Texas Invite: Thursday Prelims Recap

The three day, championship-style 2014 Texas Swimming & Diving Hall of Fame Invite kicked off this morning at the Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin. This year’s represented teams include Arizona, BYU, Harvard, Lonestar Aquatic Club, Longhorn Aquatics, New York Athletic Club, Notre Dame, Streamline Aquatics, Trojan Swim Club, UC – Santa Barbara, Incarnate Word, UC – Davis, Hawaii, Southern California, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Prelims sessions will be held at 10 am with finals beginning at 6 pm each night.

100 Butterfly

The first event of the meet was the 100 Butterfly. Andrea Ward of UCSB took first in prelims in 51.61, .09 seconds under the NCAA A cut standard. Kelsey Leneave of Texas is currently second with a time of 52.41, followed by Wisconsin’s Ivy Martin in 52.44. The top 22 athletes in the event achieved an NCAA B cut time. In the men’s 100 Butterfly, the top two prelims finishes were NCAA A cut times. Joseph Schooling of Texas finished first in 45.59, followed by teammate Jack Conger in 45.80. Dylan Carter of USC took third in a time 46.16. The top 24 swimmers in this event achieved the NCAA B cut standard.

500 Freestyle

The 500 Freestyle was up next. In the women’s event, Texas claimed the top two spots for finals tonight. Kaitlin Pawlowicz took first in 4:42.51, followed by teammate Kelsey Leneave in 4:43.22. Just behind Leneave were Haley Anderson of the Trojan Swim Club and Tjasa Oder of Arizona, in 4:43.58 and 4:43.98, respectively. The top six athletes achieved NCAA B cut times, although no woman was close to the elusive 500 Freestyle A cut in the event this morning. In the men’s event, Clark Smith of Texas took first in an impressive NCAA A cut time of 4:13.66. He finished five seconds ahead of the morning’s next finishers, Bence Kiraly of Utah (4:18.73), Matthew Hutchins of Wisconsin (4:18.80), and Clay Youngquist of Texas (4:18.91). The top 11 swimmers achieved the NCAA B standard.

200 IM

Andrea Kropp of USC led the women’s 200 IM prelim, finishing first in a time of 1:57.99. Stina Gardell of the Trojan Swim Club took second in 1:58.41, followed by Skylar Smith of Texas in 1:59.43. Only the top six finishers achieved the NCAA B cut time of 2:01.59. In the men’s event, Will Licon of Texas claimed first in a time of 1:44.82. Trojan Swim Club’s Thiago Pereira (1:45.33) and Jake Taylor of BYU (1:45.76) took second and third respectively. Three BYU men qualified for the A finals. The top 21 athletes achieved the NCAA B standard of 1:49.09.

50 Freestyle
In the sprint event of the morning, Wisconsin’s Ivy Martin was the only woman under 22 seconds. She clocked an NCAA A cut time of 21.89, finishing first by over .3 seconds. Margo Geer (unattached Arizona) took second in 22.33, followed by Taylor Schick of Arizona in 22.39. The event required a swim-off for 8th place between Emily Ridout of Wyoming and Madeline Jamora of Utah after both finished in a time of 22.89. Jamora won the swim-off in a time of 22.59, and will be swimming in the A final tonight. A swim-off was also required for 24th place between Annie Tamblyn of Wisconsin and Dorien Butter of Utah (23.33). Butter won this swim-off in a time of 23.13 to make the C final. In the men’s 50, John Murray took first in a time of 19.43. He was followed by Bradley Tandy of Arizona (19.51), Brett Ringgold of Texas (19.54), and Nick Soedel of Utah (19.58). An impressive total of 10 swimmers went under 20 seconds in the event, and 17 men achieved the NCAA B cut time of 20.19.

Check back tonight for a recap of the upcoming finals session, slated to begin at 6 pm. The session will kick off with the 200 Freestyle Relay. Live results are posted at http://sidearmstats.com/texas/swim/index.htm.