College Swimming Previews: #5 Indiana Men Boosted With Addition of Ahmed Hafnaoui

It’s that time of the year again. SwimSwam will be previewing the top 12 men’s and women’s teams (and then some) from the 2022 NCAA Championships. Follow along with the College Swimming Preview Channel. Want to read even more? Check out the latest edition of the SwimSwam magazine. 

#5 INDIANA HOOSIERS

Key Losses: Michael Brinegar (13 NCAA points), Gabriel Fantoni (7 NCAA points), Bruno Blaskovic (6 NCAA points), Jacob Steele (1 NCAA point)

Key Additions: Ahmed Hafnaoui (Freshman – Tunisia), Alejandro Kincaid (Freshman – IN), Harry Herrera (Freshman – CT/Bolles School), Drew Reiter (Freshman – IA)

Returning Fifth Years: Andrew Capobianco (diver – 43 NCAA points), Jack Franzman (1 NCAA relay), Van Mathias (3 NCAA relays), Mikey Calvillo 

GRADING CRITERIA

Three years ago, we unveiled a new, more data-based grading criteria based on ‘projected returning points’, a stat of our own making that involved a lot of manual calculations involving departing seniors, redshirts, freshmen, etc. We liked the objectiveness of that stat, but given that there’s still a lot of uncertainty for this year, we’re adopting a hybrid approach this year. The “stars” will rely heavily on what swimmers actually did last year, but we’ll also give credit to returning swimmers or freshmen who have times that would have scored last year.

Since we only profile the top 12 teams in this format, our grades are designed with that range in mind. In the grand scheme of college swimming and compared to all other college programs, top 12 NCAA programs would pretty much all grade well across the board. But in the interest of making these previews informative, our grading scale is tough – designed to show the tiers between the good stroke groups, the great ones, and the 2015 Texas fly group types.

• 5 star (★★★★★) – a rare, elite NCAA group projected to score 25+ points per event
• 4 star (★★★★) – a very, very good NCAA group projected to score 15-24 points per event
• 3 star (★★★) – a good NCAA group projected to score 5-14 points per event
• 2 star (★★) – a solid NCAA group projected to score 1-4 points per event
• 1 star (★) –  an NCAA group that is projected to score no points per event, though that doesn’t mean it’s without potential scorers – they’ll just need to leapfrog some swimmers ahead of them to do it

We’ll grade each event discipline: sprint free (which we define to include all the relay-distance freestyle events, so 50, 100 and 200), distance free, IM, breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly and diving. Use these grades as a jumping-off point for discussion, rather than a reason to be angry.

2021-2022 LOOKBACK

Indiana was one of the teams that benefited the most from the NCAA rules that allows athletes a fifth year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic last year. Fifth years Bruno Blaskovic, Gabriel Fantoni, Jacob Steele, and Corey Gambardella accounted for 255.5 individual points at the Big Ten Championships, which Indiana won by nearly 100 points over Ohio State.

After winning the Big Ten team title, IU went on to finish fifth at the 2022 NCAA Championships, marking the top finish by a Big Ten team. The fifth years were helpful at NCAAs, but significantly less so than they were at Big Tens, scoring 14 points in individual events and representing four legs of scoring relays. The Hoosiers were instead led by junior Brendan Burns (46 points) and redshirt senior Andrew Capobianco (43 points) at NCAAs, both of whom are returning for the 2022-23 season.

Indiana was, all things considered, a very well-rounded team last year, seeing 10 athletes score individually at NCAAs. Also, 163 of Indiana’s 265 points at NCAAs came from individual events, split between 99 swimming points and 64 diving points, again showing off a balanced scoring effort.

Importantly, Indiana did lose a ton of swimmers at the end of the season. The quartet of fifth years of course have used up their eligibility, but seniors Tucker Brock, Michael Draves, Brandon Hamblin, and Ben McDade also graduated and declined to use their fifth year of eligibility. Additionally, Michael Brinegar, Indiana’s top distance swimmer who finished sixth in the 1650 free at NCAAs, decided to go pro following his junior season, and will not be competing for IU anymore. In all, that means IU lost 9 members from last year’s roster.

Those losses represent 27 points at the 2022 NCAAs, along with four scoring relay legs.

SPRINT FREE: ★★★

Indiana has a lot of depth in all three sprint free events, which leads to great free relays. Individually, however, they really only have one guy in each event who is fast enough to score at NCAAs. In the 100 and 200 free, that swimmer is Rafael Miroslaw. In his freshman campaign last year, Miroslaw led the Hoosiers’ roster in both events, swimming a 41.63 in the 100 free and 1:31.89 in the 200 free. He was 10th in prelims of both events at NCAAs last year, going on to finish 10th in finals of the 200 free and 13th in the 100 free.

