Torri Huske Blasts 1:52 200 IM During Busy Night at NC State Invitational
U.S. Olympian Torri Huske has gotten off to a blistering start at the first college invitational of her career. After an impressive summer that saw her place fourth in the 100 fly Olympic final and capture Olympic silver in the 400 medley relay before heading to Stanford in September, Huske has returned to the East Coast for the NC State Invitational in Greensboro, N.C., just a few hours’ drive south of her home in northern Virginia, and she posted some incredible performances on night one. Meanwhile, the Arizona State Sun Devils returned to major college competition and reminded the NCAA swimming world about all they missed last year when coach Bob Bowman’s group redshirted the entire season.
Huske won the 200 IM in 1:52.82, moving her into the all-time top 20 in the event. The time would have been quick enough to place second at last year’s NCAA Championships behind only Alex Walsh of Virginia (1:51.87), who went on to win Olympic silver in the long course version of the 200 IM. The NC State duo of Kate Moore (1:55.56) and Julia Poole (1:55.58) went 2-3 behind Huske.
Two events later, Huske returned to the pool and captured first place in the 50 free in 21.70, edging out NC State veteran Kylie Alons (21.72) by just two hundredths. Katharine Berkoff of the Wolfpack took third in 22.22.
Previously, Huske had led Stanford in a head-to-head showdown with NC State in the 200 free relay, but the Wolfpack emerged 0.18 ahead. Berkoff (22.11), Alons (21.37), Sophie Hansson (22.21) and Heather MacCausland (21.92) combined to swim a 1:27.61, while Huske (21.96), Taylor Ruck (21.95), Emma Wheal (21.74) and Anna Shaw (22.14) were just behind at 1:27.79. North Carolina was well back in third at 1:29.55.
In the women’s 500 free, Arizona State’s Emma Nordin put up a 4:34.87 to win the event, quicker than all swimmers at last year’s NCAAs except departed Virginia star Paige Madden. Nordin finished two seconds ahead of the 2019 NCAA champ in the event, Stanford’s Brooke Forde (4:36.96), while ASU’s Erica Laning took third (4:42.48). The top two times represented the best so far in the country this college season.
On the men’s side, ASU picked off wins in the first three events. The team of Jack Dolan (19.12), Grant House (19.18), Carter Swift (19.17) and Cody Bybee (19.13) swam a 1:16.60 in the 200 free relay to finish 0.16 ahead of NC State’s Noah Henderson (19.28), David Curtiss (19.05), Nyls Korstanje (19.06) and Giovanni Izzo (19.37). Third place went to Penn State in 1:17.40.
Next, ASU’s Julian Hill beat the field in the 500 free by two seconds in 4:13.23, while Stanford’s Preston Forst (4:15.54) and Grant Shoults (4:15.75) rounded out the top three. Shoults is looking to bounce back in his sixth year at Stanford after numerous shoulder issues have set back his career following a breakout 2018 season.
Arizona State then went 1-2-3 in the men’s 200 IM, with French Olympian Leon Marchand leading the way in 1:40.80, followed by House (1:42.05) and David Schlicht (1:43.30). Marchand’s time would have placed fourth at last year’s NCAA Championships behind only Shaine Casas, Hugo Gonzalez and Destin Lasco.
The 400 medley relays concluded the night, and the NC State women won their second relay, this time by more than two seconds over Stanford. Hansson, the reigning NCAA champion in the 100 breast, split 56.87 on that leg, joining Berkoff (50.96), Alons (49,99) and Abbey Webb (48.62) to swim a 3:26.44. Stanford saw Regan Smith lead off in 50.06, followed by Zoe Bartel (1:00.50), Huske (50.74) and Ruck (47.46), and the Cardinal finished in 3:28.76.
The NC State men finished off the night by winning the 400 medley relay in 3:04.02 with Kacper Stokowski (44.79), Rafal Kusto (52.49), Korstanje (44.78) and Luke Miller (41.96).
Full results for the men’s 50 free and men’s 400 medley relay were not available.