Claire Curzan Hits 200 Free Best Time At 2022 TAC Spring Invitational

2022 NC TAC Spring Invitational

• May 20-22, 2022
• Cary, North Carolina
• Triangle Aquatic Center
• LCM (50 meters)
• Results on Meet Mobile: “2022 TAC TITANS Spring Invitational Meet”

Fresh off a standout performance at the U.S. International Team Trials in late April, 2021 Olympic medalist Claire Curzan was among the big names competing at last weekend’s TAC Spring Invitational as a tune-up for next month’s World Championships.

Curzan, 17, qualified to swim four events at the upcoming Worlds in Budapest at the U.S. Trials, and got in some racing at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary, N.C., in one of her ‘off events’, the 200 freestyle.

Curzan produced a time of 2:00.36, knocking nearly two seconds off her previous best of 2:02.27, set in March 2020. The time ranks her 81st all-time in the girls’ 17-18 age group.

Another member of the 2022 U.S. World Championship team that was competing was NC State’s Katharine Berkoff, who put up a time of 1:00.01 in the women’s 100 backstroke. The 21-year-old swam a best time of 58.61 in the event at the U.S. Trials last month, finishing fourth overall.

Berkoff won the 50 back at Trials to qualify for the Worlds team, setting a new American Record of 27.12.

The 100 back was one of four events in which Curzan qualified to swim at the World Championships, placing second at Trials in a best of 58.39, and she also qualified to swim the 50 fly, 100 fly and 100 free.

Both swimmers will head to Croatia for a training camp on June 4 before the World Championships kick off in Budapest, Hungary on June 18.

Another notable performance at the competition came from Curzan’s TAC Titans teammate Lance Norris, who will join Berkoff at NC State next season.

Norris dropped a time of 1:59.84 in the men’s 200 back, improving on his previous best of 1:59.98 and moving into 35th all-time in the boys’ 17-18 age group.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

• 20-year-old Luke Miller of Wolfpack Elite broke the 53-second barrier for the first time in the men’s 100 fly, clocking 52.76 to improve on his previous PB of 53.25 set in July 2021.
• TAC Titans’ Michael Cotter, 18, won the men’s 200 free in 1:49.74, narrowly taking out Wolfpack Elite’s Noah Bowers (1:49.85). Cotter owns a PB of 1:48.45, set at the International Team Trials, and Bowers’ best sits at 1:49.36 from last year’s Olympic Trials.
• Bartosz Piszczorowicz of NC State neared his season-best to lead the men’s 100 free, clocking 50.11 after going 49.89 in April.
• Colombia’s Jorge Murillo recorded season-best times in the men’s 100 breast (1:02.10) and 200 breast (2:17.09), owning the country’s national records in both at 59.93 and 2:11.62, respectively.
• NC State’s Abby Arens neared her lifetime best in the women’s 100 fly, clocking 59.69 to fall just .04 shy of her PB set last July.