2020 TEXAS HALL OF FAME SWIMMING INVITE
- December 2-5, 2020
- Lee and Joe Jamal Texas Swimming Center, Austin, TX
- Course: SCY
- Results Link
Senior Evie Pfeifer swam the third-fastest 500 free in the NCAA this season, blasting a 4:38.66 at prelims of Texas’s Hall of Fame Invite.
Pfeifer was the highlight of this morning’s prelims session, the first of three days of morning-prelims-evening-finals action after last night’s relay session. She led all swimmers in the event by almost ten full seconds.
Pfeifer led off Texas’s 800 free relay last night, establishing a new career-best 1:43.77. That was a drop of more than two seconds for Pfeifer, and suggests she could be gearing up to challenge her lifetime-best in tonight’s 500 free final. Pfeifer has been as fast as 4:36.04 at 2019 NCAAs.
Top 500 freestylers – 2020-2021 NCAA season
- Paige Madden (Virginia) – 4:33.09
- Courtney Harnish (Georgia) – 4:36.86
- Evie Pfeifer (Texas) – 4:38.66
- Leah Braswell (Florida) – 4:38.69
- Brooke Forde (Stanford) – 4:39.58
Texas’s women also got a big swim from freshman Olivia Bray, who took six tenths of a second off of her 50 free best. Bray was 22.13 to lead prelims this morning. That will rank her 6th in the nation for the season, with only three women breaking 22 so far this year, at least according to the times that appear in the NCAA database.
Freshmen led the way on the men’s side, too. Coby Carrozza took four tenths of a second off his lifetime-best to lead the 500 free in 4:14.50. That moves him to #6 in the nation this season, displacing Zach Yeadon from Cal, Texas’s top rival for the NCAA team title this year.
Fellow freshman Carson Foster didn’t quite hit a lifetime-best in the 200 IM, but his 1:43.12 will move him to #7 in the nation this year. Foster passes his older brother Jake, who was previously 7th at 1:43.37. Jake was the second qualifier this morning, going 1:44.95 and the two will battle from middle lanes in tonight’s final.
Sophomore Kelly Pash leads the women’s 200 IM in 1:57.79, nearly six seconds ahead of the rest of the field. And junior Daniel Krueger qualified first in the men’s 50 free, going 19.47.
I know Texas Invite is always fast, but something I’ve enjoyed in this dismal year is fast times coming from any meet, any time, any teams. I’m sure it has to do with the feeling that things can shut down at any time, so get your swims in now.
Maybe this can be taken forward after pandemic? Feeling good in early November? Throw on an old tech suit and go after it! Fast swimming is fun!
I agree and I also think some of it is because of NCAA’s getting canceled and no competition all summer long… These swimmers were ready to swim fast as soon as the season started! I think their minds and bodies needed it.