Maggie MacNeil, Cameron Auchinachie, Luke Hobson Post Standout Performances at Minnesota Invitational
During the first evening of individual event finals at the Minnesota Invitational, swimmers from Texas, Cal and Michigan each shook up the national rankings with times that established themselves as contenders for national titles at the NCAA Championships in March. In particular, Olympic gold medalist Maggie MacNeil posted two quick efforts for the Michigan Wolverines, while a pair of Texas swimmers, graduate transfer Cameron Auchinachie and freshman Luke Hobson, each put up times that will help in the Longhorns’ quest for a sixth national championship in the past seven meets.
MacNeil dominated the women’s 50 free, putting up a 21.50 that beat teammate Lindsay Flynn (22.21) by seven tenths, while Cal’s Elise Garcia (22.33) claimed third. MacNeil’s time ranks her second in the country behind Virginia’s Kate Douglass. Douglass, who handed MacNeil her only individual defeat at last year’s NCAA Championships in this event, swam a 21.27 two weeks ago at the Tennessee Invitational.
1 Maggie MacNeil SR Michigan 22.05 21.50
r:+0.65 10.58 21.50 (10.92)
2 Lindsay Flynn FR Michigan 22.12 22.21
r:+0.72 10.98 22.21 (11.23)
3 Elise Garcia SR California 22.20 22.33
r:+0.63 10.71 22.33 (11.62)
Later, MacNeil led off Michigan’s 400 medley relay in 50.33, improving to third in the country behind 100-meter back Olympic finalists Regan Smith (49.97) and Rhyan White (50.15) and ahead of defending NCAA champion Katharine Berkoff (50.45). MacNeil, Letitia Sim (58.31), Olivia Carter (51.28) and Flynn (47.30) put up a time of 3:27.22. That was enough to beat Texas by just three tenths as the team of Olivia Bray (51.07), Anna Elendt (57.65), Emma Sticklen (51.19) and Kelly Pash (47.62) combined to swim a 3:27.53. Those two performances rank fourth and fifth, respectively, in the nation behind NC State, Virginia and Alabama.
Cal, with a team of Isabelle Stadden (51.60), Ema Rajic (59.61), Isabel Ivey (51.35) and Elise Garcia (48.14) placed third in 3:30.70.
Meanwhile, one of the most impressive swims on the men’s side came from Auchinachie, a graduate transfer from the University of Denver. Auchinachie won the 50 free in 18.80, by far the top time in the country as Brooks Curry previously led the national rankings in 19.09. Auchinachie was 16th in the 50 free and 11th in the 100 free at his most recent NCAA Championships in 2019, and now he looks like a real contender for the NCAA title in the event. Only two swimmers, Cal’s Ryan Hoffer (now graduated) and Bjorn Seeliger, surpassed that time at NCAAs last year. The last Texas swimmer to win the 50 free on the national level was Jimmy Feigen back in 2011, and prior to that, no Longhorn had won since 1991.
Texas went 1-2 in the race this evening as Drew Kibler finished second in 19.19, while Seeliger took third in 19.23.
1 Auchinachie, Cameron SR Texas 18.94 18.80
r:+0.67 9.10 18.80 (9.70)
2 Kibler, Drew SR Texas 19.36 19.19
r:+0.62 9.27 19.19 (9.92)
3 Seeliger, Bjorn SO California 19.13 19.23
r:+0.65 9.29 19.23 (9.94)
Auchinachie then led off Texas’ victorious 400 medley relay in 45.55 on the way to the country’s quickest time by more than a second-and-a-half. Caspar Corbeau split a swift 50.58 on breaststroke, Alving Jiang followed with a 45.15 on fly and Danny Krueger came home in 41.20, combining for a 3:02.48. Finishing second was Michigan’s group of Wyatt Davis (45.92), Will Chan (52.18), Cal Cohen Groumi (45.26) and Cam Peel (41.75) in 3:05.11, while Cal took third in 3:05.97 with Destin Lasco (46.73), Reece Whitley (51.72), Dare Rose (45.84) and Seeliger (41.68).
In the men’s 500 free, Hobson swam a 4:12.12 in prelims to clip two tenths off the 17-18 National Age Group record that belonged to the legendary Michael Phelps. Then, in the final, Hobson chopped two more seconds off his best time while outdueling last year’s third-place finisher at the NCAA championships, Arizona’s Brooks Fail. Hobson swam a time of 4:09.72, a time that only three swimmers (Jake Magahey, Kieran Smith and Fail) surpassed at last year’s NCAA Championships, while Fail finished just behind in 4:10.32. So far this season, times rank first and second in the country.
Hobson led by more than two seconds with 100 meters to go, and he held on as Fail finished with a blistering split of 48.88 on the final four lengths. Third place went to Michigan’s Patrick Callan, a U.S. Olympian as part of the 800 free relay, in 4:12.60.
