DM Dallas Mustangs Last Chance Meet
- May 28-31, 2021
- SMU Barr-McMillion Natatorium, Dallas, Texas
- Long Course Meters (LCM)
- Results on MeetMobile “DM Dallas Mustangs Speedo Last Chance”
Competing at a last chance Olympic qualifier meet in Dallas, Texas, Ben Hines of Berzerker Swimming in Arkansas narrowly missed a pair of Olympic Trials cuts in the 50 and 100 free. Despite missing the cuts, he still set the Arkansas LSC record in both races.
A University of Alabama commit, Ben Hines swam to a lifetime best in both the 50 and 100 freestyles. In the 50, he touched with the fastest time in the meet, stopping the clock at 23.21 while time trialing the race. That time was .33 faster than his previous best, a 23.54 from just two weeks prior. While he finished .02 off of the qualifying standard for Olympic Trials, his time was still good enough for a new LSC record in the event.
His second LSC record of the meet came in the 100 free, where he also narrowly missed the Olympic Trials standard. Hines finished that race in 50.67, just off of the 50.49 it takes to qualify to swim the race at Trials.
Both of the records that Hines took down were among the oldest in the LSC, set in 1987 and 1990 by Noel Strauss. Strauss was among the best in the country during his age group career, setting a total of 14 National Age Group Records and claiming 17 national age-group titles. In 1988 he became the youngest swimmer in history to qualify for Olympic Trials. He also won two medals at the 1989 National Olympic Festival, an event similar to the Olympics that featured only American athletes.
While Hines wasn’t able to secure an Olympic Trials time standard, Colin Feehery of Southern Methodist University was able to pick up two cuts.
Feehery’s first cut came in the 200 IM where, after cruising to a time of 2:05.19 in prelims, he dropped over a second in finals to finish in 2:03.78, just under the Wave I cut of 2:04.09. Later in the meet, he picked up his second new cut in the 100 breast. After finishing just .16 off of the Wave I standard in prelims, he finished in 1:03.18 in finals for his second cut of the meet.
Swimming for SMU, Feehery won two events at the 2021 American Athletic Conference Championships. He took first in both the 200 and 400 IM, as well as adding a third place finish in the 200 breast.
Other Notable Swims
- Olivia Grossklaus missed the 200 fly cut by less than half a second, finishing in 2:15.08. Like Feehery, she competes for SMU.
- 16-year old Marcus Gentry, who is committed to Notre Dame’s class of 2022, narrowly missed qualifying for Trials in the 100 back. He touched in 56.79, missing the cut by just .2.
Noel Strauss!!!!
Get the privilege of coaching Noel almost daily with our Masters group. He still is a beast!!
Noell Strauss… hadn’t heard that name in a while!