C. Foster Hits 3:38.79 4IM, Albiero Goes 51.19 1Fly On Day One Of SMU Classic

2022 SMU CLASSIC

• Friday, October 7 – Saturday, October 8, 2022
• Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center and Barr-McMillion Natatorium
• Dallas, Texas
• Start Times
  • Friday: 6 pm ET
  • Saturday: 11 am ET
• SCY (25 yards)
• SMU Preview
• Live Results
• Live Stream (PonyUp TV)

The 2022 SMU Classic kicked off in Dallas on Friday, and there was plenty of action to highlight on day one as the 400 medley relay, 400 IM, 200 free, 50 free, 100 fly, 100 back, 100 breast, and 800 free relay were all contested. This meet features eight of the top teams in the country, and follows a unique format in which each team can only send eight swimmers and one diver. In addition, each event has an ‘A’ final and a ‘B’ final where all the teams are allowed one swimmer in each final. Swimmers can swim up to three events per day.

At the end of day one, the Texas men hold a comfortable lead, while there is a close race between Louisville and USC on the women’s side.

Scores At The End Of Day One:

Men:

1. Texas — 160
2. Missouri — 136.5
3. Michigan — 133
4. Texas A&M — 129.5
5. Louisville — 111
6. SMU — 95

Women:

1. Louisville — 150
2. USC — 142
3. Michigan — 134
4. Missouri — 127
5. Miami — 105
6. SMU — 98

Men’s Recap

The Texas men opened things up in dominant fashion as Chris O’Connor (47.33), Caspar Corbeau (51.71), Cole Crane (46.27), and Danny Krueger (41.94) combined for a 3:07.25 to win the 400 medley relay by over a second, breaking Michigan’s pool and meet record from last year by 0.01 of a second. The fastest leadoff leg of the relay came from Texas A&M’s Ethan Gogulski, who went a 46.21 to help his team finish second overall. Gogulski is most well-known for coming back from testicular cancer and a redshirt 2020-21 season to qualify for NCAAs in 2022.

In addition, there were also strong 45-point fly splits from Michigan’s Bence Szabados and Missouri’s Clement Secchi, who went 45.79 and 45.66 respectively. Sechi is a fifth year who spent four years swimming at Canada’s McGill University, and he most recently set a personal best of 52.10 in the 100 fly semifinals of European Championships this year representing France internationally.

Jake Foster dominated the 400 IM ‘B’ final in a scintillating time of 3:41.97 (just 0.87 seconds off what it took to make the ‘B’ final at NCAAs last year) to break Dan Wallace’s meet record of 3:42.11, but Carson Foster obliterated his older brother’s short-lived meet record by going 3:38.79 in the ‘A’ final. That time is faster than the automatic qualifying standard of 3:39.16 for the 2023 NCAA Championships, making Foster the first swimmer to hit such a cut in the 2022-23 season. In addition, had he swum this time at NCAAs last year, he would have finished seventh.

Carson Foster‘s Splits:

Notably, Foster closed his 400 IM race in a 24.83 final 50, faster than his finishing speed in both the prelims and finals of NCAAs last year. In fact, out his ten sub-3:40 swims in the 400 IM, this meet was the fastest he’s ever been in the last 50 yards of the face. However, despite 3:38.79 being an extremely fast time for October, it actually isn’t Foster’s quickest October swim, as he went 3:35.27 in October of 2020.

In the 200 free, Texas A&M’s Baylor Nelson took the ‘B’ final with a time of 1:34.76, a big drop from his best time of 1:36.12. He nearly even split his race, going out in 47.11 and coming home in 47.65. Nelson was SwimSwam’s #1 ranked freshman coming into this NCAA season, being an extremely versatile prospect who is strong in all the 200-yard length events.  Finishing behind him were Texas’s Coby Carrozza and Louisville’s Guy Brooks, who went 1:34.90 and 1:34.94 respectively. Carozza’s unofficial season-best is the 1:33.40 he went at the Texas Orange and White intrasquad.

The ‘A’ final of the 200 free was won by Missouri’s Jack Dahlgren, who clocked a 1:33.48 to beat Texas’ Luke Hobson by nearly half a second. Hobson went 1:33.94, just over a second off his 1:32.50 from the Texas intrasquad meet.

The Michigan men swept both rounds of the 50 free, as Cam Peel took the ‘B’ final in 19.95 and Szabados took the ‘A’ final in 19.59, beating out Krueger by 0.1 of a second. Szabados is coming off of a great long course season, where he dropped nearly a second in his 50 free and won a swim-off to get a place in the ‘B’ finals at U.S. Nationals. His time from this meet is now the second-fastest in the country, just trailing Jordan Crooks’ 19.36.

Michigan’s Cameron Gammage then won the one-meter diving event, scoring 346.40 points.

Secchi followed up his strong relay split with an individual win in the 100 fly, taking the ‘A’ final with a 46.18. He improves upon his best time of 46.88, which was set last week at Missouri’s tri-meet against Georgia and Arizona State.

Carson Foster then won the 100 back in the exact same time as Secchi’s 100 fly—46.18. This beats out his official best time of 46.28 in the event, although he did go 46.07 at the Texas intrasquad. His recent results in the 100 back make him the fastest in the event on his team and indicate that he could become the next backstroker on Texas’ 400 medley relay, considering the graduation of Cameron Auchinachie and Alvin Jiang as well as the departure of Anthony Grimm—as they were the three fastest 100 backstrokers on the team last season.

