Texas vs. Indiana Dual Meet Live Recap — Session 1

By Sophie Kaufman on SwimSwam

Indiana vs. Texas

• Nov. 1, 2024
• Austin, Texas
• 25 Yards (SCY)
• Schedule: 10 am CT dual meet/12:30 pm CT diving/5:30 pm CT “finals” session
• Watch Live: SEC+ Network [4:30 session only]

Welcome to the first of two swimming sessions in Austin as the Texas men and women play host to the Indiana Hoosiers. This should be a great matchup as all programs ranked in the top 10 of our September power rankings. There are plenty of Olympians in the water today, as Hubert Kos, Erin Gemmell, Luke Hobson, David Johnston, Aaron Shackell, Mariah Denigan, Josh Matheny, and Anna Peplowski should all be in action. On the men’s side, this battle features two of the best transfer classes we’ve seen in NCAA history.

The first session follows a familiar dual meet format, though some events are being left for the afternoon session, which will also feature a mixed 4×100 freestyle relay.

Women’s 200 Free Relay

Top 3: 

1. Texas ‘A’ (Cooper, Sticklen, Arens, Longi), 1:26.50
2. Indiana ‘A’ (Peplowski, Dewitt, Yeo, Paegle), 1:28.09
3. Texas ‘B’ (Gemmell, Kern, Coe, Chase), 1:28.34

The Longhorn women got out to a fast start in the 200 freestyle relay, claiming two of the top three starts to immediately put themselves ahead of the Hoosiers on the score sheet. Grace Cooper led off in 22.15 as Emma Sticklen (21.00), Abby Arens (21.71), and Ava Longi (21.64) teamed up with her to run away with the event win in 1:26.50.

Team Scores:

1. Texas – 13
2. Indiana – 4

Men’s 200 Free Relay

Top 3: 

1. Indiana ‘A’ (Brooks, Barr, Lee, Smiley), 1:16.57
2. Texas ‘A’ (Gould, Hobson, Taylor, Germonprez), 1:17.06
3. Texas ‘B’ (Peck, Ndebele, Filipovic, Walker), 1:17.82

Indiana’s ‘A’ squad jumped out to an early lead they never relinquished. Finn Brooks led off in a 19.25, undercutting his previous lifetime best of 19.36, swum at the 2024 NCAA Championships. That gave the Hoosiers a solid lead, which they maintained as Luke Barr split 19.02, Mikkel Lee split 19.03, and Dylan Smiley anchored in 19.27. The Hoosiers stopped the clock in 1:16.57, breaking 1:17 for the first time this season and beating the 1:17.97 they swam at the SMU Classic.

Leading off Texas’ ‘A’ relay, freshman Garrett Gould swam a new lifetime best of 19.69, crushing his previous mark of 19.92 from before he arrived in Austin this fall. Luke Hobson clocked an 18.95 split, while Camden Taylor (19.18) and Nate Germonprez (19.24) held down the back half of the relay.

Team Scores:

1. Indiana – 11
2. Texas – 6

Women’s 1000 Freestyle

Top 3: 

1. Jillian Cox (TEX), 9:29.66
2. Kate Hurst (TEX), 9:31.69
3. Ching-Hwee Gan (IU), 9:34.16

Redshirt freshman Jillian Cox led a 1-2 finish for the Longhorns in the women’s 1000 freestyle. At Texas’ first meet against LSU, Cox established a new program record of 9:25.88. She was off that mark this morning, but still got under 9:30 and won the race by just over two seconds.

Hurst, a true freshman, swam a new lifetime best of 9:31.69 for second place. Ching-Hwee Gan got Indiana on the podium with a 9:34.16, while Olympian Mariah Denigan took fourth in 9:37.56.

Team Scores:

1. Texas – 26
2. Indiana – 10

Men’s 1000 Freestyle

Top 3: 

1. David Johnston (TEX), 8:39.25
2. Zalan Sarkany (IU), 8:39.44
3. Rex Maurer (TEX), 8:44.62

Back in a Longhorn cap after redshirting the Olympic season, David Johnston outdueled reigning NCAA 1650 freestyle champion Zalan Sarkany in the 1000 freestyle. Sarkany and Rex Maurer flipped first and second at the 200-yard mark. By the 300, Johnston held a slight advantage over the pair that he grew over the next few hundred yards.

