200 yard freestyle relay
The Texas Longhorns took off to an early lead in the day’s first relay thanks to great splits of 19.26 from Jimmy Feigen and 19.04 from Dax Hill. Their finishing time was 1:17.95, which stands as the 5th best time in the country this season. Texas A&M was just behind them in 1:18.58, unfortunately they were DQ’ed for an early takeoff. This time would have stood just behind the Longhorns at 6th in the country, but instead will be wiped off the books. What can’t be erased from our memories, however, is freshman Kyle Troskott’s anchor split of 19.20. He has already had several impressive 50 free splits this week, and is looking like a better and better chance for a B-final at NCAA’s, and a bright future.
As a result of the DQ, Missouri moves up to second with their time of 1:19.52. The DQ may have been a blessing in disguise for the Aggies, as later in the meet they time-trialed an even-faster 1:18.06 (they similarly were faster in their time trial of the 200 medley on Day 1). This will get the squad solidly into NCAA’s, and included a 19.71 leadoff from John Dalton.
500 yard freestyle
Texas 1-2 distance punch of Jackson Wilcox and Minnesota transfer Michael McBroom scored big points in the 500 free. Wilcox’s 4:16.61 places him in the top 5 in the country this season. Last year, he entered NCAA’s ranked similarly, but faltered in prelims by adding 4 seconds and missing both finals. He did, however, post great times at NCAA’s in his other two individuals (the 200 and the mile), and this year will be hoping for a drop in the 500 as well. McBroom, on the other hand, dropped huge time in both the 500 and the mile last year at NCAA’s, so his 4:19.62 career-best time is equally as significant.
A&M’s top finisher was sophomore Omar Enriquez, who swam a 4:22.05 good for fourth.
200 yard IM
Texas’ Austin Surhoff is the defending NCAA champion in the 200 IM. This season, his biggest competition might be a teammate, and fellow sophomore, who didn’t even make the B-final at last year’s NCAA Championships. Surhoff (1:43.85) and Nick D’Innocenzo (1:43.90) were neck-and-neck in this race, until Surhoff pulled away in the last 20 yards. This gives the Longhorns two out of the top five times in the country this season. The pair finished well ahead of Woody Joye, a Texas freshman, who was third in 1:46.97.
A&M’s best finisher was John Wagner, who took 5th in 1:49.12, just ahead of Missouri’s top finisher Yaniv Shnaider in 1:49.30.
50 yard freestyle
Texas’ top two sprinters had wildly different swims in this race. Jimmy Feigen took the win in a 19.27. This was just .01 off of his relay lead-off, and showed the kind of consistency that does well in sprints at NCAA’s. His teammate Dax Hill, however, marked a 19.88 that was well off of his 19.04 on the 200 free relay (which is way more than can be explained by a relay start). This shows us either that Hiill really gets himself up for relays, which would be great for the Longhorns, or still isn’t quite consistent enough to compete at the National Championships.
Between these two was Texas A&M’s Balazs Makany, who had the team’s highest individual finish of the meet so far. He had a huge drop from prelims, and took second in 19.85. Makany’s best event is the 200 free, and with how he’s been swimming, there’s no doubt that he’ll be in the chase for the conference title there on Friday.
Overall Scoring
Texas, as expected, has taken a sizable lead in the meet (by over 100 points). A&M has already made up the 38-point swing from a DQ’ed relay early on day 2 to sit second by a point, and should extend that lead on day 3 (assuming there’s no more mishaps the rest of the way).
1. Texas 369
2. Texas A&M 250
3. Missouri 249