Texas’ Will Modglin Ties Destin Lasco as Fastest Freshman 100 Backstroker Ever

2023 TEXAS HALL OF FAME INVITATIONAL

  • November 15-18, 2023 (10 am/6 pm CT)
  • Austin, Texas
  • Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center
  • SCY (25 Yards)
  • Prelims: 10 am (CT) / 6 pm (CT)
  • Results

The University of Texas is facing an uncharacteristic down year in the final season of legendary head coach Eddie Reese’s tenure, but whoever takes over the program will at least be walking into a pile of uber-talented freshmen.

That includes Will Modglin, who on Friday tied as the fastest freshman in history in the 100 yard backstroke at the Texas Hall of Fame Invite.

He won the race in 44.49, which ties Cal’s Destin Lasco as the best-ever performance by a freshman.

The swim ties Olympic gold medalist Matt Grevers as the 17th-fastest performer in history (Hubert Kos of Arizona State snuck in just ahead with a 44.37 on Friday evening at the NC State Invite).

TOP 11 FRESHMEN 100 BACKSTROKE TIMES

1T. Destin Lasco, Cal – 44.49
1T. Will Modglin, Texas – 44.49
3. Ryan Murphy, Cal – 44.63
4. Ruard van Renen, Southern Illinois – 44.67
5. Adam Chaney, Florida – 44.74
6. Owen McDonald, Arizona State – 44.85
7. Kacper Stokowski, Florida – 44.90
8. Ralf Tribuntsov, USC – 44.95
9T. Luca Urlando, Georgia – 44.99
9T. Robert Glinta, USC – 44.99
9T. Austin Katz, Texas – 44.99

He is now the 2nd-best 100 yard backstroker in Texas history, behind only John Shebat’s school record of 44.35 from the 2017 NCAA Championships.

On paper, this is no surprise – in high school, he swam 45.08 to break the National High School Record in the 100 yard back, and a month later swam 45.08 in a club meet.

On Thursday, he became the 11th-fastest freshman in history in the 200 IM, and he still has an entry in the 200 back on Saturday to close the meet.

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Old Swim Coach
11 months ago

Adam Chaney on the list twice.

Also, story about Texas swimmers peaking isn’t applicable in this case because of new coach in future.

Swammer
11 months ago

Missing Ruard van renen last year 44.67

Moving Mark
11 months ago

Love to see this from a texas swimmer. bright future ahead

HulkSwim
11 months ago

We’re not even letting people graduate before making them look slow… jeesh 🙂

Long Strokes
11 months ago

The Texas rebuild is off to a nice start!

Andrew
Reply to  Long Strokes
11 months ago

i agree but let’s not overreact. Unfortunately, Texas has had many guys peak in their first two years and then stagnate/regress. See Krueger, Katz, etc (don’t really feel like hyper scrunitinzing). Modge is a stud and been that guy for a minute now

Swim fan
Reply to  Andrew
11 months ago

I don’t think it’s fair to talk about peaks and regresses with the pandemic (and its training impact) smacked in the middle of the career of the two you mentioned. Also Katz took 3rd at Olympic trials right before he retired. He turned it around !

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Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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