Longhorn Legacy Continues As Texas Snags 2nd, 3rd, and 5th In The 200 Freestyle

By Ben Dornan on SwimSwam

2022 U.S. WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TRIALS

• April 26-30, 2022
• Greensboro, NC
• Greensboro Aquatic Center
• LCM (50m)
• Start Times: Prelims – 9 am ET / Finals – 6 pm ET
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The Texas men came just shy of winning the NCAA title in 2022, but at World Championships Trials, they displayed their dominance by getting 3 men onto the team in the 4×200 freestyle relay. Texas’ NCAA Champion from earlier this year Drew Kibler was the quickest Longhorn in the final with a 1:45.32, closely followed by Carson Foster who swam a 1:45.66 for third place.

The other Longhorns in the heat were Coby Carroza who swam a 1:46.87 for 5th overall and Luke Hobson who notched a 7th place finish in 1:47.43.

While Carroza’s 5th place finish doesn’t guarantee him a spot on the team yet, it’s likely that his placement will be good enough to get him into the relay in Budapest. That means that if it works out that all 6 top finishers get selected for the team, the Texas men will occupy 3/6 spots in the event.

Kibler, Foster, and Carroza were joined in the top 6 by victor Kieran Smith (1:45.25), 4th place finisher Trenton Julian (1:46.69), and 6th place finisher Trey Freeman (1:46.93). The top 6 looks pretty different from the squad that the USA sent to Tokyo wherein Kibler and Smith swam the 4×200 relay along with Zach Apple and Townley Haas in the final and Andrew Seliskar, Patrick Callan, and Blake Pieroni raced in the prelims.

So while this will be a changing of the guard in terms of the USA’s leading pack of 200 freestylers, the Texas dominance is nothing new for the Texas men. In addition to Kibler’s presence on the Tokyo, Townley Haas raced individually in the event and placed 12th in a 1:46.07.

Texas has a long history of getting men onto Olympic and World Championships teams in the individual 200 freestyle and 4×200 relay including Kibler, Haas, Jack Conger, Ricky Berens, Michael Klueh, Dave Walters, Clark Smith, and many more. In fact, Texas has put men onto the Olympic team in the 4×200 freestyle relay at every Games since 1988 (and many times before that):

Note: Gary Hall Jr. only swam at Texas for one season, and didn’t compete for any other NCAA team.

Note: Thanks to Robert Gibbs for putting together this chart

Foster, Carroza, Kibler, and Hobson won NCAA gold in the 4×200 freestyle relay earlier this year at NCAAs and have all made the transition to long course to wind up in the top 8 at this meet. When Townley Haas retired after his 2021 Olympic bid, the eternal question was raised if Eddie Reese and his Texas men would continue to uphold the 200 freestyle legacy in the long course pool. With 4/8 men in the final and 3/6 men onto the World Championships team, it seems like the legacy is safe for now.

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