NCAA Men’s Championships: Texas Goes 1-2 with Luke Hobson, David Johnston in 500 Free
In all the hype that attends NCAAs, it’s easy to overlook the quiet, consistent, deathgrip dominance that is Texas middle distance. It may not be flashy, but the results at NCAAs over the last two decades do not lie.
Luke Hobson is the latest entrant in that list, going 4:07.37 to win gold in the 500 free. His teammate David Johnston finished second in 4:08.79.
The Texas duo joins Clark Smith and Townley Haas, who won this event five consecutive years from 2015-19. It pushes the Longhorns into the lead in the team standings.
“It feels great,” Hobson said. “It kind of keeps us in the team race. I’m really happy with where we’re at. As a whole, our team, we’re in a good spot right now.”
Hobson led all the way. It looked briefly like Jake Magahey of Georgia might make a charge, but his best only landed him third. It’s the third straight top-3 finish for the 2021 champion and 2022 silver medalst, and it ends two straight years of Georgia titles. Magahey went 4:09.24.
Johnston also closed late, which Hobson knew was coming from his training partner. But he had the poise to know how to handle it, and the reward was a pair of medals and big points.
“It was a little comfortable,” Hobson said. “We train together every day like that, and either I’m chasing him or he’s chasing me. I knew how I was feeling and I knew I was going to have it that last 100 and be able to bring it home for the win. And the 1-2 finish, that’s amazing.”
Wisconsin’s Jake Newmark was fourth in 4:10.12. Florida earned fifth via Jake Mitchell. The top seed entering the meet, Cal’s Gabriel Jett, settled for sixth in 4:12.52. Ross Dant of NC State, each of the last two years, bumped up to seventh, and Alfonso Mestre of Florida rounded out the final in eighth.
Cal’s Lucas Henveaux surged ahead at the 400-yard mark to win the B final. The fifth-year from Belgium clocked in at 4:10.50. Second in the consolation final was Notre Dame’s Jack Hoagland in 4:12.49. He had set the pace for most of the early part of the race. (Hoagland finished 10th as a sophomore in 2021 before redshirting due to injury in 2022.)
In the team race out of the consolation final, Texas’ Coby Carrozza slid a place to 11th overall from prelims. Arizona State’s Andrew Gray bumped up from 16th to 13th.
Three of the finalists were nonfactors last season. Newmark declared a false start in the event. Mitchell, in his first year at Florida, finished 46th. He had been 28th as a freshman at Michigan in 2021. Jett was a distant 24th place as a freshman at Cal.
Not a single freshman was among the top 16 finishers this season.
Event 3 Men 500 Yard Freestyle
=========================================================================
NCAA: N 4:06.32 2/19/2020 Kieran Smith, Florida
Meet: M 4:06.61 3/24/2022 Matthew Sates, Georgia
American: A 4:06.32 2/19/2020 Kieran Smith, Florida
U. S. Open: O 4:06.32 2/19/2020 Kieran Smith, Florida
Pool: P 4:08.60 3/22/2018 Townley Haas, Texas
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
=========================================================================
=== Championship Final ===
1 Hobson, Luke SO Texas 4:10.51 4:07.37P 20
r:+0.70 22.59 47.31 (24.72)
1:12.29 (24.98) 1:37.49 (25.20)
2:02.59 (25.10) 2:27.86 (25.27)
2:53.19 (25.33) 3:18.33 (25.14)
3:43.22 (24.89) 4:07.37 (24.15)
2 Johnston, David JR Texas 4:10.02 4:08.79 17
