INVITATION TO MINNESOTA 2022
SCORES AFTER THE FIRST DAY:
Women:
- Texas—286
- California — 278
- Wisconsin—182
- Minnesota—172
- Arizona—160
- Harvard—128
- Pit — 120
- UNLV—26
Men:
- California — 264
- Arizona—220
- Texas—202
- Minnesota—166
- Wisconsin—160
- Harvard—130
- Pit — 120
- UNLV—90
Tonight we will see the first full final session of one of the showpiece matchups of the fall semester, Minnesota Invite 2022.
Tonight’s action will open with the 500 freestyle, where Longhorns Erica Sullivan and David Johnstone hold the top seeds after their performances this morning. Texas swimmers also led the 200 IM preliminaries, where No Kelly qualified first in the women’s and Braden Vineyards on that of men. Yet another swimmer from Texas, Grace Cooperwill swim in lane 4 of the women’s 50 freestyle, while Cal Bjorn Seeliger, one of the fastest men of all time, took the top seed in the men’s category. The session will end with the timed finals of the 200 freestyle relay.
However, there should be plenty of other interesting storylines, and we’ll try to unpack some of them as the action unfolds tonight.
WOMEN’S 500m FREE – Finals
- NCAA Cup ‘A’ – 4: 35.76
- Invitation Cup 2022 – 4:43.08
- NCAA Cup ‘B’ – 4: 47.20
Top 3:
- Erica Sullivan (Texas) – 4:39.26
- Rachel Klinker (California) – 4:40.30
- Ayla Spitz (California) – 4:40.47
Longhorn Erica Sullivan successfully defended their first seed this morning. She earned the first win of the session tonight clocking 4:39.26, about 3.5 seconds off her NCAA 3rd-place time from last year. That appears to put her second in the nation so far this season, behind only UVA’s Alex Walsh, who clocked 4:38.24 at the Tennessee Invite two weeks ago.
A pair of Cal Elders, Rachel Klinker and Ayla Spitz, swam side by side for most of the race, never being separated by more than two tenths of a second. Klinker got his hands on the wall first with a 4:40.30 against 4:40.47 for Spitz. Both women were well under last year’s NCAA Invitational time, and they were also much faster than they were in the 2022 NCAA Preliminaries. Their two times tonight would have qualified. for the B final in March.
Sullivan’s teammate Olivia McMurray finished 4th in 4:42.72, also going under last year’s invitational time. from Wisconsin paige mckennawho made the A final in this event during last season’s NCAA as a rookie, won the B final tonight with a time of 4:43.98.
MEN’S 500m FREE – Finals
- NCAA Cup ‘A’ – 4: 11.40
- 2022 Invitational Cup – 4:14.97
- NCAA Cup ‘B’ – 4: 22.35
Top 3:
- Carson Foster (Texas) – 4:10.31
- David Johnston (Texas) – 4:10.95
- Coby Carrozza (Texas) – 4:14.90
Longhorns, Longhorns everywhere here, as the Texas men swept the top five spots in the A final. Of course, the winner wasn’t one of the Texas men who scored in that NCAA event, but rather Carson Foster, who until this season usually swam the 200 individual medley at major competitions. Foster came out in 2:03 and continued to hold off his teammate David Johnstone to win 4:10.31 to 4:10.95.
Officially, only Jake Magahey has been faster than either of those two Longhorns this season, clocking 4:09.83 from the Georgia Invite. Unofficially, Foster has already been faster this season after going 4:09.43 less than two weeks ago during a Texas “Fast Friday” practice. Johnston’s previous season record was 4:14.54 in the Texas-UVA double meet early last month. Both swimmers will leave in a few days to represent the United States at the World Short Course Championships.
Coby Carrozza took 3rd place in 4:14.90 followed by freshman Alec Enyeart at 4:15.76, and last year’s freshman sensation, Luke Hobson (4:15.90).
WOMEN’S 200 IM – Finals
- NCAA Cup ‘A’ – 1:53.66
- Invitation Cup 2022 – 1:56.85
- NCAA Cup ‘B’ – 1:59.56
Top 3:
- No Kelly (Texas) – 1:54.26
- Phoebe Bacon (Wisconsin) – 1:55.13
- Leah Polonsky (California) – 1:55.16
No Kelly made it three straight for the Longhorns with a 1:54.26 win in that event. Pash, who finished 5th in that event at the 2022 NCAA Championships, now appears to be tied with Georgia’s Zoie Hartman for the 2nd fastest time in the nation. Only Stanford’s Torri Huske was faster, at 1:53.37.
A pair of 2022 NCAA B finalists took the next two spots. from Wisconsin Phoebe Bacon got off to a quick start and held on, putting his hand on the wall just in front of Cal’s Lea Polonski, 1:55.13 to 1:55.16. Longhorn Emma Sticklen (1:56.07) and Golden Bear Isabelle Stadt (1:56.53) were also under last year’s NCAA Invitational time.
200 IM MEN – Finals
- NCAA Cup ‘A’ – 1:41.22
- Invitation Cup 2022 – 1:43.36
- NCAA Cup ‘B’ – 1:46.52
Top 3:
- Destiny Lasco (California) – 1:41.52
- Jake Foster (Texas) – 1:43.64
- Kaiser Neverman (Minnesota) – 1:43.91
by Cal Destiny Lasco snapped Texas’ winning streak tonight. Lasco, the 2022 NCAA runner-up in that event, led wire to wire, touching in 1:41.52. It’s the 2nd fastest time in the nation this season, behind only 2022 NCAA champion Leon Marchand, the fastest man of all time in the event.
