Schooling Takes on Breast Leg of Medley Relay vs. Florida, Indiana

FLORIDA VS. TEXAS VS. INDIANA

• Results (Live Results on Meet Mobile)
• Hosted by Florida
• Friday, October 20th-Saturday, October 21st
• 25 Yards
• Dual Meet Format

TEAM SCORES THROUGH DAY 1:

• MEN: Indiana 134, Texas 109
• MEN: Indiana 138, Florida 105
• MEN: Florida 140, Texas 103
• WOMEN: Texas 138, Indiana 105
• WOMEN: Texas 167.5, Florida 75.5
• WOMEN: Indiana 144, Florida 99

Swimming fans are used to seeing Olympic champion Joseph Schooling crush butterfly splits on the medley relays. This season, however, we’re seeing the possibility of a new role for Schooling on the Longhorns’ 200 medley relay. With Will Licon now gone, they’re looking for someone to step up into the breaststroke position. Schooling may be the man for the job, at least in the shorter medley relay. We’ve seen him take on the breast leg back when he was in high school as a member of the Bolles relay that broke the national high school record in 2012.

On day 1 of their tri-meet with Florida and Indiana, Schooling split a 24.64 on the breaststroke leg of Texas’ relay, giving him the 2nd fastest split of the field behind Indiana’s Ian Finnerty (24.38). Finnerty, who later dominated the individual 100 breast by 2 seconds with his 53.38, helped the Hoosiers to a 1:27.17 victory, while Texas placed 3rd behind Florida (1:27.44). The Gators trailed through the front half, but Jan Switkowski (20.61) supplied the fastest fly leg of the field to move them ahead of Texas and into position to battle with Indiana. World champion sprinter Caeleb Dressel anchored in 19.08, but it wasn’t enough to run down Indiana All-American Ali Khalafalla (19.20).

Following his stint on the medley relay, Schooling went on to compete in the individual 100 breast. He placed 9th in that race with a 57.81, posting the 2nd fastest time for Texas. Their top performer was Casey Melzer, who placed 7th in 56.96. Schooling also raced against Dressel and Indiana butterfly standout Vini Lanza in his signature 100 fly. Lanza jumped out to the early lead, turning in 21.70 to take the edge by a tenth over Schooling, while Dressel trailed in 22.39. Through the back half, Schooling was able to pull ahead, out-touching Lanza at the finish with a 46.57 to Lanza’s 46.68. Dressel followed in 47.17.

Though they came up short to Schooling in the 100 fly, Dressel and Lanza each won an individual race on day 1. Dressel won the 50 free, touching in 19.61 ahead of Indiana’s Khalafalla (19.82). Lanza was the 200 IM champ, swimming to a 1:46.56 for a 1-2 finish with teammate Finnerty (1:47.23).

Indiana’s Blake Pieroni, an Olympic gold medalist, had some notable day 1 performances. He picked up a double, winning both the 100 and 200 freestyles in battles with Florida’s Switkowski. He held a steady pace to lead the whole way through the 200 free, touching in 1:34.10 to Switkowski’s 1:34.59. They returned for the 100 free, with Pieroni flipping in 21.73 and holding off Switkowski (43.50) for the win in 43.18.

On the women’s side, Texas’ Rebecca Millard stood out as she swept the sprint freestyles. She was the only swimmer to break 23 seconds in the 50 free, touching in 22.86. Indiana freshman Grace Haskett closed in on the 23-second barrier to finish 2nd in 23.07, followed by Florida’s Sherridon Dressel (23.46). Millard returned for the 100 free, dominating the race with a 49.71 ahead of Florida’s Kelly Fertel (50.97).

Teammate Joanna Evans, a Bahamian Olympian, swept the distance races for the Longhorns. First, she swam to a 9:45.84 in the 1000 free, outpacing Florida freshman Taylor Ault, a USA National Junior Teamer, who finished in 9:49.75. IU’s Cassy Jernberg also broke 10:00 there, taking 3rd in 9:58.00. In the 500 free, Evans and freshman teammate Evie Pfeifer were neck-and-neck. Evans was able to hold onto her slight lead throughout the race, finishing just 3 tenths ahead with a 4:46.64 to Pfiefer’s 4:46.96.

Indiana’s Olympic and Worlds champ Lilly King also picked up a pair of wins. She battled closely with Florida’s Hannah Burns through the front half, maintaining a slight lead after the backstroke leg. As expected, she really took off on the breaststroke leg, splitting a 33.67 to extend her lead to nearly 2 seconds. She held on for the win in 2:00.00, while Burns took 2nd in 2:01.19. King returned later in the session for her signature 100 breast, running away with it in 59.46.