Kibler Wins 5 Events, Goes 1:49.0 200 Free At IU Invite

Carmel Swim Club standout and future Texas Longhorn Drew Kibler was the standout at the IU visitbloomington.com Invite, highlighted by a 1:49.01 200 free that ranks 7th among Americans this season.

Full results available on Meet Mobile under “IU visitbloomington.com Invitational.”

The invite featured a lot of notable names, but not as many notable times, as swimmers appeared to be swimming pretty tired. Kibler himself swam an exhausting slate of five events over the three-day, four-session timed finals meet, and the 18-year-old from Carmel won all five. That 200 free was easily the standout swim of the meet. Kibler won by more than five seconds, bettering his lifetime-best (done at the 2016 Junior Pan Pacs) by .03 seconds. That’s a good early sign for Kibler, who could find himself in the hunt for some national travel team relay spots at this summer’s all-important National Championships.

Currently, he sits 7th among Americans for this season, behind only Jack Conger, Blake Pieroni, Andrew Seliskar, Jack LeVant, Zane Grothe and Caeleb Dressel.

Kibler also won the 50 free (23.08), 100 free (50.75), 400 free (3:54.87) and 100 fly (53.92), finishing mere tenths off lifetime-bests in all four races.

The big multi-event winner on the women’s side was Kennedy Goss, the 2018 IU grad who competes for Canada internationally. Goss, 21, won four of the six events she swum. That portfolio included pretty solid mid-season swims in the 400 free (4:16.36), 200 free (2:02.18) and 200 back (2:13.94) and a win and new lifetime-best in the 50 back (29.40).

A few other big IU-affiliated names competed. Olympian Cody Miller won the 100 (1:02.09) and 200 (2:17.18) breaststrokes. Current IU standout and recent American record-breaker in short course Ian Finnerty took the 50 breast win (29.98), but was just 6th in the 100 while swimming a heavy event load.

Margo Geer had two very nice wins in the sprint freestyles. She was 25.27 (a half-second off a lifetime-best) in the 50 and 54.68 (within a second of her best) in the 100. Amanda Kendall was second in that 100 with a 56.08, and also won the 100 fly in 59.76.

A few other notable swims: 20-year-old Spencer Lehman bettered his personal best with a 4:25.52 win in the 400 IM. Fellow 20-year-old Cassy Jernberg won a pair of events, going 8:54.43 in the 800 free and 16:50.71 in the 1500 free.