2021 Big 12 Championships: Day 2 Finals Live Recap

2021 BIG 12 SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Swimming: Wednesday, February 24 – Saturday, February 27, 2021
• Diving: Monday, March 1 – Wednesday, March 3, 2021
• Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center – Austin, TX (Central Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Texas men (24x) & Texas women (8x) (results)
• Live Results
• Live Video
• Championship Central

SCORES AFTER DAY 1

Women:

1. Texas – 80
2. Kansas – 68
3. Iowa State/Texas Christian/West Virginia – 60

Men:

1. Texas – 80
2. Texas Christian/West Virginia – 66

Texas secured an early lead yesterday as they won both the women’s and men’s 800 free and 200 medley relays. They have set themselves up nicely today to extend that lead with all 3 top seeds at both the men’s and women’s meets. On the women’s side, Evie Pfeifer, Kelly Pash, and Bridget Semenuk have secured the top seed in the 500 free, 200 IM, and 50 freestyle, respectively, each looking at a repeat Big 12 title.

As for the men, JohnThomas Larson and Daniel Kreuger will look to repeat as victors in the 500 and 50 freestyles. The 500 freestyle A final is unique tonight as Texas will be represented in all 8 lanes, having had the top 10 times in the prelims this morning. As for the 200 IM, brothers Jake and Carson Foster will go head-to-head for the gold with only 0.01 seconds separating their prelim swims in the event.

WOMEN’S 500 FREESTYLE

• Big 12 Record: Joanna Evans (Texas) – 4:36.87 (2019)
• Big 12 Meet Record: Joanna Evans (Texas) – 4:36.87 (2019)
• 2020 NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 4:35.76
• 2020 Champion: Evie Pfeifer (Texas) – 4:40.13

Top 3:

1. Evie Pfeifer (Texas) – 4:36.35
2. Mary Smutny (Texas) – 4:45.67
3. Ella Tierney (Texas) – 4:46.18

Longhorn Evie Pfeifer successfully defended her title in this event, winning by over nine seconds with a time of 4:36.35.  That’s the 3rd-fastest swim of her career, with her personal best of 4:35.73 coming from last December’s Texas Hall of Fame Invite.

That was the only time under the 2020 NCAA Invite time of 4:41.20, as fellow Longhorns Mary Smutny (4:45.67) and Ella Tierney (4:46.18) took 2nd and 3rd, respectively. That time was Tierney’s best in nearly four years, with her lifetime best of 4:45.14 coming from the 2017 NCSA Spring Championships.

Kansas’ Kara Church was highest-placing non-Longhorn, taking 4th with a time of 4:48.27 that’s a new lifetime best.

• BIG 12 Record: Clark Smith (Texas) – 4:08.19 (2017)
• BIG 12 Meet Record: Townley Haas (Texas) – 4:11.11 (2019)
• 2020 NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 4:11.82
• 2020 Champion: JohnThomas Larson (Texas) – 4:16.65

Top 3:

1. Coby Carrozza (Texas) – 4:14.98
2. Drew Kibler (Texas) – 4:15.00
3. JohnThomas Larson (Texas) – 4:15.04

Texas freshman Coby Carrozza came out on top in an incredible close battle between three Longhorns to earn his first Big 12 individual title I this event. Coming into the final 100 yards, Carrozza was actually 4th, but he split 24.82/24.30 over the last two laps to get past Drew Kibler, JohnThomas Larson, and David Johnston to win in 4:14.98. Kibler took 2nd in 4:15.00, followed by Larson in 4:15.04. Larson was the closest to his personal best out of that group, having gone 4:14.96 twice before. Carrozza and Johnston both hit 4:14s at the Texas Hall of Fame Invite last December, while Kibler was 4:08 back in October.

Swimming in the C-final, Texas sophomore Peter Larson nearly matched his brother’s time, hitting a 4:15.26 for a new lifetime best by 0.80s.

West Virginia had four men in the A-final, with all four swimming between 4:28.17 and 4:28.77: Brendan Williams (4:28.17), Max Gustafson (4:28.31), Logan McFadden (4:28.76), and Zach Boley (4:28.77).

WOMEN’S 200 IM

• Big 12 Record: Madisyn Cox (Texas) – 1:52.58 (2017)
• Big 12 Meet Record: Madisyn Cox (Texas) – 1:52.82 (2017)
• 2020 NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:53.66
• 2020 Champion: Kelly Pash (Texas) – 1:55.91

Top 3:

1. Kelly Pash (Texas) – 1:55.13
2. Kate Stewart (Kansas) – 1:58.00
3. Lucia Rizzo (Iowa State) – 2:00.13

Texas’ Kelly Pash joined Pfeifer in defending her individual title, winning tonight with a 1:55.13 that’s a new personal best for her. Pash won last year in 1:55.91, then lowered her best to 1:55.40 at December’s Texas Hall of Fame Invite.

Kansas’ Kate Stewart was the only other woman under 2:00, touching in 1:58.00, followed by Iowa State’s Lucia Rizzo in 2:00.13.

