Luke Hobson, Emma Sticklen Shine as Texas Defeats Indiana in Marquee Combined Dual Meet
The University of Texas swim teams welcomed the Indiana Hoosiers to Austin Friday for a two-part meet: an unscored morning session consisting of mostly longer events plus diving and then a “marquee” dual meet in the evening, where the Longhorns put on a full production for a sprint-focused competition where women’s and men’s final scores would be combined.
The meet produced some remarkable performances, with Texas Olympians Luke Hobson and Erin Gemmell plus fifth-year swimmer Emma Sticklen at the center of those efforts, and Texas won the evening meet by a combined score of 212 to 105.
Hobson took first in the 100 freestyle in the early session, clocking 42.53, and he returned to win the 200 freestyle later on in 1:31.86, by far the quickest time so far in the country this season. Hobson was the Olympic bronze medalist in the 200-meter free in Paris, and he owns the fastest time ever in the yards event at 1:28.81.
As for Texas’ other star men’s swimmer, 200-meter back Olympic gold medalist Hubert Kos, he grabbed two wins in the evening session, topping the 100 butterfly in 44.93 and then taking the 200 IM in 1:40.51. Earlier in the day, he had to settle for second in the 200 back earlier in the day thanks to a strong effort from Owen McDonald, Kos’ former teammate at Arizona State before both men transferred this offseason. McDonald touched out Kos by one hundredth, 1:38.13 to 1:38.14.
Emma Sticklen — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Sticklen, already off to a strong start in her final collegiate season after clocking 1:49.77 in the 200 butterfly against LSU three weeks ago, snuck under 1:50 again in her signature event in the early session (1:49.99), but that was just a warm-up for what she would blast at night. Sticklen won the 100 fly in 49.62, her best time and the Texas team record by eight hundredths. Sticklen moved up one spot on the all-time list in the event, jumping to 11th in history.
Sticklen also played a key role in two winning medley relays. The team of Emma Kern, Piper Enge, Sticklen and Gemmell won the 400 medley relay in 3:27.98, and then Kern, Enge, Sticklen and Grace Cooper clocked 1:34.72 to win the 200 medley.
Gemmell overtook Indiana’s Anna Peplowski to win the 200 free, with Gemmell’s closing split of 26.10 bringing her to the wall in 1:43.22, ahead of Peplowski’s 1:43.48. Gemmell helped the U.S. women win Olympic silver in the 800 free relay in Paris, with Peplowski also earning a medal after she swam on the prelims relay.
Also impressive for the Longhorn women was freshman Jillian Cox, a finalist in the 800-meter free at the 2023 World Championships who placed third in the event at the U.S. Olympic Trials this summer. Cox won the 1000 free in 9:29.66 and came back later to clock 4:34.41 in the 500 free. The latter time broke the school record and would have been good enough for fourth at last year’s NCAA Championships.
Notably, fellow freshman Kate Hurst was also impressive in the longer races, with times of 9:31.69 in the 1000 and 4:38.16 in the 500, the latter faster than the time required to score at last year’s NCAA Championships.
Coming off a strong freshman year for Texas, Will Modglin took sixth in the 100-meter back and eighth in the 200-meter IM at the U.S. Olympic Trials. Now, he is the first swimmer to clock 44 in the 100-yard back this season, with the sophomore originally from Zionsville, Ind., winning the event against the Hoosiers in 44.82.
Modglin had actually been a tick faster earlier in the day when he led off the Longhorns’ 400 medley relay in 44.81, combing with Nate Germonprez, Kos and Hobson to win in 3:03.69. Modglin, Germonprez, Kos and Camden Taylor took first-place points in the 200 medley relay in 1:23.58.
Rex Maurer, who transferred to Texas from Stanford this season, shined in the evening as he finished second to Hobson in the 200 free in 1:32.13 and then won the 500 free in 4:11.20. Earlier in the day, Maurer had posted a time of 3:40.90 to win the 400 IM. Veteran David Johnston, returning to the Longhorns after qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team in the 1500-meter free, out-dueled Indiana’s Zalan Sarkany to win the 1000 free, 8:39.25 to 8:39.44, and he later edged out Sarkany again to take second in the 500 (4:12.45 to 4:12.56).
Germonprez posted a blazing time of 51.60 in the 100 breast as he chased down Indiana fifth-year swimmer Brian Benzing, who ended up six hundredths back. Logan Walker won the 200 fly in 1:41.70,
Indiana’s Mikkel Lee had the Hoosiers’ only men’s win in the evening session, taking the 50 free in 19.32. Earlier in the day, Jassen Yep took the 200 breast in 1:51.94, with teammate and 200-meter breast Olympic finalist Josh Matheny taking second (1:52.28), while diver Carson Tyler won 1-meter (407.03) and 3-meter (441.60).
Finn Brooks, Luke Barr, Lee and Dylan Smiley had Indiana’s only relay win, clocking 1:16.57 in the 200 free relay. The Indiana 200 medley relay of Miroslav Knedla, Benzing, Tomer Frankel and Brooks would have also won, but this team was disqualified for a false start.
On the women’s side, Enge is off to a strong start in her freshman season for the Longhorns. She won both breaststroke events Friday, clocking 2:09.27 in the 200 early in the day before going 59.26 in the 100 later on. Enge also split 58.62 (100) and 26.77 (50) as she contributed to a pair of winning medley relays.
Angie Coe was the winner of the 200 IM in 1:54.33, a mark that would have been quick enough to make the B-final at last year’s NCAA Championships. Campbell Stoll led the way in the 400 IM in 4:07.22. Hailey Hernandez won 1-meter diving (345.90) while Bayleigh Crawford finished first on 3-meter (318.68). The team of Cooper, Sticklen, Abby Arens and Ava Longi were winners of the 200 free relay in 1:26.50.
For Indiana, Kristina Paegle was the winner of the 50 free (21.92) and 100 free (48.11), and Miranda Grana won both backstroke events, clocking 1:50.50 over 200 yards and 51.04 in the 100.
Heading into the final event of the day, Texas had already clinched the win, but the team of Taylor, Hobson, Sticklen and Gemmell punctuated the impressive performance with a time of 2:59.35 to win the mixed 400 free relay.