1 Hobson, Luke FR Texas 4:12.12 4:09.72
r:+0.81 22.75 47.52 (24.77)
1:12.73 (25.21) 1:38.00 (25.27)
2:03.35 (25.35) 2:28.54 (25.19)
2:53.84 (25.30) 3:19.29 (25.45)
3:45.03 (25.74) 4:09.72 (24.69)
2 Fail, Brooks Arizona 4:14.76 4:10.32
r:+0.75 23.04 48.06 (25.02)
1:13.59 (25.53) 1:39.27 (25.68)
2:05.04 (25.77) 2:30.65 (25.61)
2:56.03 (25.38) 3:21.44 (25.41)
3:46.15 (24.71) 4:10.32 (24.17)
3 Callan, Patrick SR Michigan 4:13.56 4:12.60
r:+0.69 22.77 47.58 (24.81)
1:12.85 (25.27) 1:38.33 (25.48)
2:04.10 (25.77) 2:29.57 (25.47)
2:55.10 (25.53) 3:21.14 (26.04)
3:47.02 (25.88) 4:12.60 (25.58)
In the women’s 200 IM, Cal senior Isabel Ivey swam the country’s third-fastest time in route to victory as she dominated the field with a 1:53.90. Two Olympians, Douglass and Torri Huske, are the only swimmers to beat that time so far this season. Pash took second in 1:55.33, while Wisconsin’s Phoebe Bacon touched third in 1:55.98. Sim was just one hundredth back in fourth (1:55.99).
1 Ivey, Isabel SR California 1:54.63 1:53.90
r:+0.72 24.21 52.47 (28.26)
1:26.71 (34.24) 1:53.90 (27.19)
2 Pash, Kelly JR Texas 1:56.03 1:55.33
r:+0.68 24.83 53.57 (28.74)
1:27.47 (33.90) 1:55.33 (27.86)
3 Bacon, Phoebe SO Wisconsin 1:55.68 1:55.98
r:+0.71 25.06 54.43 (29.37)
1:28.02 (33.59) 1:55.98 (27.96)
Cal’s Lasco led a trio of 1:41s in the men’s 200 IM. He swam a 1:41.53 to beat out Texas’ Corbeau by nine hundredths. Corbeau surged ahead with his insane 28.61 breaststroke split while Lasco fell from first to third on that 50, but Lasco responded by finishing in 23.80 to secure the win. Corbeau touched in 1:41.62, and Cohen Groumi took third in 1:41.99. Those three swimmers rank second through fourth in the national rankings, with only Arizona State’s Leon Marchand having been quicker.
1 Lasco, Destin SO California 1:42.97 1:41.53
r:+0.68 22.49 47.51 (25.02)
1:17.73 (30.22) 1:41.53 (23.80)
2 Corbeau, Caspar JR Texas 1:42.72 1:41.62
r:+0.66 22.22 48.41 (26.19)
1:17.02 (28.61) 1:41.62 (24.60)
3 Cohen Groumi, Gal FR Michigan 1:43.22 1:41.99
r:+0.60 22.08 47.81 (25.73)
1:17.63 (29.82) 1:41.99 (24.36)
Texas’ Evie Pfeifer is back for a fifth year after placing second in the 500 free at last season’s NCAA Championships, and Pfeifer won the event by a second with a 4:40.39. Cal went 2-3 in this race as Ayla Spitz finished in 4:41.36 for second and Mia Motekaitis came in third at 4:42.72. Notably, 1500-meter free Olympic silver medalist Erica Sullivan took sixth for Texas in 4:43.85.
1 Pfeifer, Evie SR Texas 4:41.13 4:40.39
r:+0.78 26.16 54.13 (27.97)
1:22.37 (28.24) 1:50.67 (28.30)
2:19.16 (28.49) 2:47.65 (28.49)
3:16.01 (28.36) 3:44.31 (28.30)
4:12.61 (28.30) 4:40.39 (27.78)
2 Spitz, Ayla JR California 4:41.88 4:41.36
r:+0.75 25.97 54.03 (28.06)
1:22.42 (28.39) 1:50.92 (28.50)
2:19.49 (28.57) 2:48.04 (28.55)
3:16.58 (28.54) 3:45.11 (28.53)
4:13.57 (28.46) 4:41.36 (27.79)
3 Motekaitis, Mia JR California 4:45.89 4:42.72
r:+0.74 25.26 52.99 (27.73)
1:21.22 (28.23) 1:49.70 (28.48)
2:18.64 (28.94) 2:47.53 (28.89)
3:16.77 (29.24) 3:46.07 (29.30)
4:14.83 (28.76) 4:42.72 (27.89)