Daniel Krueger Launches 41.45 100 Free at Minnesota Invitational

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Daniel Krueger won the 100 free at the Minnesota Invitational. Photo Courtesy: Texas Athletics

The 2019 Minnesota Invitational opened its final session with strong mile performances as some of the top college swimmers in the country vied for victory.

Texas won the men’s meet with 1,182 points, followed by Michigan (803.5), Cal (759.5), Arizona (551), Iowa (278), Minnesota (246) and Harvard (171).

The Cal women won with 1,158.5, followed by Michigan (813.5), Texas (586), Arizona (488.5), Minnesota (405), Harvard (293.5), Iowa (271) and Nebraska (13).

Texas’s Daniel Krueger had one of the top swims of the meet, beating the NCAA’s best time of the season in the 100 free by more than a second. Reece Whitley of Cal turned in an NCAA-season-best performance to win the 200 breast. Austin Katz and Abbey Weitzeil also turned in strong performances.

Krueger’s performance wasn’t quite Dressel-ian, but that is an unreal expectation for anyone. Dressel’s NCAA record is 39.90 and Krueger finished in 41.45, an extremely fast time for this point in the season.

Meanwhile, Whitley won the 200 breast in 1:51.02, the fastest time in the NCAA this year. But it was barely enough to hold off Minnesota’s Max McHugh, making it one of the most exciting races of the meet.

The top performances continued as Texas junior Sam Pomajevich went a stunning 1:39.35 to win the 200 fly. It was the fastest time in the NCAA this year.

The Texas men’s relay also threw down a 2:46.57 400 free relay to close the meet — with all four swimmers splitting 41s.

Women’s 1650 Free

Michigan went 1-2 in the 1650 free to start off the final session of the Minnesota Invitational.

Sierra Schmidt won the event in 15:49.90, going 1-2 with Kaitlynn Sims (15:51.06.

Texas’ Evie Pfeifer was third in 16:03.97, ahead of Cal’s Sarah Dimeco (16:11.4) and Anna Kalandadze (16:12.01).

Men’s 1650 Free

Arizona’s Brooks Fail won the men’s 1650 free, kicking off the men’s session of the Minnesota Invitational.

Fail touched the wall in 14:37.60 to hold off Michigan’s Felix Aubock (14:42.29), the defending NCAA champion.

Texas senior Jack Collins finished third (14:45.83), ahead of teammate Chris Yeager (14:48.69) and Michigan’s Will Roberts (14:54.04).

Women’s 200 Back

Texas sophomore Julia Cook continued her strong meet at the Minnesota Invitational. Cook won the 200 back in 1:52.72, holding off Michigan’s Chloe Hicks (1:53.12).

Minnesota senior Tevyn Waddell was third in 1:53.28, ahead of Harvard’s Felicia Pasadyn (1:53.96) and Cal’s Keaton Blovad (1:54.02).

Men’s 200 Back

Texas junior Austin Katz has been one of the top NCAA swimmers in the country for years. He is on pace for his best season yet and is proving that at the Minnesota Invitational.

Katz won the 200 back on Saturday in 1:37.35. The time is the fastest in the NCAA this season and was enough to beat a strong field by nearly three seconds.

Teammate Ryan Harty was second in 1:40.06, followed by Cal’s Daniel Carr (1:40.55), Jason Park (1:40.90) and Texas senior Josh Artmann (1:41.00).

Women’s 100 Free

After setting the NCAA record in the 50 free earlier in the meet, Cal’s Abbey Weitzeil turned in another stellar swim to close her individual events.

Weitzeil won the 100 free in 46.52, the second-fastest time in the NCAA this year. Tennessee’s Erika Brown has the top time so far this season in 46.15, set at the Tennessee Invitational.

Weitzeil dropped six hundredths from her prelims time to touch the wall first.

Michigan’s Daria Pyshnenko took second in 48.12, followed by Texas senior Claire Adams (48.40), teammate Bridget Semenuk (48.51) and Cal’s Robin Neumann (48.59).

Men’s 100 Free

Texas sophomore Daniel Krueger turned plenty of heads with his swim in the 100 free.

Krueger won the event in 41.45, the fastest time in the NCAA this year by nearly a second.

Teammate Drew Kibler was also under the previous top time of the season, finishing second in 42.16.

