Torri Huske Again Out-Battles Abbey Weitzeil in Irvine, This Time in the 50 Free

2024 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INVITATIONAL

After 2021 Tokyo Olympian Torri Huske bested Olympian Abbey Weitzeil in the 100 free earlier in the week, the pair wrapped up racing at the Southern California Invitational on Saturday with another showdown, this time in the 50 free.

It was once again Huske, 21, who came away with the win, this time by a 24.41 to 24.50 margin. That time was within a tenth of Huske’s personal best in the event – which was done at the Pro Swim Series meet in Westmont in early March.

Huske has taken big advantage of her redshirt season, swimming the three best time of her career in the 50 free since late November. Still, Weitzeil has the faster time of the pair this season, having posted a 24.27 at the Pro Swim Series in San Antonio. That ranks her 8th in the world this season, while Huske ranks 12th.

They are the #2 and #4 in the US this year, respectively, with Kate Douglass (23.91) and Gretchen Walsh (24.29), training partners at Virginia, intruding in the rankings.

37-year-old mother of three Brooke Boak swam 25.41 for 3rd place, while Cal undergrad Morgan Brophy finished 4th in 25.53. That’s Brophy’s best time by four-tenths of a second and pushes her under the Olympic Trials cut in the event – her second cut after the 100 fly.

Other Olympians who won races on Saturday include Ryan Murphy in the 100 back in 53.16, another season-best following one in the 200 back on Friday in 1:54.83. Keaton Jones was 2nd in 55.48 and Destin Lasco was 3rd in 56.17.

Michael Andrew won the 50 free in 22.09 to cap an encouraging meet for the up-and-down 25-year-old. He also won the 100 breast  (59.87) and 100 fly (51.83) this week in what seems like a final tuneup for Trials.

The Stanford women continued their roaring weekend when Lucy Bell swam another best time to win the 200 IM in 2:13.28. While that drop of four tenths is much less than the two-and-a-half she dropped in the 400 IM on Friday, it is another positive sign a month out from Trials.

In the 800 free, Stanford swimmer Aurora Roghair didn’t swim in spite of lifetime bests (and wins) in the 200, 400, and 1500 freestyles earlier in the meet. Sammie Hamilton, who last week won the California High School State Championship in the 500 yard free, won the event in 8:51.33 – a new best time by half-a-second.

Other Saturday Winners & Highlights

• Cal’s Isabelle Stadden won the 100 back by almost three-and-a-half seconds in 59.22. That is her best time since last year’s World Championship Trials  and just .23 seconds away from her lifetime best as part of a loaded US backstroke field headed toward Indianapolis in June.
• USC’s Kaitlyn Dobler won the 200 breaststroke in 2:28.64 ahead of her training partner Isabelle Odgers (2:29.50). Odgers had the lead at the halfway mark, but a big back half split of 1:15.93 for the sprinter Dobler ran away for the win. Dobler has a best time of 2:26.47, and in that race her back-half split was only 1:16.31.
• Former Stanford swimmer Daniel Roy, who recently returned to the pool after almost two years away from racing, swam 2:11.24 to win the men’s 200 breast. He was 2:09.57 at Sectionals in March to lock in a spot at the Olympic Trials.
• 17-year-old Campbell McKean of the Bend Swim Club in Oregon swam 2:03.25 to win the 200 IM by .04 seconds ahead of 19-year-old Mission Viejo Nadador Noah Sech. McKean’s best time of 2:03.07 from Winter Juniors in December already had her locked in for Trials, but she’s now been 2:03-low twice in the last two months (2:03.39 on March 17 at Sectionals).
• Cal’s Gabriel Jett won the 800 free in 8:04.79. That’s his best time by just over five seconds and vives him another Olympic Trials qualification. That’s the 7th different event in which he has a cut – among the most of any man in the country.