Dahlgren had a strong swim for second in the 100 back, swimming a time of 46.53 that’s just slightly slower than his personal best of 46.53 from NCAAs last year. Also appearing in this race was Michigan’s Wyatt Davis, who finished fourth in 47.57. Davis is racing in his first NCAA meet since leaving Michigan in February 2022 to go back home to Carmel and focus on his mental health.

The final individual event of the day was won by Corbeau, who clocked a 52.58 in the 100 breast. This time is just 0.02 seconds off the 52.56 he swam at the Texas intrasquad. Also breaking 53 seconds in the event were Louisville’s Denis Petrashov (52.72) and Texas A&M’s Puente Bustaman (52.87), who finished second and third behind Corebeau. Jake Foster had a strong swim in the ‘B’ final of this race, going 53.00—0.08 seconds off his best time set back in 2019.

Secchi, Foster, and Corbeau’s times in the 100 fly, 100 back, and 100 breast respectively are all now the new fastest times in the nation.

Closing things off was the 800 free relay, where Hobson (1:35.30), Krueger (1:35.73), Carrozza (1:35.37), and Carson Foster (1:32.64) put up a time of 6:19.24 to claim victory. Thanks to a 1:33.84 split from Dahlgren, the Longhorns were challenged by Missouri for a good portion of the race, but Foster’s anchor leg was what sealed the deal for them to win by over five seconds.

Women’s Recap

The Louisville women kicked things off with a win in the 400 medley relay, as Tristen Ulett (53.64), Cecilla Viberg (59.95), Gabi Albiero (50.84), and Christiana Regenauer (48.36) combined for a time of 3:32.79. Albiero’s fly split was particularly strong, as it was just a few tenths off the 50.53 she split at NCAAs last year. Viberg, a freshman from Sweden, going sub-1:00 is also a very good sign for the Cardinals, as the team is coming off the graduation of Kaylee Wheeler—their medley relay breaststroker last year who split 59.35 at NCAAs.

Louisville wasn’t leading at the halfway point of the relay though, thanks to a huge 57.66 breaststroker split by USC’s Kaitlyn Dobler, who is the defending NCAA champion in the 100 breast. USC ended up finishing second, while a strong 47.78 leg from Lindsay Flynn helped Michigan finish third.

This momentum for Michigan continued into the 400 IM, as freshman Devon Kitchel dropped over seven seconds from her best time of 4:18.36 to win the ‘B’ final in a time of 4:11.98. There was a tight race between Kitchel’s teammate Kathryn Ackerman and USC’s Isabelle Odgers in the ‘A’ final, but Odgers turned on the jets with a 27.49 final 50 to win in a time of 4:11.02 wheras Ackerman was second in 4:11.26. Odgers, Ackerman, and Kitchel now hold the fastest three times in the country for the 400 IM.

In the 200 free ‘B’ final, it was another Michigan freshman, Katie Crom who went a huge best time to win. She clocked a 1:47.06, around a half-second drop from her previous personal best of 1:47.57. In fact, her time would have been second in the ‘A’ final, just behind Louisville’s Paige Hetrick who won in 1:46.21. Hetrick’s time was significantly faster than the 1:51.04 she clocked last week at the Louisville vs. Xavier dual meet, and beats out Betsy Wizard‘s 1:46.35 to become the new fastest time in the country.

Albiero then won the 50 free in 22.17, overtaking Grace Countie‘s 22.24 to set the fastest official time in the nation for the event. Behind her were Flynn (22.52), Missouri’s Amy Feddersen (22.80), and SMU’s Johanna Gudmunsdottir (22.83) who all clocked sub-23 times.

Miami’s Mia Vallee won the 3-meter diving event with 332.95 points, beating out Missouri’s Kamryn Wong by over 20 points. Vallee was the fourth-place finisher in this event at NCAAs last year.

In the 100 fly, Albiero put up another phenomenal performance, going 51.19 to win by over two seconds and breaking both the meet and pool records. In fact, both records were held by Louisville swimmers, as Grace Oglesby‘s 51.62 from 2019 was the former pool record and Kelsi Dahlia‘s 51.51 from 2015 was the former meet record. Not only is Albiero’s time the fastest time in the country this season, but it also would have been fast enough to place ninth in the prelims of NCAAs last year—just 0.15 seconds off making the ‘A’ final. Albiero’s personal best in the event is actually only a few tenths faster than what she went on Friday, as she’s been as 50.84 before to finish sixth at NCAAs.

Albiero’s teammate Regenauer won the 100 fly ‘B’ final in a 52.31, dropping two tenths off her best time of 52.51 set at last year’s SMU classic. In fact, Regenauer’s time would have beaten everyone in the ‘A’ final aside from Albiero.

Louisville took yet again another win as Tristen Ulett touched first in the 100 back with a time of 53.43, finishing ahead of Michigan’s Casey Chung who clocked a 53.80. USC’s Hanna Henderson had a strong swim in the ‘B’ final, winning her heat with a 53.54.

Dobler backed up her relay split with an individual 100 breast win, going 59.09 to tie Letitia Sim’s meet and pool record from last year and setting the fastest time in the country. Behind her was Miami’s Tara Vovk, who went 59.80. Vovk, a 2022 NCAA ‘A’ finalist in the 100 breast who transferred from Northwestern to Miami as a fifth year, swam her first race as a Hurricane at this meet.

To wrap the first session up, Louisville made it a relay sweep as Hetrick (1:47.29), Rye Ulett (1:49.43), Paige Kuwata (1:48.90), and Tristen Ulett (1:46.90) combined for a 7:12.52 to win the 800 free relay. The race was close with USC throughout, but Ulett’s anchor being the only sub-1:48 rolling split was what secured victory for the Cardinals.