Miroslaw is also the fastest returning swimmer in the 50 free for IU, although his season best last year was only 19.33. Bruno Blaskovic was Indiana’s top 50 freestyler last year, swimming a 18.98, but he’s no longer on the team. Notably, Jack Franzman had a down year in the event last season, clocking a season best of 19.54 at the Big Ten Championships. Franzman has a personal best of 19.14, which he set at the 2021 Big Tens. Franzman has taken his fifth year of eligibility, so he will be competing again this year, and if he gets back to top form, he could very well be the top 50 swimmer on the team and would have an outside shot at the ‘B’ final at NCAAs. It took a 19.16 to make it into the ‘B’ final at last year’s NCAAs.

Franzman was 42.97 in the 100 free last season, though his personal best in the event in 42.45 from the 2020 Big Tens.

IU has other swimmers who could theoretically be in NCAA scoring range in the sprint free events, however, they don’t typically race the sprint free events individually at championship meets. Take Van Mathias, for example, who split 18.5/41.8 on the IU 200 free and 400 free relays at Big Tens last season, but doesn’t race the 50 or 100 free individually, despite his 18.59 200 free relay split being the fastest in the field at last year’s Big Tens. Additionally, Tomer Frankel is a 1:32.98 personal best in the 200 free, which he swam leading off an 800 free relay. Frankel does often swim the 200 free at championship meets, but he also swims the 100 fly, which he typically favors and results in scratching the 200 free at times.

Out of the incoming freshmen this season, one in particular stands out. Ahmed Hafnaoui, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medalist in the 400 free, is joining the Indiana roster. Hafnaoui boasts a personal best of 1:50.86 in the LCM 200 free, though we know he can be faster than that, since he split 1:50.65 to the feet taking his 400 free out in the Olympic final. Though LCM to yards conversions aren’t always terribly accurate in practice, that 1:50.65 converts to 1:36.80 in yards, keeping in mind that time came on the first 200 of a 400 free. Hafnaoui will all but certainly compete in the 200 free individually, and it’s well within the bounds of reason that he could turn out to be one of the better 200 freestylers in the NCAA.

Examining the rest of the incoming freshmen class, there are a number of sprint freestylers who could provide really solid depth at Big Tens, however, it would take a lot for them to get into NCAA scoring range this season. They bring in a trio of 20-point 50 freestylers, including Alex Stone (20.44), Chris Holmes (20.53), and Ben Stevenson (20.77). Holmes has only been 46.25 in the 100 free, but Stone comes in with a 44.94 and Stevenson a 45.52. On top of that, Drew Reiter and Harry Herrera enter their collegiate careers with personal bests of 45.36 and 45.93 respectively. Unfortunately, both Reiter and Herrera are primarily breaststrokers, so it seems unlikely as things stand now that they’ll be competing individually in the 100 free.

Stone is also 1:37.02 in the 200 free, a very solid personal best for an incoming freshman.

DISTANCE FREE: ★★★★

Indiana loses their top distance swimmer from last year, Michael Brinegar. At the 2022 NCAAs, Brinegar took sixth in the 1650 free, scoring 13 points for the Hoosiers. IU does, however, retain their #2 miler, Mikey Calvillo, who is using his fifth year of eligibility to return to the team. Last year, Calvillo had a season-best of 14:55.95 in the 1650, though he has a personal best of 14:40.59 back during his freshman year. Calvillo hasn’t been able to get back to the heights of his freshman season at Indiana, though he is coming off a great summer, wherein he swam a lifetime best of 15:22.38 in the LCM 1500 free at U.S. Nationals. If that’s an indication he’ll get back down to his 14:40 mark this NCAA season, Calvillo will be well within NCAA scoring contention in the event.

On top of that, this is where Ahmed Hafnaoui will make his biggest mark. Hafnaoui, the reigning Olympic champion in the LCM 400 free, has never competed in yards before. However, his personal best of 3:43.36 in the 400 free converts to 4:10.26. Of course, we can’t live and die by those conversions, but it’s hard to imagine the Olympic champion in the 400 free won’t be one of the top 500 freestylers in the NCAA.

Hafnaoui is also excellent in the LCM 800 free, having a personal best of 7:45.54, which makes him faster in the event than anyone else who is currently competing in the NCAA. Though Hafnaoui is a great 800 freestyler, his LCM 1500 isn’t quite on the same level, coming in at 15:16.04. That being said, his SCM 1500 is 14:10.94, which is the sixth-fastest performance ever in the event. Notably, the World Record in the SCM 1500 sits at 14:06.88. Again, meters to yards conversions aren’t ironclad, but his 14:10.94 SCM 1500 converts to 14:05.86 in the SCY 1650, a time which is well under the NCAA Record.

