Record, after swimming a 3:42.87 in prelims – just four-tenths from his season best.

His teammate John Martens is the 2nd qualifier in 3:45.73, and he closed his race very well with a 51.3 over the last 100 yards.

Martens was the swimmer who pushed Conger to his 200 fly American Record on Wednesday, and will be next to Licon in finals.

Women’s 100 Fly – Prelims

The Texas women were back on top of the women’s 100 fly prelims, though Kansas got another good swim to be in contention.

Sophomore Brynne Wong is the top seed in 53.49, followed by senior teammate Kelsey Leneave (54.02) and the 4th qualifier Mimi Schneider (54.63).

In and among them, as the third-fastest swimmer in the heats, was Kansas’ Pia Pavlic in 54.46. That’s her lifetime best by over a second.

West Virgnia’s Julie Ogden (54.64) and Iowa State’s Amanda Paulson (54.71) weren’t far off the pace either; they’ll be joined in the A-Final by TCU’s Emily Gibson (55.08) and Kansas’ Hannah Angell (55.55).

Men’s 100 Fly – Prelims

Texas freshman Joseph Schooling woke up the Texas Swim Center in the 4th race of the morning by swimming a new lifetime best of 44.90.

That jumps ahead of his former high school teammate Caeleb Dressel as the fastest time in the country so far this year, and joins him with Ian Crocker as only the second Texas swimmer to ever go 44 in this event.

Will Glass is the 2nd qualifier in 45.96, followed by a casual Jack Conger (46.01) and Tripp Cooper (46.10) to give the Longhorns the top 4 seeds. Conger, after his 200 fly heroics, wasn’t quite as good in the heats of this 100, but has been on the right form to break out a special swim and challenge Schooling in finals.

West Virginia’s Andrew Marsh (47.03) broke the Longhorn run, but then it was right back to the burnt orange with a 47.11 from Kip Darmody and a 47.61 from John Murray.

TCU’s Garrett Hills is the 8th qualifier in 48.02.

Women’s 200 free – prelims

Texas freshman Sammie Hashbarger was the only swimmer to dip under 1:50 in a sleepy women’s 200 free prelim with a 1:49.95 to take the top qualification spot.

TCU’s Mikayla Winkler swam 1:50.09 for 2nd, followed by Kansas’ Sammie Schurig (1:50.29) and Haley Molden (1:50.38).

Despite the overall lack of fireworks in this race, the top 8 were separated by only a second. Look for that competition in finals to help drive the times down.

Men’s 200 free – prelims

The men once again lit the meet back up a little when seniors Jake Ritter (1:34.97) and Clay Youngquist (1:35.15) took the top seeds in the men’s 200 free. That swim is about where one would expect Youngquist to be in the circumstances, but that was a breakthrough for the distance specialist Ritter as his first time under 1:45.

Other than the mile, his best swims have come at Big 12’s over the last few years.

Texas had the 5 best times in prelims, though only four are eligible for the A-Final.

Women’s 100 breaststroke – prelims

Texas’ Gretchen Jaques had the best swim by a woman in prelims on the day, swimming a 59.04 to top prelims of the women’s 100 breaststroke. She was a touch faster mid-season for the Longhorns, but that result is a very good sign for Jaques who has been strong all week long (with little motivation to rest).

She’ll expect to easily win in finals, but the battle for 2nd should be a good one between Skylar Smith (1:01.42), Jenelle Zee (1:01.50), Jordan Surhoff (1:01.54), and Iowa State’s Kasey Roberts (1:01.75): the 2nd-through-5th qualifiers.

Kansas once again had two into the A-Final: Bryce Hinde and Lydia Pocisk.

Men’s 100 breaststroke – prelims

In the internal battle for the hotly-debated title of “Texas’ A-relay breaststroker,” freshman Austin Temple took the upper hand with a top-qualifying 52.94, leaving him within a few tenths of Brendan Hansen’s Meet Record from 2004.

Liam Lockwood (53.76) is actually the second-qualifier, despite being only on the Longhorn non-scoring “B” team, so he’ll fall out of the A-final even with a shot to qualify for NCAA’s in the evening session.

Will Licon, who’s swum very well this week and might be the front-runner for the breaststroke spot on Texas’ medley relays, didn’t actually race this 100, but Imri Ganiel, the third contender, was just 5th in 54.46.

Placing ahead of him were a pair from West Virginia’s deep breaststroke group: Max Spencer and Christopher Brill in matching 54.4’s.

Women’s 100 backstroke – prelims

Another member of the young Texas core took a top seed on day 3 when Tasija Karosas went to the front of the line in the women’s 100 back with a 52.54.

Once again, though, the peripheral story of this day held true with more great swims from the Kansas women. Yulduz Kuchkarova placed 2nd in the heats in 53.77 to lead another final that has two Kansas swimmers through.

Texas’ Rebecca Bailey sits 3rd in 54.26, with a non-scoring Cheyenne Low taking 4th in 54.95 but falling out of the A-Final.

Iowa State also had three swimmers in the A-Final.

Men’s 100 backstroke – prelims

Testing out the double, in what could be a preview of NCAA’s, Jack Conger took the top seed in the men’s 100 back with a 46.56.

Neither time (this or the 100 fly) lit up the scoreboard, but we should see him attack them for times a little more in the evening.

Aaron Gustafson was 2nd-fastest in prelims in 46.73, but West Virginia’s Andrew Marsh (46.78) will be the 2nd qualifier through to finals.