Sarkany narrowed the lead on the back half of the race and out-split the Paris Olympian on the final 50, 24.08 to 24.23, but Johnston was able to get his hand on the wall first in 8:39.25. Sarkany joined him sub 8:40 with an 8:39.44 and the two now rank first and second in the NCAA this season.

Team Scores:

1. Texas – 20
2. Indiana – 16

Women’s 200 Backstroke

Top 3: 

1. Miranda Grana (IU), 1:50.50
2. Anna Peplowski (IU), 1:51.80
3. Lillie Nesty (TEX), 1:53.15

Sophomore Miranda Grana is on fire so far this season. Last week against Notre Dame, she went faster in the 100 backstroke than she did at 2024 NCAAs, where she was swimming for Texas A&M. Now, she’s won the 200 backstroke with a lifetime best of 1:50.50, bettering her previous mark of 1:51.06 from 2024 SECs by .56 seconds.

This is the fastest time swum in yards this season in the NCAA, as she leaps ahead of Erika Pelaez (1:50.71). This swim would’ve improved her sixth place finish at 2024 NCAAs.

The Hoosiers got their first 1-2 finish of the meet as Peplowksi followed Grana, sliding in for second with a 1:51.80, which is less than a second from her lifetime best. Freshman Lillie Nesty logged 1:53.15 for third place.

Team Scores:

1. Texas – 32
2. Indiana – 23

Men’s 200 Backstroke

Top 3: 

1. Owen McDonald (IU), 1:38.13
2. Hubert Kos (TEX), 1:38.14
3. Will Modglin (TEX), 1:40.12

The men’s 200 backstroke treated us to the closest race we’ve seen so far, as former teammates Hubert Kos and Owen McDonald fought it out. McDonald took the race out fast, splitting 23.00/24.71 on the first 100. He flipped in 47.71, while Kos, the newly crowned Olympic champion in the long-course 200 backstroke, was running second further back in 48.23.

Kos made his move on the back half of the race, splitting 24.99 on the third 50 to McDonald’s 25.16. He continued to outsplit the Hoosier on the final 50, 24.90 to 25.26. His effort on the last 100 yards pulled him even with McDonald as they charged under the flags and at the touch, McDonald had just enough to get his hand on the wall a hundredth ahead of Kos.

McDonald and Kos now rank first and second in the NCAA this season, surpassing Luca Urlando‘s 1:39.39. Sophomore Will Modglin moves up to 5th. However, McDonald’s first place finish, combined with Miroslav Knedla‘s fourth place (1:42.69) and Kai Van Westering‘s fifth (1:43.49) moved the Hoosiers a point ahead of the Longhorns on the scoresheet.

Team Scores:

1. Indiana – 28
2. Texas – 27

Women’s 100 Freestyle

Top 3: 

1. Kristina Paegle (IU), 48.11
2. Erin Gemmell (TEX), 48.25
3. Anna Peplowski (IU), 48.47

Kristina Paegle led from wire-to-wire in the women’s 100 freestyle. She stopped the clock at 48.11, dropping almost a second and a half from her time last week when Indiana faced Notre Dame. She beat Texas’ Erin Gemmell by .14 seconds, as the Olympian checked in with a 48.25 for second with a season-best.

With only the men’s 200 backstroke in between her events, Peplowksi took 3rd in 48.47 as Indiana closed the gap on Texas, who now lead by four points.

Team Scores:

1. Texas – 39
2. Indiana – 35

Men’s 100 Freestyle

Top 3: 

1. Luke Hobson (TEX), 42.53
2. Camden Taylor (TEX), 42.70
3. Tomer Frankel (IU), 42.85

The Longhorns got a much needed 1-2 in the 100 freestyle from Luke Hobson and Camden Taylor, which allowed them to jump back ahead of Indiana on the score sheet, 40 to 34. Taylor (20.41) and Brooks (20.47) flipped ahead of Hobson at the halfway mark, but Hobson charged after that, splitting a 22.00 to pull ahead for the win in 42.53.