The bottom line is we can expect Hafnaoui to be one of the fastest swimmers in the NCAA this season in both the 500 free and 1650 free.

Hafnaoui is the only help Indiana is bringing in with this freshmen class, but junior Warren Briggs is another name to look out for. Briggs spent his freshman season with Pitt, where he swam lifetime bests of 4:20.63 in the 500 free and 15:13.79 in the 1650 free. He transferred to Indiana for his sophomore season, where he again clocked lifetime bests in both events, getting down to 4:17.65 in the 500 and 14:58.03 in the 1650. If Briggs continues his streak of improvement into this season, he’ll be right on the bubble of qualifying for NCAAs in both events, which would give the Hoosiers a very deep distance group to work with.

BACKSTROKE: ★★★

Indiana’s backstroke group suffered two important losses, as Gabriel Fantoni and Jacob Steele were fifth years last season and thus have used up their NCAA eligibility. Fantoni was 44.70 in the 100 back last year and 1:40.06 in the 200, while Steele was 45.52 and 1:39.98, making the pair of them the second and third fastest swimmers on the team in both events last season.

It was Brendan Burns who led the Indiana backstroke group last year, tearing to a 44.15 in the 100 back and 1:39.34 in the 200. Burns swam that 44.15, which is his lifetime best, to finish second at NCAAs, right behind NC State’s Kacper Stokowski, who won the event in 44.04. Burns won the 200 back at Big Tens last year, but chose to race the 200 fly at NCAAs instead, which he ended up winning. The 200 fly looks like the right choice for Burns, however, his 1:39.34 in the 200 back from Big Tens would have been fast enough to qualify for the ‘A’ final at NCAAs.

Outside of Burns, the fastest returner from last season in the 100 back is Gavin Wight, who had a season-best of 46.75 as a sophomore. In the 200 back, Tristan Dewitt is the fastest returner after Burns, having swum a 1:45.69. Incoming freshman Alejandro Kincaid could provide help to the Hoosiers in the backstroke events. He begins his NCAA career with a 48.72 in the 100 back and a 1:45.75 in the 200, both very solid times for a high schooler. Perhaps his most impressive backstroke time is his 50 back, which comes in at 22.54, and was notably set at the 2020 IHSAA State meet, when Kincaid was just 15 years old.

However, when we take stock of where this IU backstroke group is right now, Burns is the only NCAA scorer. That being said, he’s one of the fastest 100 backstrokers in the NCAA and will certainly have his sights set on breaking 44 seconds this season. Unfortunately, as the defending NCAA Champion in 200 fly, he’s unlikely to race the 200 back at NCAAs.

BREASTSTROKE: ★★★

The IU breaststroke group is always deep, but last year it lacked the multiple NCAA scoring swimmers we had grown accustomed to. Josh Matheny was the top breaststroker on the team last season, posting lifetime bests of 51.65 in the 100 breast and 1:50.65 in the 200 breast at Big Tens. Though he had an exceptional showing at Big Tens, Matheny struggled in his first NCAAs, missing out on finals in both breast events. Matheny swam well in LCM this summer, so we shouldn’t view his NCAAs last year as anything more than a hiccup, which could have been caused by any number of things.

The bottom line is Matheny’s 51.65 100 breast would have been fast enough for the ‘B’ final, while his 1:50.65 in the 200 breast would have put him solidly in the ‘A’ final at NCAAs. We view him as a scorer in both events, though he’s the only one on Indiana’s roster right now.

Jassen Yep is a swimmer to keep an eye on though. Yep was the second fastest 100 breaststroker on the team last year, swimming a 52.80, and the third-fastest 200 breaststroker, clocking in at 1:53.86. Both of those times were swum at Big Tens and stand as lifetime bests for the rising junior. Importantly, Yep swam lifetime bests in LCM this summer as well, posting a 1:01.98 in the 100 breast and 2:13.02 in the 200 at Nationals in July, both of which are his fastest ever. That being said, Yep enters the season with a lot of momentum in breaststroke, though he’s sitting just outside NCAA scoring range in both events.

Max Reich was down at fourth on the roster in the 100 breast (53.31), but he was the second fastest 200 breaststroker last year, swimming a 1:53.83. Also a rising junior, Reich’s times last season were also set at Big Tens and were both also lifetime bests. As good as Yep’s summer was, Reich’s was even better. He was excellent at Nationals in July, roaring to lifetime bests of 1:01.41 in the LCM 100 breast and a sizzling 2:10.94 in the 200 breast.

