Maxime Rooney Swims 52.13, 3rd-Best Time of His Career, in 100 Fly in Austin

2021 ST TXLA LONG COURSE KICK OFF

• April 23-26, 2021
• Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swim Center, Austin, TX
• LCM
• Results on Meet Mobile as “2021 ST TXLA Long Course Kick Off”
• Live Results

After Carson Foster’s eye-popping 4:13.79, amid heavy training, in the 400 IM on Friday at the Longhorn Aquatics kickoff, the University of Texas freshman swam four other races this weekend in Austin.

Foster won the 200 free (1:48.12), 200 IM (2:00.34), the 200 fly (1:59.31), and placed 7th in the 100 free (50.70).

None of those swims were as close to a best time as his 400 IM was, but all are positive signs ahead of the upcoming U.S. Olympic Trials. Both the 200 free and 200 fly times are within a second of his lifetime bests.

Foster’s event choices get more interesting with that result in the 200 free. In the process, he beat by four-tenths his training partner and fellow Olympic contender Drew Kibler, who was 2nd in 1:48.58, plus Texas post-grad Townley Haas who was 6th in 1:52.55. Haas had the fastest split on the gold medal winning finals relay by the Americans at the 2016 Olympic Games.

Haas is notorious for swimming much slower than his bests in-season. For example, in 2016, even just a month out of the Olympic Trials, he swam a 1:50 in the 200 meter free.

While a handful of Longhorn Aquatics high school aged females participated in the meet, the University of Texas varsity and post-grad men were the highlights of the meet.

That includes Maxime Rooney, who swam 52.13 to top the field in the 100 fly. Rooney finished the 2018-2019 season, the last complete season prior to the outbreak of the global coronavirus pandemic, ranked 2nd in the world in the 100 fly, though he didn’t make the U.S. team for the World Championships.

The 52.13 he swam on Saturday is the fastest time he’s been outside of the prelims and finals round at those 2019 Summer Nationals. In fact, of the 7 times in his career he’s gone under 53 seconds, 4 of them have been in the last two months – after he swam 52.71 and 52.99 at March’s Pro Swim Series meet in San Antonio.

Other Noteworthy Results:

• Behind Carson Foster in the 200 IM were his older brother Jake Foster in 2:01.80 and another Olympic hopeful Will Licon in 2:02.83.
• Another Texas freshman, Caspar Corbeau, topped the field in the 100 breaststroke in 1:01.63. Corbeau, who was raised in the U.S. but represents the Netherlands internationally, swam a best time and FINA “A” cut in the 100 breaststroke in December in 59.56, which was his first (and only) time under 1 minute in the event. He’s currently the Netherlands’ #2 breaststroker behind Arno Kaminga. Will Licon finished 2nd on Saturday in 1:01.96.
• Licon won the 200 breaststroke in 2:13.02.
• Drew Kibler won the 50 free in 22.59, out-dueling his training partner Daniel Krueger, who finished 2nd in 23.06. Kibler won again in the 100 free, touching in 49.54. Krueger was 2nd in 49.77, while Rooney was 3rd in 49.87.
• Austin Katz, a former NCAA Champion in the 200 back, won both the 100 and 200 backstrokes this weekend. In the 100 back, he swam 55.60, while in the 200 back, he posted a 2:00.00. He’s been 1:55.7 in long course in the 200 backstroke in 2019.
• David Johnston won the 800 free in 8:02.27, which is his lifetime best by just over 5 seconds. The 800 free is a new Olympic (and Olympic Trials) event this season. Johnston is now the 21st-ranked American in the event during the Olympic Trials qualifying period. Coby Carrozza swam 8:04.26 in his first official 800 free, which gives him a Wave II Olympic Trials cut as well.