SwimSwam Pulse is a recurring feature tracking and analyzing the results of our periodic A3 Performance Polls. You can cast your vote in our newest poll on the SwimSwam homepage, about halfway down the page on the right side.
Our most recent poll asked SwimSwam readers what the biggest breakthrough swim during the invitational meets two weeks ago:
Question: What was the biggest breakthrough performance at midseason invites?
RESULTS
- Rex Maurer, M 500 free – 83.3%
- Julian Smith, M 100 breast – 8.9%
- Jillian Cox, W 500 free – 3.9%
- Will Modglin, M 100 back – 2.0%
- Anita Bottazzo, W 100 breast – 1.9%
Texas sophomore Rex Maurer has been on fire all season, kicking off his Longhorn career with a number of top-ranked performances after transferring to Austin in the offseason coming off his freshman year at Stanford.
Maurer was already an elite 500 freestyler prior to his collegiate career, owning a 500 free best time of 4:12.33 coming out of high school, and he brought that down to 4:11.88 last season while swimming for the Cardinal.
However, since aligning with Bob Bowman at Texas, Maurer has reached another level. He reset his best time to 4:11.20 during a dual meet against Indiana at the beginning of November, broke 4:10 for the first time in the prelims of the Texas Invite two weeks ago (4:09.49), and then shattered the American Record in the final, producing the second-fastest swim of all-time in 4:04.45.
In our latest poll, 83.3% of SwimSwam readers voted for Maurer’s swim as the biggest breakthrough performance of the first week of invites, having dropped a staggering 6.75 seconds in one day in an event he was already elite in.
There were several other breakthrough swims across the bevy of invites that took place in the week before Thanksgiving, including some standout performances from the University of Florida in the 100 breaststroke.
Gator senior Julian Smith became just the fourth swimmer in history to break 50 seconds in the men’s 100 breast, clocking 49.98 to drop nearly a full second off his previous best of 50.94. He also broke Caeleb Dressel‘s SEC and Florida School Record of 50.03 from 2018.
Like Maurer in the 500 free, the performance vaulted Smith to #1 in the nation this season and the frontrunner to win the NCAA title in March, and as a result he received the second-most votes in the poll at 8.9%.
Also racing at the UGA Fall Invite for Florida, Italian freshman Anita Bottazzo posted a time of 57.49 in the women’s 100 breast, ranking her #1 in the NCAA and going well under the ‘A’ cut.
Bottazzo also set a new UF record, crushing the previous mark of 58.68 set by Molly Mayne in 2023, and now ranks as the thrid-fastest freshman in history.
Bottazzo’s swim earned less than 2% of votes, while performances from two more Texas swimmers, Jillian Cox and Will Modglin, picked up slightly more.
Cox crushed her personal best time by nearly four seconds in the women’s 500 free, clocking 4:30.68 to break the 4:34.41 school record she set three weeks earlier at Indiana.
Modglin became the 11th swimmer in history to go sub-44 in the 100 back, clocking 43.98 in the heats and then 43.91 in the final at the Texas Hall of Fame Invite, breaking his own school record in both swims.
Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Poll, which asks: Which world record is in Summer McIntosh‘s crosshairs at Short Course Worlds?
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The A3 Performance Poll is courtesy of A3 Performance, a SwimSwam partner.
Yah. huge