Breakout Beckoning? Six Under-the-Radar Swimmers to Watch at College Invites
We are days away from watching the first taste of invitational action in college swimming this season, with most of the top swimmers in the country aiming to post solid marks at a series of meets taking place around the country. On the women’s side, three-time defending national champion Virginia is at the Tennessee Invitational while Texas hosts teams in Austin, and for the men, while two-time national winner Cal is idle, Arizona State will get a challenge from NC State in Greensboro, N.C.
A few swimmers will have chances at breaking individual records this weekend (think Gretchen Walsh and Leon Marchand), but plenty more will look to stake their claims as national contenders, both individually and as strong options for their team’s relay squads. Here are six less-heralded swimmers to keep an eye on this weekend as they seek to boost their profiles in advance of championship season.
Lucy Bell (Stanford)
This season represents a transition year for the Cardinal, with Taylor Ruck exhausting her collegiate eligibility, Torri Huske redshirting and Claire Curzan having transferred. That leaves Greg Meehan’s squad with only three returning A-finalists from last season, all of whom are now sophomores: mid-distance freestyler Kayla Wilson, 200 butterfly specialist Charlotte Hook and IMer Lucy Bell, who placed seventh in the 400 IM and 15th in the 200 IM at last season’s NCAAs.
Bell, who swam an impressive 400 IM time of 4:05.56 last year, specializes in a tough event that has all six swimmers who placed ahead of her returning this season plus potentially Bella Sims added to the mix. But Bell has posted further impressive results since the conclusion of last year’s college season, including a seventh-place finish in the 400-meter IM at U.S. Nationals and a silver medal at the Pan American Games last month. Don’t expect Bell to back down from a daunting field, and she could make some noise with strong times at the NC State Invite this weekend.
Ruslan Gaziev (Ohio State)
Now a senior at Ohio State, this Canadian swimmer manages to fly under the radar but has emerged as an elite sprinter on both the college and international levels. Last year, he came in fourth in the fastest 100-yard free field in history, clocking 40.98 that only Josh Liendo, Jack Alexy and Bjorn Seeliger. He was also a B-finalist in the 50 and 200 free. Then, he played a huge role for Team Canada at the World Championships, swimming on the finals roster in four relays while splitting as fast as 47.30 in the 100-meter free.
Gaziev will face some strong competition in the sprints this weekend as his Buckeyes play host to several top teams, with Notre Dame’s Chris Guiliano and Indiana’s Rafael Miroslaw among those in town. Let’s see if Gaziev can blast toward the top of the national rankings and post times comparable to rivals such as Liendo and Crooks racing elsewhere.
Mcguire McDuff (Florida)
Speaking of sprinters lost in the shuffle, how about Mcguire McDuff, a Florida junior who happens to train with the two fastest swimmers ever in the 100-yard free, Caeleb Dressel and Liendo. But McDuff has become a huge component to Florida’s national-champion sprint relays, handling anchor duties on the 200 free, 400 medley and 400 free relays at last season’s NCAAs. He pulled away from his rivals on the first two of those relays before digging deep to hold off Alexy for the 400 free relay title by one hundredth.
McDuff has yet to qualify for an individual NCAA A-final, but he was in the mix for a spot on the World Championships team at this summer’s U.S. Nationals. He dropped almost one second from his 100-meter free time to qualify for the A-final before missing the sixth and final spot on the Worlds team by just six hundredths. As McDuff continues to accumulate big-race experience, he will become a bigger threat on the collegiate and national levels. We’ll see how much speed Florida shows at the Georgia Invite, but expect big things from McDuff by the end of the season.
Kennedy Noble (NC State)
A solid freshman campaign saw Kennedy Noble finish fifth in the 200 back at the NCAA Championships while qualifying for two other B-finals (200 IM and 100 back), but her long course results have shown the huge strides she has made since. At U.S. Nationals, Noble was fourth in the 200-meter back in an elite time of 2:06.54, faster than the eventual bronze-medal-winning time at the World Championships. Noble also broke 1:00 in the 100-meter back for the first time as she took sixth in that event, and she was 12th in the 200 IM. More recently, Noble was one of the top American performers at the Pan American Games, winning gold in the 200 back, silver in the 100 back and bronze in the 200 IM.
Now, back in yards, she’s among the national-title favorites in the 200 back, with 2023 national champion Curzan out for this college season. Noble won’t get to race any of her main rivals at this weekend’s NC State Invite (outside of teammate Katharine Berkoff in the 100 back), but it would be no surprise if she breaks 1:50 for the first time in the 200-yard race and posts a time that ranks ahead of the marks Phoebe Bacon, Isabelle Stadden and other rivals record elsewhere.
Jasmine Nocentini (Virginia)
As if Virginia needed any additional firepower, Jasmine Nocentini has a chance to contribute mightily this season as the Cavaliers seek a four-peat. No, she cannot replace Kate Douglass (as if anyone could), but she fills some holes that will be valuable for Virginia this year. Nocentini, who formerly swam for Florida International and Northwestern, is an exceptional sprint breaststroker, already with the country’s second-fastest time in the 100-yard race at 58.19. She swam that time when edging out veteran Texas swimmer Anna Elendt in the Cavaliers’ dual meet against the Longhorns.
Nocentini also fills the breaststroke role on the medley relays, allowing Alex Walsh to move from breast to the butterfly spot that Douglass usually filled over the past few years. And Nocentini also has a strong sprint freestyle, so she is likely a four-relay participant this year while playing a role along with Walsh, younger sister Gretchen Walsh, Maxine Parker and Aimee Canny in the sprint events. As Virginia aims to sweep the relays for a second consecutive year, Nocentini will play a big role, and we’ll get a sense of just how big this weekend in Knoxville.
Denis Petrashov (Louisville)
The men’s 100 breast might be the most open event in college swimming this year, with only two A-finalists returning to the Division I landscape this year. Five have exhausted their eligibility or left college swimming while Derek Maas is racing his fifth year in Division III. That leaves Denis Petrashov, who placed third behind Max McHugh and Van Mathias last year, plus Cal fifth-year Liam Bell. Petrashov, originally from Bishteck, Kyrgystan, and the latest in a strong line of Louisville breaststrokers, swam a top time of 50.78 last year in the 100, and he will look to come close to that time this weekdn at Ohio State as he sets himself up for a possible title run.
Petrashov also topped out at 1:50.51 in the 200 breast last year, and anything close to the 1:50-barrier will put him into the mix at the national level, even if Leon Marchand is well clear of the field at the top. Racing at the Ohio State Invite this weekend, Petrashov should get a strong test as he meets the Indiana breaststroke contingent of Josh Matheny, Jassen Yep and Maxwell Reich.