Tennessee Invitational: Jordan Crooks Records 17.57 Relay Split, 43.77 100 Fly
While Virginia’s Gretchen Walsh has been unstoppable thus far at the Tennessee Invite, the Volunteers’ Jordan Crooks has been almost as good on the men’s side, with a 1:30.00 performance in the 200 freestyle Tuesday followed by numerous swift 50-yard performances Wednesday. During Thursday’s finals session, Crooks swam the third-fastest 50 free relay split ever followed by a 100 butterfly performance that moved him to No. 6 all-time.
Anchoring the Vols 200 medley relay, Crooks swam a time of 17.57, which has only been surpassed by Caeleb Dressel (17.30) and Jonny Kulow (17.56) on one occasion each. The team of Harrison Lierz, Kevin Houseman, Gui Caribe and Crooks finished in 1:21.71, quicker than a team including Crooks and Caribe (albeit in reverse order) swam on the way to a fifth-place finish at last year’s NCAA Championships.
Not long after, Crooks won the men’s 100 fly in 43.77, knocking a quarter-second off his previous best time of 44.04. The only swimmers to ever go faster are Dressel, Josh Liendo, Youssef Ramadan, Andrei Minakov and Joseph Schooling, although it’s worth noting that three of those men (Liendo, Ramadan and Minakov) are all still active college swimmers.
In the 100 fly, Virginia’s Spencer Nicholas swam an impressive time of 44.41 to take second, leaving the freshman just outside the all-time top-20 in the event while notching a time that would have made the A-final at last year’s NCAAs. Caribe took third in 45.18.
The Vols also picked up a win in the 200 free, with Nikoli Blackman putting forth a time of 1:32.12 to finish just ahead of Vieginia’s Sebastian Sergile (1:32.38), with fellow Cavalier David King third (1:33.19). Lierz finished six tenths ahead of the field in the 100 backstroke, clocking 45.25 to beat out Virginia’s Jack Aikins (45.84) and Tennessee’s Lamar Taylor (46.32). Tennessee’s Bennett Greene won 1-meter diving with a score of 361.15, followed by Kentucky’s Sam Duncan (348.70) and Tennessee’s Nick Stone (342.15).
Kentucky’s Levi Sandidge clocked 3:42.53 for the win in the men’s 400 IM, beating out Tennessee’s Tony Laurito (3:44.06) and Virginia’s Matt Styczen (3:44.95). Virginia’s Noah Nichols won the 100 breaststroke in 51.32, with Kentucky’s Adomas Gatulis (52.85) and Houseman (53.10) rounding out the top three.