Jake Fosterwho finished 8th in the NCAA last season, took 2nd place in 1:43.63. Kaiser Neverman of Minnesota had a solid back half, including a 24.83 free leg, to take 3rd place in 1:43.91, which appears to have set a new Minnesota school record. Neverman touched right in front of Texas’ Braden Vineyardswho had a strong 100 in the middle, but closed in 25.73 to finish in 1:43.92.
WOMEN’S 50m FREESTYLE – Finals
- NCAA “A” Cup – 21.66
- Invitation Cup 2022 – 22.16
- NCAA Cup ‘B’ – 22.71
Top 3:
- Grace Cooper (Texas) – 11/22
- Kyla Leibel – 22.28
- Sophie Yendell (Pitt) – 22.34
Grace Cooper was a bit behind her time of 21.89 from this morning’s preliminaries, but tonight’s 22.11 was more than enough to take the win here, giving the Longhorn women the sweep in the singles tonight .
His teammate Kyla Leibel shaved almost two tenths of a second off his preliminary time to take 2nd place in 22.28. The Pittsburgh Panthers finished in the top three for the first time tonight thanks to Sophie Yendelwho tied his preliminary time with a 22.34 tonight.
Other than Cooper, no other women were under the NCAA invite last year.
MEN’S 50m FREE – Finals
- NCAA “A” Cup – 18.88
- Invitation Cup 2022 – 19.28
- NCAA Cup ‘B’ – 19.82
Top 3:
- Bjorn Seeliger (California) – 18.87
- Ryan Perham (Arizona) – 19.39
- Daniel Krueger (Texas) – 7:47 p.m.
Cal’s Bjorn Seeliger, who is tied for the 2nd fastest man in history in this event, took the win tonight with an 18.87, the only man under NCAA invitational time l last year. His teammate Jack Alexis took 4th place in 19.49.
The Arizona Wildcats had a surprisingly strong performance in this event. Senior Ryan Perham took 2nd place in 19.39, which now appears to be his second-best lifetime record. The Wildcats had a pair of freshmen, Tom Palmer (7:55 p.m.) and Billy Oates (19.63) finished 6th and 7th, while Marin Ercegovic also made the A final, but was disqualified.
from Wisconsin Andrew Benson won the B final in 19.47, which would have tied him with Daniel Krueger of Texas for 3rd place in the A final.
The Longhorns, who are looking for sprinting talent to emerge this season, earned a lifetime best 19.54 from the first year Charlie Crosby finish 2nd in the B final. Peter Pauluswho transferred to Texas from the Colorado Swim Club, finished 8th in the B final, but this morning just hit his lifetime best with a 19.76, the same time as his teammate Cole Crane swam to win the C final tonight. Peter Larsonwho has mainly focused on the mid-distance freestyle and backstroke in previous years, hit a new lifetime high of 19.41 in the preliminaries before finishing 5th in 19.52.
All that to say that the 200 freestyle relay later in the evening should be interesting. Cal is an eternal powerhouse in the event, Texas has a lot of question marks they’re trying to figure out, and Arizona had a strong showing in the 50 freestyle individual today.
Women’s 200m freestyle relay – Timed finals
- NCAA Cup ‘A’ – 1:28.43
- NCAA Cup ‘B’ – 1:29.21
Top 3:
- Cal – 1:28.51
- Texas – 1:28.64
- Arizona – 1:29.01
Live results indicate that Cal’s top 50 individual finishers all ended up on the “C” relay, which finished 10th. However, it appears that the names of relays “A” and “C” can be exchanged in live results and Meet Mobile, and we will try to verify this information.
Regardless of who exactly swam the relay, the Golden Bears capped the night with a 0.13s victory over the Longhorns, 1:28.61 to 1:28.64. The Arizona women also made it to the podium with a time of 1:29.01. All three of those times were under the NCAA’s “B” cup.
The fastest split in the peloton appears to be a 21.71 on Cal’s ‘B’ stint, credited to Isabelle Stadt.
Men’s 200m freestyle relay – Timed finals
- NCAA Cup ‘A’ – 1:16.80
- NCAA Cup ‘B’ – 1:17.58
Top 3:
- Cal – 1:16.46
- Arizona – 1:17.18
- Texas – 1:17.32
As we expected, it was a bit of a wild ride. Cal trailed several other teams after Jack Alexy started in 20.04, but Bjorn Seeliger put the Bears ahead with an 18.47 spread in the second leg. Robin Hansson split 19.06, then Destiny Lasco anchored in 18.89 to stop the clock in 1:16.46.
Arizona took 2nd place in 1:17.18. One of their swimmers, listed as a distance freestyler Beck Parnham in the results (but maybe 50 seconds free Ryan Purdy?) shared 19.01 in the second leg.
The Longhorns followed at 1:17.32, getting an 18.88 gap from Peter Larson, but a 19.50 gap from Peter Paulus. In particular, Cole Crane, Carson Fosterand Sam Artmann all shared 19.3 over other Texan stints from previous innings.
Wisconsin also put on a strong performance, including a 7:00 p.m. split from Jacques Newmarkto take 4th place in 1:17.55.
SCORES AFTER DAY TWO:
Women:
- Texas—718
- Cal—717.50
- Wisconsin—468
- Minnesota—398
- Arizona—315.50
- Pitt—269
- Harvard—222
- UNLV—34
Men:
- Texas—577
- Arizona—541
- Cal—527
- Minnesota—373
- Wisconsin—281
- Harvard—236
- Pitt—187
- UNLV—149
#Minnesota #Invitational #Day #Finals #Live #Recap