r:+0.67 22.82 47.55 (24.73)
1:12.53 (24.98) 1:37.77 (25.24)
2:03.11 (25.34) 2:28.29 (25.18)
2:53.55 (25.26) 3:18.93 (25.38)
3:44.24 (25.31) 4:08.79 (24.55)
3 Magahey, Jake JR Georgia 4:10.83 4:09.24 16
r:+0.61 23.05 48.09 (25.04)
1:13.55 (25.46) 1:39.11 (25.56)
2:04.59 (25.48) 2:29.95 (25.36)
2:55.16 (25.21) 3:20.11 (24.95)
3:44.75 (24.64) 4:09.24 (24.49)
4 Newmark, Jake JR Wisconsin 4:10.80 4:10.12 15
r:+0.69 22.83 47.84 (25.01)
1:13.01 (25.17) 1:38.54 (25.53)
2:03.99 (25.45) 2:29.22 (25.23)
2:54.51 (25.29) 3:20.10 (25.59)
3:45.30 (25.20) 4:10.12 (24.82)
5 Mitchell, Jake JR Florida 4:11.65 4:10.54 14
r:+0.56 23.18 48.21 (25.03)
1:13.69 (25.48) 1:39.36 (25.67)
2:05.01 (25.65) 2:30.67 (25.66)
2:56.23 (25.56) 3:21.27 (25.04)
3:46.25 (24.98) 4:10.54 (24.29)
6 Jett, Gabriel SO California 4:10.62 4:12.52 13
r:+0.67 23.01 47.94 (24.93)
1:13.12 (25.18) 1:38.57 (25.45)
2:04.61 (26.04) 2:29.57 (24.96)
2:54.79 (25.22) 3:20.49 (25.70)
3:46.44 (25.95) 4:12.52 (26.08)
7 Dant, Ross SR NC State 4:11.81 4:12.59 12
r:+0.62 23.23 48.17 (24.94)
1:13.50 (25.33) 1:38.89 (25.39)
2:04.35 (25.46) 2:29.94 (25.59)
2:55.58 (25.64) 3:21.41 (25.83)
3:47.29 (25.88) 4:12.59 (25.30)
8 Mestre, Alfonso SR Florida 4:10.78 4:12.62 11
r:+0.71 22.55 47.53 (24.98)
1:12.89 (25.36) 1:38.45 (25.56)
2:03.99 (25.54) 2:29.58 (25.59)
2:55.66 (26.08) 3:21.79 (26.13)
3:47.82 (26.03) 4:12.62 (24.80)
=== Consolation Final ===
9 Henveaux, Lucas 5Y California 4:11.92 4:10.50 9
r:+0.69 23.21 48.68 (25.47)
1:14.43 (25.75) 1:40.36 (25.93)
2:06.11 (25.75) 2:31.46 (25.35)
2:56.72 (25.26) 3:21.58 (24.86)
3:46.28 (24.70) 4:10.50 (24.22)
10 Hoagland, Jack SR Notre Dame 4:12.77 4:12.49 7
r:+0.77 23.13 48.14 (25.01)
1:13.53 (25.39) 1:38.85 (25.32)
2:04.36 (25.51) 2:30.11 (25.75)
2:55.71 (25.60) 3:21.31 (25.60)
3:47.24 (25.93) 4:12.49 (25.25)
11 Carrozza, Coby JR Texas 4:12.05 4:13.95 6
r:+0.74 23.10 48.63 (25.53)
1:14.71 (26.08) 1:40.78 (26.07)
2:06.75 (25.97) 2:32.82 (26.07)
2:58.53 (25.71) 3:23.50 (24.97)
3:48.96 (25.46) 4:13.95 (24.99)
12 Gallant, Will JR NC State 4:13.46 4:13.98 5
r:+0.62 23.42 48.59 (25.17)
1:14.25 (25.66) 1:40.14 (25.89)
2:05.99 (25.85) 2:31.52 (25.53)
2:57.15 (25.63) 3:22.78 (25.63)
3:48.47 (25.69) 4:13.98 (25.51)
13 Gray, Andrew SR ASU 4:13.59 4:14.61 4
r:+0.71 23.06 48.83 (25.77)
1:14.90 (26.07) 1:40.98 (26.08)
2:06.92 (25.94) 2:33.03 (26.11)
2:59.22 (26.19) 3:25.05 (25.83)
3:50.22 (25.17) 4:14.61 (24.39)
14 Unlu, Baturalp JR GT 4:13.39 4:14.74 3
r:+0.64 22.91 48.48 (25.57)
1:14.27 (25.79) 1:40.12 (25.85)
2:06.02 (25.90) 2:32.12 (26.10)
2:58.50 (26.38) 3:24.49 (25.99)
3:49.95 (25.46) 4:14.74 (24.79)
15 Mathias, Mason SO Auburn 4:12.15 4:15.25 2
r:+0.67 23.21 48.80 (25.59)
1:14.64 (25.84) 1:40.38 (25.74)
2:05.90 (25.52) 2:31.51 (25.61)
2:57.70 (26.19) 3:23.93 (26.23)
3:50.07 (26.14) 4:15.25 (25.18)
16 Bonson, Michael JR Auburn 4:12.50 4:15.35 1
r:+0.71 23.82 49.61 (25.79)
1:15.40 (25.79) 1:41.36 (25.96)
2:07.27 (25.91) 2:33.23 (25.96)
2:58.74 (25.51) 3:24.39 (25.65)
3:50.09 (25.70) 4:15.35 (25.26)
Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 3
1. Texas 93 2. Florida 85
3. California 84 4. NC State 83
5. Arizona St 72 6. Indiana 58
7. Auburn 43 8. Louisville 42
9. Stanford 38 10. Georgia 36
11. Tennessee 26 11. Alabama 26
13. Virginia 22 14. Wisconsin 19
15. Notre Dame 17 16. Virginia Tech 8
16. Texas A&M 8 18. Missouri 6
19. Michigan 4 20. Georgia Tech 3
21. Ohio St 2
