Stanfield, Mason Pick Up New Olympic Trials Cuts At TAQ Spring Invite

LSU junior Summer Stanfield notched her first Olympic Trials cut and LSU freshman Mitch Mason earned a new Wave II cut at the Tiger Aquatics Spring Invite.

Stanfield went 2:14.18 in the 200 backstroke. That was a drop of nearly two seconds for Stanfield, whose previous career-best was a 2:15.94 from 2019 Summer Junior Nationals. She got under the Wave I Olympic Trials standard by a half-second, earning an opportunity to compete at the Trials meet next week.

The 20-year-old Stanfield is coming off a sophomore season where she qualified for NCAAs for the first time and scored in two events at the SEC Championships.

Stanfield also hit a career-best 1:03.56 in the 100 long course meter backstroke at the Tiger Aquatics meet, hosted at the LSU Natatorium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

18-year-old Mason put together a massive drop in the 100 breaststroke to improve his Wave I cut to a Wave II Olympic Trials cut. Back in March, Mason shaved a tenth off his lifetime-best, going 1:03.20 to earn a Wave I Trials cut. But in Baton Rouge, Mason crushed a 1:01.49, smashing through the Wave II cut of 1:01.97.

Mason was a freshman standout for LSU this year, taking fourth at SECs in the 100 breast and qualifying for the NCAA Championships. He finished 21st there. Mason’s short course best (52.32) is much more in line with his new long course best. He’ll get a chance to compete at the Wave II Olympic Trials meet next month.

A few other notable swims from the TAQ meet:

• 19-year-old Zoe Mekus of Tiger Aquatics hit a new lifetime-best of 1:12.82 in the 100 breast.
• Franco’s Fins 12-year-old Sasha Slauson went 2:31.91 in the 200 fly. That was her first time ever swimming the event, and moves her to #3 in the country this season among 11-12s in the 200 long course meter butterfly.
• LSU sophomore David Boylan, 20, dropped 2.7 seconds in his 100 fly (54.45) and another 2.7 seconds in his 200 fly (2:02.40). Boylan was representing Crawfish Aquatics. His 100 fly was just three-tenths of a second off a Wave I Trials cut in a huge time drop.
• LSU junior Jack Jannasch also just missed a Wave I Trials cut, but had two solid time drops in sprint free. He shaved two-tenths of a second off his best 50 free time, going 23.49. (The Wave I cut is 23.19). Jannasch dropped eight tenths of a second to go 51.55 in the 100 free.

Full meet results are available on Meet Mobile under “TAQ Spring Invitational.”