Invitational Season Begins With Numerous Top-10 Teams in Action This Weekend
The first flashes of championship-level speed each college season can be expected the weekend before Thanksgiving as more and more top teams opt to swim their midseason focus meets before leaving for the holiday instead of the weekend after. This year, eight of the top 10 women’s teams and eight of the top 10 men’s teams from last year’s NCAA Championships will be racing at one of six invitationals taking place around the country, and we should expect the season-best times for this season to be completely rewritten. Even an American record or two might come under fire.
Here’s what we’re keeping a close eye on this week:
Tennessee Invitational, Nov. 17-19
The two-time defending national-champion Virginia women will be swimming in Knoxville this weekend, and all of the Cavaliers’ heavy hitters are expected to be in action. It was at this meet last season where Alex Walsh vaulted herself into national-title contention in the 400 IM and 200 butterfly as she swam the fastest times in the country in these two relatively new events, and come March, Walsh ended up securing titles in both. At the same meet, Kate Douglass put herself within range of the American record in the 200 breaststroke, a mark she ended up securing in March.
But missing from the lineup last year was Alex’s younger sister Gretchen Walsh, who has been the most impressive swimmer in the country so far this season. Her ridiculous start to the season, including a 21.16 50 freestyle in a dual meet against Texas (in a practice suit), indicates that an American record or two could come under fire in Knoxville.
Competition for Virginia this weekend will come from the host Volunteers as well as the University of Michigan, both top-10 teams at the women’s championships last year. Those three teams will get the advantage of racing in the same pool that will host this year’s national meet for the women.
On the men’s side, meanwhile, the Virginia men will be the only top-10 squad from last year racing in Knoxville, but we should see some excellent showdowns in the sprint races as the Virginia duo of Matt King and Matt Brownstead battle Tennessee’s Jordan Crooks and Gui Caribe. King was the U.S. Nationals winner this summer in the 50-meter free and 100-meter free (tied), while Crooks tied for third in the 50 at the NCAA Championships;
NC State Invitational, Nov. 17-19
At the Greensboro Aquatic Center, North Carolina State will host a pair of rivals from the west coast, Stanford and Arizona State. The women’s meet will present a battle between last year’s third-place team (the Cardinal) against the fifth-place team (the Wolfpack), and that means a chance for NC State’s deep squad of sprinters to race against Torri Huske and Claire Curzan, the top-two 100-meter freestyle swimmers in the U.S. last year. NC State’s Kylee Alons and Abby Arens have both become reliable options, while Katharine Berkoff has won two straight NCAA titles in the 100 back, becoming the first swimmer ever under 49 last year.
Fans of great racing will hope that Curzan, the World Championships bronze medalist in the 100-meter back, opts to race the yards version of the event against Berkoff, and we’ll get a chance to see how this year’s Stanford team is coming together with Taylor Ruck back for one more year on the Farm, freshman Charlotte Hook looking to make an instant impact and sophomore Lillie Nordmann coming off a strong freshman campaign.
Leon Marchand will race in Greensboro, N.C., this weekend — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
The men’s meet will see a trio of top-seven teams from last year going head-to-head-to-head, with NC State (fourth), Arizona State (sixth) and Stanford (seventh). This meet was the site of the Sun Devils’ emergence as legitimate national contenders last year, and we should expect to see the world’s top individual medley swimmer, Leon Marchand, laying down some elite early-season times while Grant House could set the pace in the 100 and 200 free.
Kacper Stokowski, last year’s NCAA champion in the 100 back, is the Wolfpack’s standout performer, but NC State always has an extremely solid group of freestylers, with David Curtiss headlining the sprints, Luke Miller and Sam Hoover among the 200-yard standouts and Will Gallant and Ross Dant in the distance races. Stanford’s men are not terribly flashy outside of sprinter Andrei Minakov, but Leon MacAlister, Ron Polonsky and Preston Forst make up a very strong core.
Other Meets to Watch
- The Florida men look a lot different this year with Bobby Finke and Kieran Smith having moved on from college swimming, but World Championships medalist Josh Liendo will lead a strong returning sprint group (including Adam Chaney and Eric Friese) while Olympian Jake Mitchell joins returnee Trey Freeman in the middle-distance events. Florida’s women placed 13th at last year’s NCAA Championships, but Emma Weyant is now part of that squad. Florida will race at the Georgia Invitational this weekend.
- An under-the-radar Alabama women’s team featuring World Championships medalist Rhyan White in the backstrokes and veteran sprinters Morgan Scott, Kalia Antoniou and Cora Dupre will race at the Art Adamson Invitational at Texas A&M, which begins Wednesday, one day earlier than most of the meets. Alabama took fourth at last year’s NCAA Championships.
- Indiana, Kentucky and Virginia Tech are among the teams racing in Columbus at the Ohio State Invitational, while the Louisville Cardinals travel to Purdue.
Who is the swimmer in the UVA pic that you overlooked?