As a freshman, Daniel Krueger showed tremendous improvements in his rookie season with the Longhorns, reaching the A-Final of the 100 freestyle after coming into the meet seeded 19th. As a sophomore, he and the rest of the Longhorns were the favorites to win the national title before the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the NCAA championships, leaving him without a chance to show off his sophomore year leap.
In 2020, Krueger was the No. 1 seed in the 100 freestyle and looked like the man to beat all season, but was unable to finalize that work he put in. Now in his junior year, Krueger is again the top seed in the 100 freestyle and will play a pivotal role for a Texas team aiming for its 15th national title.
“At this point last year I was back home and NCAAs had already been cancelled so it’s going to be interesting because I haven’t been to NCAAs in two years so it is going to be a completely new meet,” Krueger told Swimming World. “It should be fun and exciting and I’m just looking forward to enjoying the show.
“Especially watching the women’s meet, that has been really fantastic and so it has really made me excited and it has been a fun time to taper down and really get to enjoy some time with the team. It’s a very exciting time!”
Daniel Krueger at 2019 NCAAs. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
On the psych sheets, Texas is seeded second behind official defending champs California, but no points have been scored yet and Texas and Cal have gone back and forth for the last seven seasons.
Each team has shown tremendous depth this season – the Golden Bears put six in the A-Final of the 200 back at Pac-12s, while the Longhorns had 26 swimmers within the qualifying times for NCAAs, when the cap for one team is 18.
“It’s really exciting and fun to see people swimming fast, and it is really awesome to see everyone improving,” Krueger said of Texas’ depth. “That is pretty much what we try to focus on – where we can improve, and look at whether it is technical details or strength. Essentially any aspect of the sport, we are always working on improving so it really shows we have a really deep improvement level and that’s just really exciting to see everybody improving and that really adds to the practice atmosphere.”
This week, Daniel Krueger is entered in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle, where he should factor into the title in the shorter two races, and will certainly play a factor in any relays that he swims.
Texas and Cal are expected to be the cream of the crop this week in Greensboro, as every single point in every single session will be on the line, but Krueger and the rest of the Longhorns are excited for the challenge, and thankful for the opportunity to compete.
“I think it’s going to be really fun. I’m looking forward to trying to figure out how to swim my own races as best as I can. However the points go down, it’s up to how things are going to go this week and trying to focus on what I can do right now in order to improve my races and my relays. I have a lot of friends on (Cal) and it should be a fun time and it should be a really exciting meet so I’m looking forward to it all.
“It is always exciting to see what they do at Pac-12s and it makes for a fun NCAAs and I enjoy being able to compete against such a good team.
“Specifically I am looking forward to that first couple days and actually be at NCAAs. Obviously getting cancelled last year was a disappointment but now just to be at the meet is really a blessing.
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