Caspar Corbeau Takes Down Max McHugh in 100 Breast at Minnesota Invite; Carson Foster Swims 3:37 400 IM
The Texas Longhorn men continued their impressive run at the Minnesota Invitational Friday evening. After posting a series of blistering relay performances Wednesday and then having two newcomers post times that rank tops in the country on Thursday, another Texas man moved to the helm of the national rankings Friday (Caspar Corbeau) while two others (Carson Foster and Cameron Auchinachie) swam times that rank second in the country.
The men’s meet was fast all around as every individual winner swam a time that ranks in the top-three nationally so far this college season. And on the women’s side, Michigan’s Maggie MacNeil and Cal’s Isabel Ivey swam stellar efforts in the 100 fly and 200 free, respectively.
The race of the night was the men’s 100 breast, where Corbeau out-dueled reigning NCAA champion Max McHugh of Minnesota. Corbeau swam a time of 50.79 to just miss Will Licon’s Texas school record of 50.68, and he moved to eighth all-time in the event. Only McHugh swam faster at last year’s NCAA Championships, a race where Corbeau ended up sixth. Tonight, McHugh finished second in 51.07, while Cal’s Reece Whitley was third in 51.22. Those three times rank as the top times in the country this season.
In the men’s 400 IM, Foster recorded a time of 3:37.35 to lead a Texas 1-2-3 finish as his older brother Jake Foster finished second in 3:40.56 and Braden Vines claimed third in 3:42.92. Foster is the second-fastest performer in history in the 400 IM at 3:35.27, but he will face a huge challenge in the event at this year’s NCAA Championships as Arizona State’s Leon Marchand has already been as quick as 3:35.62 this season. Marchand was an Olympic finalist for France in the 400-meter IM at the Tokyo Games, while Foster narrowly missed the U.S. Olympic team before recording the world’s fastest time in the long course 400 IM.
The other individual win from the Texas men came from graduate transfer Auchinachie, who followed up his first-in-the-country 50 free Thursday with a 45.01 100 back that moved him to second in the country behind NC State’s Kacper Stokowski. Auchinachie was followed by the Cal duo of Destin Lasco (45.53) and Daniel Carr (45.76), while Texas’ Anthony Grimm finished just behind in foruth (45.77).
Cal freshman Gabriel Jett stole the show in the men’s 200 free as he finished in 1:32.52, the second-fastest time in the country behind ASU’s Grant House. Jett took down a field that included Michigan senior Patrick Callan, a U.S. Olympian in the 800 free relay, and Callan finished just behind Jett in 1:32.77. Third went to Texas’ Coby Carrozza in 1:33.06, while Texas’ Luke Hobson finished fourth in 1:33.18 after splitting 1:31.34 on the Longhorns’ 800 free relay and then winning the 500 free in the nation’s only sub-4:10 performance so far this season.
Drew Kibler, another Tokyo Olympian on the 800 free relay, won the B-final for Texas in 1:33.66.
The men’s 100 fly saw Harvard’s Umitcan Gures touch out Michigan’s Cal Cohen Groumi, 45.15 to 45.16. Those two times rank third and fourth, respectively, in the country. Texas’ Alvin Jiang claimed third in 45.56.
Texas concluded the evening with a dominant performance in the 200 free relay. The group of Danny Krueger (19.20), Auchinachie (18.61), Kibler (18.93) and Corbeau (18.75) combined to swim a 1:15.49, faster than all but two teams recorded at last year’s NCAAs. Cal’s Bjorn Seeliger, Jack Alexy, Liam Bell and Carr finished almost a second beind in 1:16.46, while Harvard’s Raphael Marcoux, Dean Farris, Gures and Mahlon Reihman took thrid in 1:16.61. It has been a quiet meet so far for multi-time NCAA champion Farris, but he split 18.81 to elevate the Crimson on this relay.
Meanwhile, MacNeil was again the top performer on the women’s side. The Olympic gold medalist in the 100-meter fly and the all-time fastest swimmer in the yards event became the first to break 50 this season with her winning time of 49.97. Previously, Tennessee’s Ellen Walshe had led the national rankings at 50.24. Texas went 2-3 with Olivia Bray (51.07) and Emma Sticklen (51.10). Sticklen had swum a 50.76 in prelims that ranks fourth nationally, while Bray improved to sixth.
Bray returned later in the evening to win the 100 back in 50.93, becoming the sixth swimmer under 51 this season and beating out Cal’s Isabelle Stadden (51.00) by seven hundredths. Wisconsin’s Phoebe Bacon, an Olympic finalist in the 200-meter back, picked up third in 51.38.
In the women’s 200 free, Ivey swam a 1:43.13 to dominate the field and move to second in the country behind Stanford’s Torri Huske (1:42.59). Ivey swam faster than any swimmer in last season’s NCAA final aside from Virginia’s Paige Madden, now a professional swimmer, and she should be in contention for this national title come March. Texas’ Kelly Pash finished second to Ivey in 1:44.83, while Cal’s Ayla Spitz took third in 1:45.37.
Texas’ Anna Elendt dominated the women’s 100 breast final, swimming a 57.90 to win by more than a second and move to fourth in the country this season. Michigan freshman Letitia Sim placed second in 59.06, and Arizona’s Jade Neser grabbed third in 59.63. The women’s 400 IM went to Cal’s Alicia Wilson in 4:06.43, a half-second ahead of Minnesota’s Megan Van Berkom (4:06.92), with Michigan’s Kathryn Ackerman third (4:07.42).
Michigan concluded the women’s events for the night with a win in the 200 free relay as MacNeil (21.72), Claire Newman (21.99), Olivia Carter (22.22) and Lindsay Flynn (21.71) beat Cal’s team of Ivey, Emily Gantriis, Elise Garcia and Emma Davidson by a half-second, 1:28.10 to 1:29.06. Texas took third in 1:29.06 with Pash, Sticklen, Julia Cook and Bridget Semenuk.