Nice Article on the SMU Men's Classic; Mustangs in 2nd Place

[MrMustang1965]

The stage is set. For those who have not been to the SMU Classic, it is one of the most historic college meets in swimming. First, the atmosphere is comparable to that NBA [Finals] rivalry, as the pool is set with fans packed in literally inches from poolside like a basketball arena. Second, there are two heats of men with the fastest swimmer from each team in the final heat, the second fastest in the consol heat. Each team has one swimmer to represent it no matter how fast their #2 man is. Third, the teams in this meet are composed of most of the fastest people in the water on Earth. This year there are five teams, each composed of a eight swimmer/one diver roster: Texas All-Stars (let’s just call them Pros), #18 Northwestern, a select few from #20 University of Southern California, host team #24 Southern Methodist University, and Arizona State. At 7:30p.m. CST the curtains are drawn. Now let’s race.

400 Medley Relay: The Texas All-Stars threw together a so-so relay composed of Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, Ian Crocker, and Garrett Weber-Gale. This caliber of relay team could easily be an Olympic gold medal achieving relay. Fair statement, right? 3:07.53 is good enough to take first by over seven seconds and break the previous meet and pool records by over three seconds, set last year by Northwestern who was disqualified in finals.

400 I.M.: As he showed at SC Nationals in Atlanta and time and time before, Eric Shanteau’s Olympic contention is no joke as he cruised to a 3:47.55 victory after out-splitting the competition by over three seconds in the breaststroke leg. Second was ASU senior CJ Nuess at 3:53.98.

200 Free: Dave Cromwell introduced himself to the world with his backstroke but has put an exclamation point behind his name by launching an attack on the 200 free. From start to finish, he controlled the race, staying around two seconds ahead of competitors. Cromwell finished first with 1:35.19 while NU junior Eric Nilsson thrashed the last 50 to finish second at 1:37.33.

50 Free: Ian Crocker made himself a few bucks posting consistent 19’s at the Chesapeake Invite 50 Free Shoot-out last month…no reason to stop now. Crocker rushed to the wall first at 19.69 and SMU junior Luka Vrtovec finished second at 20.00. It would be interesting to see how many times Crocker could go sub-20 in a 50 free lactate set as these days 19-point is becoming rather routine.

100 Fly: A classic young gun vs. seasoned veteran showdown as Ian Crocker and Kyle Bubolz squared off in this event. Bubolz, attempting to defend his meet and pool records, could not hold off Crocker the last 25, as Crocker scored his third first place finish of the night, clocking in at 45.78, beating the records by one second, and followed by Bubolz at 46.80.

100 Back: Don’t let the chilled out Cali vibe fool you. Aaron Peirsol is relentless with winning, and merciless. Peirsol smashed the final heat, wining by over two seconds at 46.72 and breaking Matt Grevers’ meet and pool record by 0.14. Not to be overlooked in the consol heat, fellow Texas All-Star Dave Cromwell posted 47.63. Some fast backstroke times by the only two swimmers on the All-Star lineup whose vocabulary does not include “y’all.â€

[Water Pony]

MM1965,

Thanks for the long and outstanding summary of first night of the Classic. The times reported are unbelieveable. The one good thing about the Texas All-stars is that they are not swimming for UT anymore.

The times for the Mustangs is very encouraging and suggests they will be strong this year.

Thanks again. Say hi to Eddie.