MEN’S 200 IM

• BIG 12 Record: John Shebat (Texas) – 1:39.64 (2019)
• BIG 12 Meet Record: Will Licon (Texas) – 1:41.67 (2015)
• 2020 NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:41.34
• 2020 Champion: Matthew Willenbring (Texas) – 1:43.98

Top 3:

1. Carson Foster (Texas) – 1:41.46
2. Jake Foster (Texas) – 1:43.43
3. Andrew Koustik (Texas) – 1:44.78

This morning, Texas sophomore Jake Foster finished 0.01s ahead of his younger brother Carson. Tonight, Carson made sure it wasn’t close, winning 1:41.46 to 1:43.43 over Jake. That’s a new best time for the younger Foster, whose previous best of 1:41.98 came in December. He is one of three college freshmen ever to have gone under 1:42.00, joining Hugo Gonzalez (1:40.67 ) and Andrew Seliskar (1:41.62).

Fellow Longhorn Andrew Koustik finished 3rd in 1:44.78, a new personal best.

WOMEN’S 50 FREESTYLE

• Big 12 Record: Rebecca Millard (Texas), Grace Ariola (Texas) – 21.73 (2017, 2018)
• Big 12 Meet Record: Hee-Jin Chang (Texas) – 21.87 (2009)
• 2020 NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 21.66
• 2020 Champion: Bridget Semenuk (Texas) – 22.33

1. Grace Cooper (Texas) – 22.50
2. Olivia Bray (Texas) – 22.55
3. Emma Sticklen (Texas) – 22.56

The 50 free should be a close race, right? The top four women all finished within 0.07s of each other, with Grace Cooper getting her hand to the fall first in 22.50, followed closely by Texas teammates Olivia Bray (22.55), Emma Sticklen (22.56) and Bridget Semenuk (22.57), who won last year.

MEN’S 50 FREESTYLE

• BIG 12 Record: Joseph Schooling (Texas)g – 18.76 (2017)
• BIG 12 Meet Record: Joseph Schooling (Texas) – 18.76 (2017)
• 2020 NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 18.96
• 2020 Champion: Daniel Krueger (Texas) – 19.19

Top 3:

1. Daniel Krueger (Texas) – 19.10
2. Luke Bowman (Texas) – 19.67
3. Zac Van Zandt (Texas) – 19.71

For the second event in a row, one of the Longhorns’ top swimmers, who’s already safely qualified for NCAAs, hit a lifetime best. This time it was Daniel Krueger, who’s steadily chipped away at his best time in this event this season. Krueger finished 4th in the 100 free at the 2019 NCAAs as a freshman, but only placed 24th in the 50 free, clocking a 19.30, when it took a 19.20 to make the B-final and a 19.05 to make the A-final. He then led off Texas’ 200 free relay in 19.19 at that meet (tying that mark last year), and he has lowered his 50 free time best twice this season, clocking a 19.16 in October and a 19.14 in December. Krueger knocking another tenth or so off of his time and qualifying for the 50 free A-final could be huge for the Longhorns in what projects to be a tight team race with Cal.

Texas senior Luke Bowman took 2nd in 19.67, setting a lifetime best for the second day in a row after going 42.7 in a 100 free time trial yesterday. Both times are a bit shy of what it would take to qualify for NCAAs, and while Bowman has had some nice relay splits that would find him going to NCAAs as a relay-only swimmer on almost any other team, Texas already figures to have well over 20 swimmers earn individual invites, making it difficult to justify displacing one of them for a relay-only swimmer (especially now that NCAA relays will be timed finals).

Longhorn freshman Zac Van Zandt had a big swim tonight as well, cracking 20.0 for the first time to take 3rd in 19.71.

WOMEN’S 400 MEDLEY RELAY FINAL

• Big 12 Record: Texas – 3:29.51 (2018)
• Big 12 Meet Record: Texas – 3:29.51 (2018)
• 2020 NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 3:31.66
• 2020 Champion: Texas – 3:32.63

Top 3:

1. Texas – 3:28.26
2. Kansas – 3:37.94
3. TCU – 3:41.53

The Longhorn quartet of Julia Cook (51.55), Anna Elendt (57.80), Olivia Bray (51.19) and Kelly Pash (47.72) finished well under the NCAA ‘A’cut, winning by over nine seconds with at time of 3:28.26.

Kansas took 2nd in 3:37.94, with a 52.71 leadoff by Manon Manning. TCU finished 3rd in 3:41.53.

MEN’S 400 MEDLEY RELAY

• BIG 12 Record: Texas (Texas) – 2:59.22 (2017)
• BIG 12 Meet Record: Texas (Texas) – 3:04.13 (2020)
• 2020 NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 3:05.95
• 2020 Champion: Texas – 3:04.13

Top 3:

1. Texas – 3:02.11
2. Texas Christian – 3:09.44
3. West Virginia – 3:13.84

The Longhorn men shaved 0.42s off their mid-season time, which was already the fastest time in the NCAA. While Texas likes to play around with their relay lineups a little bit, they’ve been pretty consistent with the lineup of Chris Staka (45.22), Caspar Corbeau (51.49), Alvin Jiang (44.24) and Daniel Krueger (41.18).  Austin Katz (46.39) and Charlie Scheinfeld (52.06) swam on Texas’ B relay, and it’s still possibly that either one could end up on this relay at NCAAs, especially since Katz has been sub-45 before.

TCU took 2nd in 3:09.44, getting a solid 52.43 split from Vitnatus Silins, and West Virgina took 3rd in 3:13.84.

Team Scores After Day 2

Women:

1. University of Texas 301
2. University of Kansas 215
3. West Virginia University 155
4. Iowa State University / Texas Christian University 143

Men:

1. University of Texas 322
2. West Virginia University 237
3. Texas Christian University 187