Grant House and his fellow redshirted members of the Arizona State swim team posted fast times this week at their de facto postseason meet, the Spring Speedo Sectionals hosted by Phoenix Swim Club.
The meet, which ran March 19-22, served as Arizona State’s answer to NCAAs. The school decided last summer that all swimmers would redshirt this season, deferring the disrupted 2020-21 NCAA season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
House led the way for the Sun Devils contingent, swimming as “Unattached Sun-AZ”. House won five events and set meet records in two, the 200 individual and 200 freestyle. He went 1:43.16 in the 200 IM, and 1:32.21 in the 200 free, the latter just outside an NCAA A cut. All five of his swims were at least high B cuts. Teammate Julian Hill went 1:32.93 in the 200 free.
House went 42.42 in the 100 free, nearly taking down an eight-year-old meet record set in 2013 by Tyler Messerschmidt, the record surviving by a scant tenth of a second. House won the 50 free in 19.46, with college teammates Jack Dolan and Cody Bybee having thrown down 19.69s in prelims. House went 45.84 to win the 100 butterfly, with Bybee second in 46.27 and Alexander Colson third in 46.63. Colson would win the 200 fly in a meet record 1:42.33.
Also among the Arizona State contingent was Emma Nordin, who set a meet record in the women’s mile. She went 15:48.34 in finals, a time that would’ve been worthy of an NCAA A cut. Nordin also won the 200 free in 1:44.27. Teammate Lindsay Looney set a meet record of 1:55.27 to easily win the 200 fly with Jade Foelske (winner of the 100 fly), second.
Among the Arizona State men’s and women’s standouts:
- Jarrod Arroyo won the 400 individual medley in 3:45.81, just ahead of Colson (3:46.46).
- Erica Laning won the women’s 500 free in 4:43.84.
- Gordon Mason (4:20.18) and Andrew Gray (4:20.51) dueled in the 500.
- John Heaphy laid down a top time in the 100 breaststroke to win in 52.98.
- Camryn Curry finished second in the 100 free, then won the 50 in 22.33, within .06 of a meet record standing since 1999 in the hands of Olympic gold medalist Inge DeBruijn.
Beyond Arizona State, Amy Bilquist represented Scottsdale Aquatic, winning the women’s 100 free in 48.82.
Ohio State commit Mia Rankin, swimming for Phoenix Swim club, won the 400 IM in 4:20.28 and was second in the 200 IM. That came to NC State commit and YMCA Westside Silver Fins swimmer Kennedy Noble, who went 1:57.53. Noble also won the 100 backstroke by nearly two seconds in 52.07 and claimed the 200 back by almost three seconds in 1:56.18. Texas commit and Alaska native Lydia Jacoby (59.35 100, 2:08.61) swept the women’s breaststroke events.