Given the momentum Yep and Reich have entering their junior seasons, we’ll definitely be keeping an eye on them to see if they can get down towards NCAA scoring range.

Rising sophomore Luke Barr had a bit of a quiet year last season as a freshman. He swam a lifetime best in the 200 IM at Big Tens last year (1:43.80), as well as the 200 breast (1:55.28). However, the 200 breast hasn’t been Barr’s strength in breaststroke. His best time in the 100 breast is a 52.81 from December of 2020, when he was 17 years old. He was slightly off that time last season, swimming a 53.01 at Big Tens. Barr went on to swim lifetime bests in the LCM 200 breast and 200 IM this summer, though again, he didn’t get to his best in the LCM 100 breast either.

Indiana also brings in two new breaststrokers with incoming freshmen Harry Herrera and Drew Reiter. Herrera is the faster breaststroker, coming in with a 54.84 in the 100 breast and 1:58.61 in the 200. Reiter is a versatile swimmer, who could end up swimming a number of events. In breaststroke, he’s 55.17 in the 100 and 2:00.25 in the 200.

BUTTERFLY: ★★★★

IU has an excellent butterfly squad, featuring the defending NCAA 200 fly champion in Brendan Burns, as well as Tomer Frankel, who was an NCAA ‘A’ finalist in the 100 fly last year and a ‘B’ finalist in the 200. Both Burns and Frankel scored in both fly events at NCAAs last year, seeing Burns win the 200 fly and finish ninth in the 100 fly, for 29 points, while Frankel was fifth in the 100 fly (44.56, 44.38 prelims) and 16th in the 200 fly, for 15 points. In all, Burns and Frankel combined to score 44 points in the fly events at NCAAs.

Van Mathias also returns after swimming a 46.44 in the 100 fly last season and 1:43.70 in the 200. Mathias has been faster than that before, though, as his lifetime bests come in at 45.90 and 1:42.30, both of which were swum at the 2019 Big Tens.

Finn Brooks had a good season as a freshman last year, swimming a 46.73 at the CSCAA National Invite, which is his personal best in the 100 fly. Importantly, Brooks entered college with a personal best of 48.21, meaning he dropped 1.5 seconds in the event in his freshman season. Additionally, Brooks went on to clock a lifetime best of 53.05 in the LCM 100 fly this summer in a time trial at the U.S. Nationals in July.

This incoming freshmen class brings in a few flyers as well. Drew Reiter comes in with a personal best of 48.64 in the 100 fly, as well as a 1:46.51 in the 200 fly. Alejandro Kincaid is 48.98 in the 100 fly, plus a 1:48.56 200 flyer. Chris Holmes begins his collegiate career with a 48.92 in the 100 fly.

IM: ★

It’s unusual for IU, but individual medley seems like their weakest discipline currently. The good news is the Hoosiers return their fastest 200 and 400 IMers from last season. The not-so-good news is that none of the returning IMers qualified for NCAAs. As a freshman, Luke Barr was the top 200 IMer on the team, taking fourth at Big Tens with a lifetime best of 1:43.80. Van Mathias, who was a senior last year and his using his fifth year of eligibility this season, was fifth at Big Tens, finishing right behind Barr in 1:44.18.

Mathias does have the fastest lifetime best on the roster, coming in at 1:43.50 from the 2020 Big Tens. Still, that’s well outside the 1:42.35 it took to qualify for the ‘B’ final at NCAAs last year.

The 400 IM is seeing another fifth year, Mikey Calvillo, return to lead the pack. Calvillo was the top 400 IMer on the team last season, swimming a 3:46.23 at midseason. He was followed closely by Tristan Dewitt, who had a season best of 3:46.32, also swum at midseason. Max Reich swam the 400 IM at Big Tens, swimming a 3:47.95.

Additionally, Jackson Carlile is showing promise in the event. Carlile entered his freshman season last year with a personal best of 3:59.27 in the 400 IM, which he was able to take nearly a full 10 seconds off, swimming a 3:49.90 at Big Tens. If Carlile continues that improvement into his sophomore season, he could be IU’s top 400 IMer by the end of this season.

The Hoosiers do bring in some help in the IM events as well with this freshmen class. Drew Reiter comes in as 1:47.31 in the 200 IM and 3:54.86 in the 400 IM, both of which are strong pre-college times.