Cal’s Ryan Hoffer was third in 42.42, followed by teammate Pawel Sendyk (42.56) and Arizona’s Marin Ercegovic (42.78).

Women’s 200 Breast

Michigan’s Miranda Tucker has been a huge factor at this meet and concluded her individual swims with a huge performance to win the 200 breast at the Minnesota Invitational.

Tucker won the event in 2:08.01, dropping nearly three-and-a-half seconds from her prelims time.

It was enough to hold off Cal’s Ema Rajic, who finished in 2:08.23.

Minnesota’s Lindsey Kozelsky was third in 2:09.46, finishing ahead of Cal’s Ali Harrison (2:12.65) and Arizona’s Francesca Neubauer (2:14.70).

Men’s 200 Breast

Cal’s Reece Whitley and Minnesota’s Max McHugh put together a terrific duel in the 200 breast.

Whitley dropped 1.77 seconds from his prelims time to touch the wall firs tin 1:51.02. It was the fastest time this season in the NCAA, but just barely enough to hold off McHugh, who finished in 1:51.62.

Third place went to Texas’ Caspar Corbeau, who clocked a 1:52.06. Teammate Braden Vines was fourth in 1:52.28 and Michigan’s Tommy Cope was fifth in 1:52.31.

Women’s 200 Fly

Texas’ Kelly Pash put together the fifth-fastest 200 fly in the NCAA this year to earn a victory at the Minnesota Invitational.

Pash won the even in 1:54.54, dropping nearly a second from her prelim time.

Cal freshman Rachel Klinker finished second in 1:55.07 to hold off Michigan’s Vanessa Krause (1:55.99).

Harvard’s Miki Dahlke finished fourth in 1:56.21, just ahead of teammate Felicia Pasadyn (1:56.86).

Men’s 200 Fly

The final individual race of the meet was one of the most impressive. Texas junior Sam Pomajevich put together a stellar 200 fly to win in 1:39.35.

It is the fastest time in the NCAA this year by nearly two seconds, and a statement that Texas is loaded in every stroke. The Longhorns had two top-five finishes in this event and that did not even include Maxime Rooney.

Cal’s Trenton Julian finished second in 1:41.14, the second-fastest time of the year in the NCAA.

Arizona’s Brooks Fail completed his final-night double by taking third in 1:42.13.

Michigan’s Miles Smachlo was fourth in 1:42.74, followed by Texas’ Andrew Koustik (1:42.83).

Women’s 400 Free Relay

The Cal women closed the meet with a bang, turning in the fastest 400 free relay in the NCAA this season at the Minnesota Invitational.

The Golden Bears dropped 10 seconds from their prelim time to win in 3:10.99, bettering the season best NCAA time set by Tennessee (3:11.27) set at the Tennessee Invitational.

Izzy Ivey led off the race with a 47.88 split, followed by Keaton Blovad (47.66). Robin Neumann was the third leg and swam it in 48.34 before Abbey Weitzeil crushed the anchor leg in 47.11.

Texas finished second in 3:13.06, adding more than a second from their prelims time.

Bridget Semenuk led off in 48.68, followed by Julia Cook (48.34), Kelly Pash (48.01) and Claire Adams (48.03).

Michigan took third in 3:13.85 behind Maggie MacNeil (47.16), Daria Pyshnenko (48.83), Miranda Tucker (48.71) and Chloe Hicks (49.15).

Men’s 400 Free Relay

The Texas men also put their stamp on the meet with a spectacular finale in the 400 free relay.

The Longhorns crushed the field by four seconds to win the relay in 2:46.57. It is by far the fastest time in the NCAA this season, by about two seconds.

Maxime Rooney led off the relay with a 41.91. Alvin Jiang was next and not much different in 41.97. Drew Kibler was third, also in the 41s, splitting a 41.36 to set up anchor Daniel Krueger, who finished in 41.33.

That is a remarkably consistent and dominating relay, with all four swimmers in the 41s. Anyone can start or anchor a relay like that, which will be key at NCAAs as coach Eddie Reese tries to put the puzzle pieces together.

Cal finished second in 2:50.59 behind Michael Jensen (42.89), Pawel Sendyk (43.07), Daniel Carr (42.56) an Ryan Hoffer (42.07).

Arizona was third in 2:50.60 with splits from Marin Ercegovic (42.56), Noah Reid (41.94), Hunter Ingram (43.25) and Thomas Anderson (42.85).

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