2021 NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming Championships: Texas IMers Prove Crucial

Photo Courtesy: NCAA Media

Two years ago at the last NCAAs in Austin, the Texas Longhorns scored nobody in the top 16 of the 400 IM.

This year, Texas put four in the A-Final alone, and kick started “moving day” with a lot of momentum after winning the final two events on Thursday night. Freshman Carson and his brother Jake Foster are first and fourth, and will be joined by senior Braden Vines and freshman David Johnston in the A-Final to pick up huge points in their pursuit of a 15th national title.

Cal had a 27 point lead heading into today, but that should disappear in a hurry as Texas put 10 in swimming A-Finals while Cal put six up and two down, compared to Texas’ four down not including diving.

David Johnston celebrates. Photo Courtesy: NCAA Media

This goes to show the importance of every single event at this meet when teams are fighting for a national title. Oftentimes in recruiting, sprinters take precedent over distance swimmers due to their abilities to swim on relays, leaving some distance swimmers to may feel undervalued when being recruited. But what Texas did this morning in the 400 IM proves that distance swimmers are just as valuable and can, in some instances, be the difference makers when deciding a meet. No event should ever be overlooked or considered to be “not important” at this meet and in the recruiting process, due to how every single point matters at NCAAs or in any conference championship or in any dual meet.

Carson Foster. Photo Courtesy: Carlos Morales

The meet is not a done deal as Cal looks to be strongest on Saturday with a lot of potential scorers in the 200 back and potential winners in the 200 breast and 200 fly, and should still keep it close after tonight. But Texas came out swinging this morning, and one could see how huge the moment was for Texas when Johnston snuck into the A-Final – fellow freshman Foster slapped the water in excitement that the Longhorns put four up in the A-Final, something no school has done in any men’s event since Texas put six up in the A-Final of the 100 fly back in 2015.

Texas also showed out well in the 200 freestyle with three A-finalists in top seed Drew Kibler, and then Peter Larson and 800 free relay anchor Jake Sannem, as well as freshman Coby Carrozza in the B-Final.

What does Cal have in response tonight? Senior Ryan Hoffer, the winner of last night’s 50 free, is the top seed in the 100 fly while the Bears got at least one swimmer in each A-Final in the pool, and will leave a duel at the end of the night in the 200 medley relay between themselves and Texas.

Elsewhere in the meet:

Texas A&M’s Shaine Casas and Cal’s Hoffer look like early front runners for swimmer of the meet, after Florida’s Kieran Smith finished second in the 500 freestyle last night. Casas is the top seed in the 100 back and is the favorite despite having Cal’s Destin Lasco and NC State’s Kacper Stokowski hot on his heels.

Hoffer is the favorite in tonight’s 100 fly although may get some pressure from Louisville’s Nick Albiero and Texas’ Alvin Jiang.

Smith still has a chance in the 200 free to get an individual title as he is the second seed behind Texas’ Kibler. Those two don’t expect to be challenged in the A-Final although Cal’s Trenton Julian showed some intense speed on the front half of the 500 last night.

Minnesota’s Max McHugh has a chance to win the Gophers’ first NCAA title in men’s swimming since 1964 when Walt Richardson won the 100 fly. The Gophers last had a male diver win in 1996, but haven’t had a male swimmer stand on top of the podium since Lyndon B. Johnson was in Office as President of the United States.

Ups, Downs (including 3m)

Texas 11, 5
California 6, 2
Florida 4, 2
Georgia 4, 2
Indiana 3, 4
Louisville 3, 0
Ohio State 2, 5
North Carolina 2, 1
LSU 2, 0
Tennessee 1, 3
Virginia 1, 2
Texas A&M 1, 1
NC State 1, 1
Missouri 1, 1
Miami 1, 1
USC 1, 1
Arizona 1, 0
Virginia Tech 1, 0
Pittsburgh 1, 0
Minnesota 1, 0
Michigan 0, 4
Stanford 0, 3
Purdue 0, 2
Georgia Tech 0, 2
Wisconsin 0, 2
Alabama 0, 1
Notre Dame 0, 1
Penn State 0, 1
Northwestern 0, 1

Scores Based on Seeds:

Data courtesy Price Fishback. The numbers below indicate the points the top 20 schools on the psych sheet gained or lost compared to where they were seeded.

Texas +69
California +38
Virginia +16
Indiana +8
LSU +7
Missouri +2
Florida +1
Purdue +1
Stanford 0
Arizona -2
Alabama -3
Georgia Tech -3
Notre Dame -3
Texas A&M -7
NC State -9
Georgia -15
Louisville -15
Ohio State -17
Virginia Tech -28
Michigan -34

3m diving

 Event 13  Men 3 mtr Diving
==================================================================
         Meet: M 529.10  3/27/2015 Samuel Dorman, Miami (FL)
         Pool: P 531.00  2/20/2014 Nick McCrory, Duke
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Capobianco, Andrew     JR Indiana                NP     449.35  
  2 Down-Jenkins, Anton    JR UNC                    NP     428.15  
  3 Windle, Jordan         SR Texas                  NP     419.25  
  4 Hernandez, Juan        SR LSU                    NP     411.45  
  5 Wade, Matthew          JR Tennessee              NP     398.25  
  6 Siler, Jacob           SR Ohio St                NP     396.60  
  7 Scapens, Brodie        SO Miami                  NP     386.00  
  8 Hart, Alexander        SO UNC                    NP     383.15  

  9 Duperre, Noah          FR Texas                  NP     375.50  
 10 Canova, Joey           SR Ohio St                NP     372.60  
 11 Hattie, Bryden         FR Tennessee              NP     372.00  
 12 Abramowicz, Tazman     JR Wisconsin              NP     371.45  
 13 Matthews, Jack         FR Miami                  NP     370.60  
 14 Garcia, Leonardo       SO Florida                NP     367.25  
 15 Loschiavo, Brandon     SR Purdue                 NP     367.05  
 16 Yost, Lyle             SO Ohio St                NP     361.60

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