DIVING: ★★★★

Consistently one of the top diving programs in the NCAA, IU will looking to their diving squad to help them out at both Big Tens and NCAAs. This squad is helped massively by returning all 3 of their NCAA scoring divers from last year, led by Andrew Capobianco. The two-time NCAA champion is returning for a fifth year and is possibly the best diver in the NCAA. Capobianco took second in 1-meter and 3-meter  diving at NCAAs last year, also finishing ninth in platform diving. He was one of just three divers at the 2022 NCAAs to score points in all three diving events. Capobianco also swept the diving events at Big Tens last year.

He wasn’t Indiana’s only scoring diver, however. Quentin Henninger and Carson Tyler both managed to score at NCAAs as freshmen last year. Henninger scored 16 points, finishing sixth in 1-meter and 14 in platform. He was just outside scoring in 3-meter, taking 21st in prelims. Tyler took 12th in platform diving, narrowly missing out on scoring in 3-meter as well with an 18th place finish in prelims. Notably, this means IU had three divers score in platform at NCAAs last season and all three return this year.

On top of that, Indiana Diving brings in freshman Max Weinrich, who was a 2022 U.S. Junior National champion in 1-meter and platform, and runner-up in 3-meter. He also was the 2022 USA Diving Open Championship winner in senior men’s platform and 3-meter. Diving can be hard to project, but he seems like an excellent candidate to quickly become a top-notch diver in the NCAA.

This very well could be a five-star diving group when all is said and done, but they scored 64 points at NCAAs last year, so we’ll leave them at four stars for now.

 RELAYS: ★★★

Indiana only lost four of their 20 legs from NCAAs last year, so we can expect their relays this year to be more or less the same as last year. They were strongest in the 400 medley relay, where they finished second in a blistering 3:00.76. Importantly, they return all four legs of that relay (Burns, Matheny, Frankel, Miroslaw), so they’re set up for another great showing there again this year.

They were very “middle of the scoring pack” in the 200 free, 400 free, and 800 free relays, finishing eighth, seventh, and ninth respectively. The 200 medley relay was a little rough for IU at NCAAs last season, seeing them finish 15th, swimming 0.80 seconds slower than they did at Big Tens. Josh Matheny had a particularly off split on that relay, swimming a 23.91 on the breast leg after providing at 23.43 split at Big Tens. This is also the relay where IU loses the most, as the backstroker, Gabriel Fantoni, and freestyler, Bruno Blaskovic, were both fifth years last year. They might actually be able to improve those legs this year, however, as Brendan Burns can take over the backstroke leg and Van Mathias has split 18.5 in a 50 free before.

If Ahmed Hafnaoui turns out to be a very fast 200 freestyler in yards, he could provide a big boost to IU’s 800 free relay, which had a pair of 1:33-point legs on it at NCAAs last year.

Total Stars: 25/40

2022-2023 OUTLOOK 

Though Indiana lost a ton of swimmers from last season, those swimmers only represented 27 points at NCAAs and four of the 20 relay legs. Despite the losses, it looks like IU is in a stronger position this season than they were last season. They have the depth in the sprint free events to deal with losing Bruno Blaskovic without much of an issue, though the 200 free relay might take a slight step back. Replacing Fantoni and Blaskovic on the 200 medley relay shouldn’t be a problem, and the 800 free relay may be in even better shape this year, depending on how fast Ahmed Hafnaoui is in the 200 free.

Speaking of Hafnaoui, he is likely worth more than the 27 NCAA points that were lost by himself. Having swum a 14:10 in the SCM 1500, Hafnaoui has to be seen as the favorite in the 1650 this season, and as the reigning Olympic champion in the 400 free, he should be viewed as at least a contender in the 500.

Brendan Burns and Andrew Capobianco scored 89 points combined at NCAAs last year and they return this season. IU also had a pair of freshmen divers in Quentin Henninger and Carson Tyler score at NCAAs last year, so we’ll be looking for them to take another step forward this season.

After taking everything into account, it looks like IU is set up to score more points at NCAAs than they did last year. That’s a great outlook for the Hoosiers, however, they have a problem. Arizona State finished in sixth place last year at NCAAs, 29 points behind Indiana. ASU lost very little and gained a ton, so it’s hard to imagine they won’t take another big step forward. Additionally, NC State was in fourth last year, 26 points ahead of Indiana, and lost very little as well. That being said, our prediction is that Indiana score more at NCAAs this year than last, but they’ll likely end up in sixth place, having been leapfrogged by Arizona State. This team still has plenty of upside, as well as the potential for another top five finish, but it just doesn’t seem like the teams ahead of them are going anywhere, and ASU has made too many moves to be ignored.

MEN’S PREVIEW INDEX