Taylor grabbed second place in 42.70, only .17 seconds from his lifetime best. Tomer Frankel lead a trio of Hoosiers with a 42.85. Brooks and Lee tied for fourth in 43.07.

Team Scores:

1. Texas – 40
2. Indiana – 34

Women’s 200 Breaststroke

Top 3: 

1. Piper Enge (TEX), 2:09.27
2. Brearna Crawford (IU), 2:09.30
3. Angie Coe (TEX), 2:12.08

Freshman Piper Enge swam a season-best 2:09.27 to add another event into the win column for the Texas women. After Indiana’s Brearna Crawford opened the women’s 200 breaststroke with a 1:01.95, Enge responded with a strong final 50

Crawford still held the lead with 50 yards to go, outsplitting Enge 33.55 to 33.62. Enge kicked into gear on the final 50 yards, bringing her race home in 33.22 to get her hands on the wall three-hundredths ahead of Crawford.

Texas went 1-3-4 in the event with Enge, Angie Coe, and Channing Hanley (2:13.31).

Team Scores:

1. Texas – 53
2. Indiana – 40

Men’s 200 Breaststroke

Top 3: 

1. Jassen Yep (IU), 1:51.94
2. Josh Matheny (IU), 1:52.28
3. Will Scholtz (TEX), 1:52.80

An event after Texas reasserted control with a 1-2 finish in the men’s 100 freestyle, Indiana grabbed it back with a 1-2 finish of their own in the men’s 200 breaststroke.

Indiana’s breaststroke depth is well known and it was on full display in Austin, as Jassen Yep and Josh Matheny pulled away from the field to touch in season-bests of 1:51.94 and 1:52.28. Yep’s 1:51.94 improves dramatically on the 1:55.19 he logged at the SMU Classic.

After leading the race by .01 at the 100-yard touch, Texas’ Will Scholtz held on for third place in a new lifetime best of 1:52.80. His old mark stood at 1:53.70 from the 2024 Big 12 Championships.

Team Scores:

1. Indiana – 47
2. Texas – 46

Women’s 200 Fly

Top 3: 

1. Emma Sticklen (TEX), 1:49.99
2. Abby Arens (TEX), 1:55.16
3. Lily Hann (IU), 1:57.93

Emma Sticklen was just .22 seconds off the SEC record and lifetime best 1:49.77 she swam against LSU to get the win in the women’s 200 butterfly, where she’s the two-time defending NCAA champion. The Texas fly group is not as deep as it used to be because of graduations, but Sticklen is getting the job done in the early part of the season. And, the depth was not an issue today as Sticklen and Arens earned a 1-2 finish in the event.

Sticklen’s time was faster than she went to win the 2024 NCAA title and just .04 seconds slower than her 2023 title-winning swim.

Lily Hann was just off her lifetime best of 1:57.81 for third with a 1:57.93.

Team Scores:

1. Texas – 66
2. Indiana – 46

Men’s 200 Fly

Top 3: 

1. Logan Walker (TEX), 1:41.70
2. Owen McDonald (IU), 1:42.77
3. Ryan Branon Jr. (TEX), 1:42.88

Logan Walker had a huge swim in the 200 butterfly, soaring ahead for the win in 1:41.70. It’s a huge lifetime best for the 19-year-old, who hadn’t broken 1:45 before today. His previous best stood at 1:45.04 from November 2023 and he dropped 3.34 seconds to help Texas retake the lead.

McDonald had a similarly dramatic drop for second place. He usually races backstroke and IM in the postseason, and his lifetime best in the 200 fly stood at 1:45.00 from a January 2024 dual meet. Like Walker, he blew by that mark, swimming 2.23 seconds faster with a 1:42.77.

McDonald split 26.08 on the final 50, pulling ahead of Ryan Branon Jr. for second place. Branon took third in 1:42.88, .09 seconds off his lifetime best.

