We usually don’t make a habit of recapping prelims sessions of college invites, but with the times being thrown down in the morning in Austin at the 2011 Texas Invitational, I couldn’t hold off until finals. We’ll reserve some of the analysis until after we see how fast they go tonight, but for now just check out some of the top seeded times.
The first hint of the potential of this meet came early, in the women’s 100 fly (the meet is following a slightly tweaked NCAA format). Stanford sprinter Samantha Woodward went a career-best time of 52.08 for the top time in the country; and right behind her was a huge surprise from UNLV freshman Katelyne Herrington, who blasted a 52.68 (by nine-tenths a career best). That ranks the unheralded freshman 3rd in the country this season, and puts her a second-and-a-half ahead of any other freshman.
Herrington was then matched by her teammate Cody Roberts, who posted a 46.06 to take the top men’s time in the country away from David Nolan by a full second.
In the men’s 500 free, Arizona sophomore Matt Barber lopped nearly two seconds off of his career-best time with a 4:16.55. That moves him into 7th on the all-time Wildcat list.
Shortly after that, Katinka Hosszu of USC and Maya DiRado of Stanford went toe-to-toe in the prelims of the women’s 200 IM, with Hosszu just a hair faster in 1:55.71 to DiRado’s 1:55.72. Those are both NCAA Automatic qualifying times and sit just a tenth behind Cal’s Caitlin Leverenz as the 2nd and 3rd best times in the country this year. What’s better is that Hosszu’s time was reportedly done in a training suit.
Not to be outdone, Arizona’s Austen Thompson and USC’s Alex Lendrum went head-to-head in the prelim of the men’s IM, with Thompson touching first in 1:44.31 to Lendrum’s 1:44.42. That’s going to be an awesome race to watch in finals, as they have exactly opposite strengths. Lendrum has a huge edge on the long axis (back and free) strokes, whereas Thompson is better in the short-axis (fly and breast) strokes. Should be an awesome back-and-forth battle, but can’t rest on last year’s NCAA runner-up Cory Chitwood either, who seemed to coast to a 1:45.5.
In the women’s 50 free, Arizona soph Margo Geer became the first woman under 22-seconds this year with a 21.94 (that includes Anna Vanderpool-Wallace of Auburn). That leaves her just .01 short of an automatic qualifying time. Woodward, on a second swim of the session, took 2nd in 22.32. She could have a grueling finals session, with as many as 4 swims after relays are added back in.
And finally, in the men’s 50 free, a huge, if somewhat surprising, showdown has emerged between Arizona’s Kelley Wyman (19.47) and Texas’ Jimmy Feigen (19.48) who posted the two best times in the country this year. With Arizona’s Adam Small at USA Nationals this weekend (he won’t start racing with the Wildcats until the spring), this seemed poised for a Feigen runaway, but Wyman showed that he’s ready to put up a fight.
This meet is already fast, and we’re only through a single prelims session. Get psyched up for finals.