Ian Finnerty Discusses Bounce Back After Mono This Summer (Video)

^{Reported by James Sutherland.}

TEXAS VS FLORIDA VS INDIANA

• Friday, October 19 – Saturday, October 20, 2018
• Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center
• Austin, Texas
•  Short Course Yards (25y)
• Live Results
• Full Meet Results (PDF)

MEN’S MEET

Similar to the Texas women, the Indiana men rolled on day 1 with wins in six of nine events.

They started the meet off with a big win in the 400 medley relay, with Gabriel Fantoni (47.49) and Ian Finnerty (53.07) producing the top splits on their respective strokes before Vini Lanza(46.97) and Bruno Blaskovic (43.85) closed the show for a final time of 3:11.38. Texas took 2nd in 3:12.00, with a notable breast leg from Charlie Scheinfeld (53.54) and a 43.03 anchor from Tate Jackson, with the Gators back in 3rd (3:14.19).

Khader Baqlah then threw down a 1:34.84 to win the 200 freestyle, using a 23.61 final 50 to pull away from Indiana’s Mohamed Samy (1:36.21). Baqlah’s time is the fastest in the nation so far this season, overtaking USC’s freshman Alexei Sancov‘s 1:35.82. Gator freshmen Kieran Smith (1:36.33) and Trey Freeman (1:37.70) were 3rd and 4th, while three-time defending NCAA champ Townley Haas was 5th in 1:37.85.

Fantoni, Finnerty, Lanza, Samy and Michael Brinegar then rattled off five consecutive Indiana victories to really assert their dominance. Fantoni (47.87) won the 100 back over Texas’ Ryan Harty(47.96), Finnerty won the 100 breast by close to two seconds in 53.49, Lanza took the 200 fly in 1:45.27 over Longhorn freshman Andrew Koustik (1:46.54), and Samy went 1-2 with Blaskovic in the 50 free with showings of 20.04 and 20.18.

Brinegar then produced the #2 time of the season in the 1000 free, clocking 9:00.14 while Freeman (9:07.48) made up over two seconds on the final 50 to take 2nd over Texas’ Chris Yeager(9:07.72).

On Day 2, Finnerty held off sophomore teammate Matthew Jerden in the 200 breast, 2:00.05 to 2:00.33, making it a clean sweep of the breaststroke events for the defending NCAA champion.