Clark Smith, Bradley Tandy and Jack Conger Post Nation-Leading Times at Texas Invitational

Photo Credit: Texas Athletics

AUSTIN – Texas’ Clark Smith and Jack Conger and Arizona’s Bradley Tandy each posted nation-leading times in their respective individual events to highlight a fast first night of swimming at the Texas Invitational, held at the Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin.

The Longhorns kicked off the meet with a win in the women’s 200 free relay, as Gretchen Jaques, Kelsey Leneave, Rebecca Millard and Mimi Schneider got under the NCAA automatic qualifying time in the event with a 1:29.30. Wisconsin’s A relay of Ivy Martin, Chase Kinney, Aja Van Hout and Annie Tamblyn also posted an A cut with their 1:29.44. Southern California’s Evan Swenson, Jasmine Tosky, Katarzyna Wilk and Kendyl Stewart rounded out the top three in 1:30.12.

The Texas men made it a sweep of the sprint freestyle relays as Matt Ellis, John Murray, Joseph Schooling and Brett Ringgold rocketed to a 1:16.72, the fastest time in the country by nearly a second. Arizona’s foursome of Bradley Tandy, Brian Stevens, Renny Richmond and JP Beach also got under the A standard with a 1:17.88, while Texas’ B team of Kip Darmody, Tripp Cooper, Alec Willrodt and Keith Murphy tracked down third in 1:18.66.

In the women’s 500 free, Arizona’s Tjasa Oder dropped more than three seconds from her prelim swim to take the win in 4:40.71. Oder trailed several other swimmers at the 200 mark but pulled away and held off Trojan’s Haley Anderson (4:42.16) and Texas’ Kaitlin Pawlowicz (4:42.62) for the victory.

Texas’ Clark Smith put his stamp on the men’s 500 free, clearing the A cut standard in the event with a 4:13.32, the top time in the country this season. Trojan’s Nikita Lobintsev dropped almost five seconds from prelims to take second in 4:15.94, while Texas’ Clay Youngquist touched third in 4:16.61.

The final of the women’s 100 fly came down to the touch as UC Santa Barbara’s Andrea Ward just out-touched USC’s Kendyl Stewart, 51.93 to 51.99. Both times were just off the A cut of 51.70, though Ward already made the time in prelims with a 51.61. Ivy Martin of Wisconsin came in third with a 52.75.

Jack Conger gave the Texas men a third straight win in the 100 fly, as he finished in an NCAA A cut time of 45.76, the fastest time in the NCAA this year. Utah’s Alex Fernandes posted a 46.31 to take second ahead of Trojan’s Thiago Pereira (46.49).

Trojan’s Stina Gardell topped the women’s 200 IM final in 1:55.79 after a stellar backstroke leg that put her nearly two seconds ahead of the field. USC’s Andrea Kropp made a move on breast but couldn’t close the gap, taking second in 1:56.99. Skylar Smith of Texas also broke 2:00, taking third in 1:59.96.

Shortly after finishing third in the 100 fly, Trojan’s Thiago Pereira raced to a win in the 200 IM, topping the championship final in 1:42.06. Pereira led from wire-to-wire over Texas’ Will Licon, who took second in 1:43.51. Michael Meyer of Arizona wrapped up third in 1:45.90.

Wisconsin’s Ivy Martin sprinted her way to first in the women’s 50 free, stopping the clock at 21.94 to edge Arizona post-graduate Margo Geer (21.96). Arizona’s Taylor Schick swam a 22.37 to finish third behind Martin and Geer.

Arizona sprint specialist Bradley Tandy nearly cracked 19 in the men’s 50 free final, taking first in 19.04. That time is way under the A cut of 19.25 in the event, and puts him atop the leader board this season. Texas teammates John Murray (19.37) and Matt Ellis (19.41) placed second and third.

USC’s quartet of Hannah Weiss, Andrea Kropp, Kendyl Stewart and Katarzyna Wilk bested Texas’ Tasija Karosas, Gretchen Jaques, Kelsey Leneave and Rebecca Millard for the 400 medley relay win, 3:33.23 to 3:33.57. Both times were well under the NCAA A cut of 3:34.25 and rank third and fourth nationally this season. Texas’ B team of Sarah Denninghoff, Jordan Surhoff, Brynne Wong and MaKayla Markey took third in 3:36.15.

Texas’ A relay drew a disqualification in the 400 medley relay, but that opened the door for the C relay team of Jack Conger, Austin Temple, Matt Ellis and Brett Ringgold to take the win in 3:08.32, a second under the A cut of 3:09.40 and the fastest time in the country this season. Arizona’s Michael Meyer, Kevin Cordes, Brian Stevens and Bradley Tandy came in second at 3:09.61, while USC’s Luca Spinazzola, Morten Klarskov, Dylan Carter and Ralf Tribuntsov placed third (3:10.21).

The Texas women lead the team standings with 300 points, ahead of USC (226) and Wisconsin (177). Texas also leads the men’s meet with 341 points, while Arizona (209) and USC (142) are in second and third.

Results: Texas Invitational

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Bryant

9 years ago

Joseph Schooling went 45.59 in the 100 fly prelims. That is the current leading time over teammate Jack Conger.