Longhorn Men Earn Three More Qualifiers at American SC Champs

Night one of the ambitiously-named American Short Course Championships in Austin, Texas had a bit of buzz to them. The meet, which the NCAA counts as a “last-chance meet” for men to earn NCAA qualifying time, worked out well for the Longhorns, though there wasn’t much in the way of “wow” swims.

Beginning in the first race, the Texas 200 free relay of Jimmy Feigen, Charlie Moore, Tripp Cooper, and Dax Hill swam a 1:17.55. That improves upon their season best and moves them all the way up to 2nd in the National Rankings. More importantly, after Moore and Cooper had great Big 12 meets, albeit on B-relays, this allows the Longhorns to make their qualifying 200 free relay the four guys that they really want on it. That drops Kerrington Hill and Clay Youngquist off, though Youngquist will be otherwise qualified.

Feigen’s leadoff was sort of as expected in 19.40, but Dax Hill had a great anchor in 19.07 to bring them home under the mark.

SMU took second in a much-improved 1:18.77 (including a 19.09 second leg from Mindaugas Sadauskas) but were unable to secure an invite in the relay.

Later, in the 500 free, another Longhorn picked up a probable qualification when Texas freshman Jake Ritter cut three seconds off of his lifetime best to win in 4:18.33. Through Pac 12’s and Ivies, that leaves him about 13th in the nation and likely in to the big meet.

In 2nd was another Houston-area freshman: Eegan Groome out of Missouri. His best time coming into this meet was identical to Ritter’s, and he too put on a three-second drop to touch in 4:18.47. That should likely seal up an NCAA bid for him as well, which the Tigers badly need after struggling last weekend.

We also found where the rest of the Stanford roster went, including big-time freshman Erich Peske. Rather than burying them at Pac 12 time trials, they’ve sent them to a full last-chance meet in Austin. None of their big swims were on this first day, but Jake Hartley broke 20-seconds in his 50 free, and Peske had a strong 47.01 split on the 100 fly as part of their 3:13.47 winning medley relay.

This meet was not all collegiate action, though. There were a few good postgrad swims tucked in as well. Longhorn Aquatics local Garrett Weber-Gale went 19.33/19.20 in prelims and finals for solid swims in what is presumed to be heavy training.

Longhorn postgrad Brendan Hansen swam a very good 200 IM to take 3rd in 1:47.33. That’s the first time he’s swum that race in nearly four years, but is still one of the best times of his career. With a 29.42 on the breaststroke leg, look for a big swim in tomorrow’s 100 breast.

The winner of that race was Texas’ Conor Swanson in a 1:46.11, which is roughly a second faster than his lifetime best.

Also of note from the junior division, Sammy Harrison out of Boulder City-Henderson Heat impressed in winning the women’s 500 free in 4:48.94. Also, 13-year old Chloe Isleta out of Santa Clara in California won the 200 IM in a blazing 2:02.75, to just out-touch Ashley Tse in 2:02.82.

For Isleta, that’s the second-best time by a 13-year old this season and one of the top 10 swims ever by a 13-year old in this race.

Full Live Results available here.