Ahmed Hafnaoui Turns in Stirring Indiana Debut in LCM Meet with Kentucky

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Ahmed Hafnaoui Turns in Stirring Indiana Debut in LCM Meet with Kentucky

Reigning World and Olympic champion Ahmed Hafnaoui turned in an impressive (and long-awaited) college debut Wednesday with Indiana, winning two events in a long-course meters meet with Kentucky.

Indiana easily scored victories in both meets, with the women’s team claiming a 218-82 win over the Wildcats and the men prevailing, 232-66.

Hafnaoui went 8:04.76 in the 800 free to rout the field. (Second was Kentucky’s Levi Sandidge, who medaled at NCAAs in the mile last year, by nearly 16 seconds in 8:20.66.)

Hafnaoui also clocked in at 3:56.51 in the 400 free, besting teammate Jackson Carlile for victory by 9.5 seconds. He returned one event later to finish second to teammate Rafael Miroslaw in the 200 free, the former going 1:48.62. Hafnaoui went 1:49.63. (Miroslaw finished 13th at NCAAs last year in the event.) Hafnaoui also led off the 400 free relay in 51.97.

Hafnaoui has been training in Bloomington since last year but was ineligible to compete last season. He won the 400 freestyle at the Olympics in Tokyo in 2021, then silver in the 400 to go with 800 free and 1,500 free goal at the 2023 World Aquatics Championship in Fukuoka.

Indiana’s renowned divers are also firing from the very beginning of the season. Carson Tyler won 1-meter with a score of 393.30, followed by Quinn Henninger in 357.98. The women’s winner, Skyler Liu, also broke 300 points at 301.88.

Carson scored 386.40 points to edge Kentucky’s Sam Duncan to the 3-meter title. Duncan scored 383.93. Liu tallied 303.30 on the higher board.

Miroslaw won the 100 free in 49.69, nearly 1.5 seconds up on teammate Tomer Frankel.

Kai Van Westering posted an impressive 56.75 to win the 100 backstroke. He also went 2:08.64 to win the 200 back. Josh Matheny went 1:02.14 to win the 100 breast but was beaten by Jassen Yep (2:15.99) in the 200. Yep also won the 200 individual medley. Mikkel Lee posted a time of 22.59 to win the 50 free.

Indiana won both men’s relays, with the Brendan Burns, Finn Brooks, Max Reich and Luke Barr going 3:43.92 in the 400 medley and Hafnaoui, Miroslaw, Van Westering and Gavin Wright going 3:22.57 in a split 400 free relay.

On the women’s side, Kristina Paegle led Indiana’s efforts. She anchored the winning 400 medley relay to victory before capturing the 50 free in 25.82 seconds and the 100 free in 56.14. She led off the 400 free relay in 55.61, teaming with Ashley Turak, Ella Ristic and Sze Yeo for the win.

Paegle’s medley relay mates Brearna Crawford (100 breast/200 breast) and Anna Peplowski (200 free/200 back) won two individual events each. Ristic won the 400 free and was second in both the 100 free and 200 free.

Kentucky got a win via Caroline Benda in the 800 free. She was second in the 400. On the men’s side, Ryan Merani won the 200 fly and finished second in the 200 IM.

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Ron

9 months ago

Is it unusual for NCAA teams to have a long course meet? I’ve never heard of them doing it, but may just be out of the loop.