NCAA Men’s Championships: Rex Maurer Overcomes ‘Demons’ with 500 Free Gold
Rex Maurer finished 31st in the men’s 500 freestyle as a freshman at Stanford at the 2024 NCAA Championships.
Eight months later, as a Texas Longhorn, he would be an American record-holder in the event.
Four more months and Thursday night, he added an NCAA title.
Maurer went 4:05.35 in the NCAA final, earning his first NCAA championship. Adding to it was a 1-2 finish with teammate Luke Hobson, who went 4:06.34. California’s Lucas Henveaux was third.
Maurer went 4:11.88 in season last year, then 4:16.69. He served notice in the fall by setting the American record at 4:04.45, and while he didn’t quite meet that Thursday, he did get gold, in the process banishing what he called, “a lot of demons after last year that I had to overcome.”
A lot has changed for Maurer in the last year, not least of which is his training base. But it’s not just a matter of where but the who surrounding him in Austin that he cited as having a significant influence.
“Last year I was really disappointed with my performances. I felt like I had a lot better swims in me, and I just really wasn’t able to do it,” he said. “And so, it’s taken a lot of reflection since then and realizing, how can I prevent that from happening again? It really starts in training. That’s where I build all my confidence.
:The training with the guys that I’m training with is absolutely ridiculous, and training with guys like Luke and Carson (Foster) and David (Johnston) and Coby (Carrozza), who have all represented USA on an international stage and been where I want to go, and being able to hang with them in practice really shows me that, I’m doing the training that it takes to go 4:04, go 4:05 and win NCAAs. Luke has won this 500 before. So I think just being able to be in that environment is really what’s propelled me to this result.”
The final was finely poised. Rex Maurer was both the top seed entering the meet and tops after the morning. He took the final out a little slower than coach Bob Bowman would’ve liked from him, but his faith in his back-half burst was well-placed.
“I gave it a little bit of juice in the morning, but I felt like I had a lot left in the tank,” Maurer said. “Probably a little bit more conservative (at night) than I would have liked on the first 300 … But at this meet, it’s just getting the job done, getting the hand on the wall first. And so, I’m really confident my back half and being able to close. So I was really happy with the execution.”
Georgia’s Tomas Koski took the final out in the first 200 yards, with Henveaux, Hobson and Maurer lurking. Henveaux moved first, taking the lead at 300 meters. But Maurer countered quickly to get to the 400-yard wall first.
Hobson, who won this event in 2023 and was second to Leon Marchand’s record swim in 2024, moved into No. 5 all-time in the standings. Henveaux went 4:06.74.
Fourth place went to Jake Magahey, in the A final for the fifth straight year. The 2021 champion followed it up with a silver medal as a sophomore and third-place results each of the last two years.
Koski slid to fifth. Charlie Hawke was sixth a spot lower than last year. Zalan Sarkany was seventh, the last man under 4:10, and LSU’s Jovan Lekic finished eighth.
Lekic’s morning swim was a monstrous cut, the sophomore from Bosnia and Herzegovina going from a school record 4:13.93 at SECs in 2024 to 4:12.26 at the conference meet this year to 4:08.55 in prelims. Sarkany finished 12th last year, Koski 18th, Lekic 27th.
The B final went to Noah Millard of Yale in 4:08.96. USC’s Krzysztof Chmielewski took the early initiative but faded around 250 yards, with Millard, who had been the second seed entering the meet, taking over. David Johnston, the runner-up in the 500 in 2023, mounted a charge but couldn’t overcome the Ivy League record holder. He finished second in 4:09.48, ninth overall. Carson Hick was 11th, with Chmielewski sliding to fifth in the B final, 13th overall.
Event 3 Men 500 Yard Freestyle
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NCAA: N 4:02.31 3/28/2024 Leon Marchand, ASU
Meet: M 4:02.31 3/28/2024 Leon Marchand, ASU
American: A 4:04.45 11/20/2024Rex Maurer, Texas
U. S. Open: O 4:02.31 3/28/2024 Leon Marchand, ASU
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
=========================================================================
=== Championship Final ===
1 Maurer, Rex SO Texas 4:07.55 4:05.35 20
r:+0.72 22.50 47.30 (24.80)
1:12.18 (24.88) 1:37.48 (25.30)
2:02.58 (25.10) 2:27.81 (25.23)
2:52.64 (24.83) 3:17.41 (24.77)
3:41.56 (24.15) 4:05.35 (23.79)
2 Hobson, Luke SR Texas 4:08.32 4:06.34 17
r:+0.79 22.85 47.53 (24.68)
1:12.55 (25.02) 1:37.85 (25.30)
2:03.09 (25.24) 2:28.39 (25.30)
2:53.33 (24.94) 3:18.01 (24.68)
3:42.33 (24.32) 4:06.34 (24.01)
3 Henveaux, Lucas 5Y California 4:07.98 4:06.74 16
r:+0.68 22.78 47.41 (24.63)
1:12.43 (25.02) 1:37.53 (25.10)
2:02.66 (25.13) 2:27.90 (25.24)
2:53.13 (25.23) 3:18.19 (25.06)
3:43.02 (24.83) 4:06.74 (23.72)
4 Magahey, Jake 5Y Georgia 4:09.19 4:09.03 15
r:+0.71 22.75 48.07 (25.32)
1:13.47 (25.40) 1:38.76 (25.29)
2:04.34 (25.58) 2:29.59 (25.25)
2:54.72 (25.13) 3:19.70 (24.98)
3:44.61 (24.91) 4:09.03 (24.42)
5 Koski, Tomas SO Georgia 4:09.01 4:09.15 14
r:+0.65 22.26 46.85 (24.59)
1:12.07 (25.22) 1:37.32 (25.25)
2:02.71 (25.39) 2:28.18 (25.47)
2:53.62 (25.44) 3:19.04 (25.42)
3:44.55 (25.51) 4:09.15 (24.60)
6 Hawke, Charlie SR Alabama 4:09.52 4:09.58 13
r:+0.71 22.86 47.95 (25.09)
1:13.29 (25.34) 1:38.60 (25.31)
2:04.00 (25.40) 2:29.25 (25.25)
2:54.57 (25.32) 3:19.92 (25.35)
3:44.90 (24.98) 4:09.58 (24.68)
7 Sarkany, Zalan JR Indiana 4:09.22 4:09.69 12
r:+0.65 22.36 47.19 (24.83)
1:12.71 (25.52) 1:37.96 (25.25)
2:03.29 (25.33) 2:28.64 (25.35)
2:54.09 (25.45) 3:19.51 (25.42)
3:44.83 (25.32) 4:09.69 (24.86)
8 Lekic, Jovan SO LSU 4:08.55 4:10.55 11
r:+0.64 22.78 47.71 (24.93)
1:13.03 (25.32) 1:38.61 (25.58)
2:04.24 (25.63) 2:29.99 (25.75)
2:55.38 (25.39) 3:20.87 (25.49)
3:46.22 (25.35) 4:10.55 (24.33)
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