Team Scores:

1. Texas – 60
2. Indiana – 52

Women’s 400 IM

Top 3: 

1. Campbell Stoll (TEX), 4:07.22
2. Campbell Chase (TEX), 4:09.22
3. Angie Coe (TEX), 4:09.61

Team Scores:

1. Texas – 82
2. Indiana – 49

In the last individual event of the morning, Texas put an exclamation point on the session by sweeping the top three spots in the women’s 400 IM. Campbell Chase and Coe were in the lead after the butterfly leg, both opening with 57.2 butterfly splits. Campbell Stoll used her backstroke leg to move into the lead, splitting 1:02.98. She followed up with a 1:08.58 breaststroke split and was far enough ahead that even though her teammates made up ground on the freestyle, her 58.09 closing split still brought her home two seconds ahead of Chase.

Chase swam 4:09.22 for second place, breaking her previous lifetime best from 2022 by 2.87 seconds.

Men’s 400 IM

Top 3: 

1. Rex Maurer (TEX), 3:40.90
2. David Johnston (TEX), 3:43.81
3. Landon D’Ariano (TEX), 3:44.86

The Texas men matched the Longhorn women’s 1-2-3 finish in the 400 IM with a sweep of their own. Sophomore Rex Maurer led the charge for the Longhorn men, swimming a 3:40.90 to win and take over as the fastest man in the NCAA this season. The time is 3.80 seconds faster than he was at this time last season when he was racing for Stanford.

Johnston was running third behind Landon D’Ariano with 100 yards to go. He split 50.91 on the freestyle leg, passing D’Ariano and grabbing second-place by over a second. The freshman D’Ariano just missed his lifetime best of 3:44.36 with his third-place finish (3:44.86).

Sarkany was Indiana’s top finisher in 3:47.78, which helped Texas extend their lead further.

Team Scores:

1. Texas – 76
2. Indiana – 55

Women’s 400 Medley Relay

Top 3: 

1. Texas ‘A’ (Kern, Enge, Sticklen, Gemmell), 3:27.98
2. Texas ‘B’ (Berglund, Arens, Longi, Nesty), 3:31.33
3. Indiana ‘A’ (Grana, Crawford, Dewitt, Paegle), 3:31.84

The Texas women sealed their win by going 1-2 in the 400 medley relay. They held onto the lead for the whole meet, but dominated over the last few events to shut the door on any discussion of a late rally by Indiana.

However, it was the Hoosiers that were in control after the opening backstroke leg as Grana fired off 51.50 for a new season-best, faster than the 51.62 she swam last week.

Kern opened the Texas ‘A’ relay in 51.96, then Enge split 58.62 to take over the lead. This relay led for the rest of the race, with Sticklen splitting 49.76 and Gemmell anchoring in 47.64. The quartet touched in 3:27.98, surging up to 1st place in the NCAA this season. No schools other than Texas and Indiana have broken 3:32 this season now.

The Texas ‘B’ relay prevailed against the Indiana ‘A’ relay as well, out-splitting them on the breaststroke and butterfly legs to establish a lead big enough to hold off Paegle’s 47.81 close.

Team Scores:

1. Texas – 97
2. Indiana – 51

Men’s 400 Medley Relay

Top 3: 

1. Texas ‘A’ (Modglin, Germonprez, Kos, Hobson), 3:03.69
2. Indiana ‘A’ (Knedla, Benzing, Brooks, McDonald), 3:04.30
3. Texas ‘B’ (Peck, Scholtz, Walker, Taylor), 3:06.37

The opening backstroke leg proved to be the deciding factor in the men’s 400 medley relay. Brian Benzing (51.30), Brooks (44.64), outsplit the Texas ‘A’ relay over the middle 200 yards, and McDonald’s 42.15 was just three-hundredths off Hobson’s anchor for Texas. But, Modglin’s opening 44.81 split was too much for Indiana to overcome as freshman Miroslav Knedla opened in 46.21, almost a second off his time from the SMU Classic.

After Modglin’s opening, Germonprez split 51.39 on breaststroke. Then, he turned things over to Kos, who split 45.37 on butterfly, and Hobson, who anchored in 42.12.

It was Taylor who had the quickest freestyle split, he capped off an excellent meet with a 42.06 100 freestyle split, helping the Texas ‘B’ relay of himself, Kyle Peck, Scholtz, and Walker grab third and seal the overall win for the Texas men.

Team Scores:

1. Texas – 89
2. Indiana – 59

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