Torri Huske Swims 56.13, In-Season Best Time, at Westmont Pro Swim

2024 PRO SWIM SERIES – WESTMONT

American swimmer Torri Huske is taking big advantage of her NCAA redshirt season, posting a 56.13 in the 100 fly on Thursday at the Pro Swim Series stop in Westmont, Illinois.

That’s her best time since winning the 2022 World Championship in 55.64, the best time she’s ever been outside of a national or international championship meet, and the 5th-best time of her career. It also broke the Pro Swim Series Record in the event.

Splits Comparison, Huske’s best times:

Meet 1st 50 2nd 50 Total Time
2022 Worlds 25.72 29.92 55.64
2021 Olympic Trials Final 25.65 30.01 55.66
2021 Olympic Final 25.84 29.89 55.73
2021 Olympic Trials Semi 25.96 29.82 55.78
2024 PSS Westmont 26.03 30.10 56.13

What’s encouraging here for Huske is the closing split of 30.10. Even when she’s not at her best, her opening speed, the strength of her race, remains strong. But hold off the likes of Regan Smith (more on that soon), she needs to be good on the back-half.

At last year’s Worlds, for example, she opened in 26.04, which was basically a dead-heat with Zhang Yufei (the eventual winner), but a closing 30.57 split faded her to bronze.

Smith, meanwhile, swam a 56.36 for 2nd place on Thursday, splitting 26.83 and closing in 29.53. Nobody at last year’s World Championships closed better than 30.09 (Zhang).

For Smith, that swim is a lifetime best, .24 seconds faster than she did almost exactly a year ago at the Pro Swim Series in Fort Lauderdale (56.60). Under normal circumstances, that would be a thrill – but the goal for Smith and her coach Bob Bowman this year was to change the pattern of last year, where she couldn’t match her electric spring times in the summer.

This is Smith’s first 100 fly other than an October exhibition swim during an Arizona State dual meet.

Huske’s swim is the 38th-best performance of all-time while Smith’s is the 73rd-best performance of all-time.

The two now rank 2nd and 3rd, respectively, in the world this year (Huske swam 56.21 at the US Open in December).

2023-2024 LCM Women 100 Fly

GretchenUSA
WALSH
06/15
55.18 WR
2Torri
HUSKE
USA55.5206/16
3Regan
SMITH
USA55.6206/16
4Yufei
ZHANG
CHN55.8609/27
5Angelina
KOHLER
GER56.1102/11
View Top 31»

Two seasons ago, Smith and Huske were teammates on the varsity team at Stanford, and along with Claire Curzan, they were capable of putting together some of the nastiest relays the NCAA has ever seen.

But all three have taken different paths toward this summer’s Olympic Trials. Smith turned pro and moved to Tempe to train at Arizona State. Curzan took the year off and transferred to Virginia for fresh training and wound up swimming at the World Championships and performing very well. Huske stayed at Stanford, but redshirted the collegiate season, and the results on Thursday were clear.

Three swimmers with a common thread, all choosing very different paths, but with one thing in common: they’ve all sat out this collegiate season for which they were eligible. And it’s all going to come to a head (throw in Gretchen Walsh and Kate Douglass for good measure) in Indianapolis.

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About Braden Keith

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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