Louisville Men Book 3 More Individual Tickets to NCAAs on Friday at Last Chance Meet

2023 LOUISVILLE LAST CHANCE MEET

• February 24, 2023
• Ralph Wainwright Natatorium, Louisville, Kentucky
• Short Course Yards (25 yards), Prelims/Finals + Time Trials
• What Will It Take to Qualify?
• Live Results

A bunch of swimmers crept closer to NCAA Invites on Friday evening at the Louisville Last Chance Meet, but after Notre Dame Tommy Janton shored-up his bid for NCAAs in prelims, the home team put up a pile of sure-fire qualifiers in the time trials session.

Tommy Bried, a Louisville second-year who didn’t swim last season, swam 3:41.50 in a post-session 400 IM time trial. That crushes his best time of 3:44.84 from the ACC Championships, where he placed 6th, by more than three seconds. His time from Friday evening would have been 2nd at ACCs.

Bried was on the bubble with his previous season-best, but he’s now well in the same zone of NCAA qualification. Based on times entering the day, he jumps from 29th to 13th in the national rankings, with between 28 and 32 individual invites sent out per event most years.

Most of the action came out of the time trials session on Friday evening. Louisville freshman Guy Brooks punched his ticket to NCAAs with a 1:32.49 in the 200 free. That’s well under the 1:33.08 that earned an invite last year, and moves him into a tie for 15th in the NCAA so far this season. He previously ranked 28th in the event.

His teammate Dennis Loktev was 2nd in that 200 free in 1:33.26, which shaves two-tenths off his previous season-best and pushes him to 30th in the event. Event selection will impact whether that’s enough, but it probably doesn’t get him an invite to Minneapolis in March.

Louisville junior Dalton Lowe broke his own Pool Record, by half-a-second, with a 45.28 in the 100 fly time trial. He was ranked 23rd with his 45.61 from ACCs, which might have gotten him in, but his new season-best moves him to 15th in the NCAA, which should make him safe for an invite. His personal best is a 45.26 from last year’s ACC Championships.

Louisville freshmen continued the hot swimming when Karoline Barrett swam 52.37 in the women’s 100 fly time trial race. Last year, 52.35 was the cut-off line. Anecdotally, the women’s 100 fly is the strongest event in the country this year, and the data backs that up: even a 52.37 only climbs her to 52nd in the NCAA.

There were several close misses as well during the two evening sessions.

Closest Misses on Friday Evening:

• Louisville sophomore Luke Shourds won the 100 breaststroke in 52.62. That came after he cruised through prelims in a 59.73, setting himself up for finals. That finals time is a new personal best, improving the 53.09 that he swam at last year’s Tennessee Last Chance meet. While the swim moves him way up the national rankings, from 83rd to tied-for-46th (based on times coming into the day), he’s still short of the 51-high or so that it’s going to take to qualify for NCAAs.
• Notre Dame’s Madelyn Christman swam 1:55.49 in the 200 back, which is about a second shy of the 1:54.45 that she swam at ACCs. That leaves her ranked 43rd in the NCAA and likely out of the NCAA Championships.
• Louisville senior Aidan Kreiley swam 1:54.57 in a 200 breaststroke time trial. It took 1:53-low to qualify last year (his lifetime best is a 1:53.99 from a Last Chance meet last year).
• Louisville graduate student Michael Eastman swam 42.69 in the men’s 100 free. That would not have earned an invite last year, but would have the year before. This year, it ranks him 42nd in the NCAA. While some of those ahead of him will choose other races, with Pac-12s and Big Tens still to go, that’s probably not getting an individual invite this year (though he’ll go on relays).
• Megan Deuel of Notre Dame put herself on the bubble with a 1:56.23 in the 200 fly in prelims, and couldn’t improve that position in finals, swimming 1:56.47. That’s unlikely to qualify for NCAAs.
• Notre Dame freshman Tate Bacon swam 1:43.57 in the 200 fly. That’s unlikely to get an NCAA invite, but it is a new Pool Record and a new best time by almost four seconds.