Arizona’s Kevin Cordes drowned out his competition at the Texas Invitational in Austin last weekend.
The 6-foot-5 breaststroker posted final times of 50.70 and 1:49.38 in the 100-yard and 200y breaststroke, qualifying for the NCAA Championships in both events and setting an American record in the 100y breaststroke.
Cordes, a junior, was the clear winner in both instances, out-swimming his opponents by two seconds in the 100y breaststroke and more than six seconds in the 200y event. Arizona teammates claimed second in both events, with seniors Kevin Steel (100y) and Sam Rowan (200y) finishing behind Cordes.
Sophomore Bonnie Brandon broke her own school record in the 200y backstroke, finishing the event in 1:50.70, almost a second faster than her previous record of 1:51.41. Her time was more than good enough to qualify for the NCAA Championships. The Colorado native also won the 200y freestyle during the three day invitational, an event where teammate Margo Geer placed fifth.
Overall, the Wildcats qualified for the NCAA Championships in 10 individual events, solidifying the opportunity for swimmers like Geer, senior Giles Smith and senior Mitchell Friedemann to return to Austin in March.
Arizona’s success began on Thursday when Smith, a senior, qualified for the NCAA Championships in the preliminary round of the 100y butterfly. He later won the event with 44.73 seconds, almost two seconds ahead of sophomore teammate Andrew Porter, who finished second.
Smith also swam the third leg of the first place, NCAA-qualifying 400y relay, recording a time of 3:03.73 with the help of Friedemann, Cordes and junior Brian Stevens.
Friedemann contributed to the UA’s 14 event wins with a 46.01 performance in the 100y backstroke, also qualifying for the national championships. Sophomore teammate Michael Meyer snatched first in the 100y and 200y IM events.
Helping Brandon lead the Arizona women, Geer continued her overall winning season performances by claiming the 50y freestyle on Thursday, defeating USC’s Kasey Carlson. Carlson defeated Geer in her first 100y freestyle loss of the season, out-touching Geer by .13 seconds. Geer’s time of 47.35 in that event was still fast enough to qualify for the national championships.
The Texas Invitational concluded Arizona swimming’s fall season. They will return to competition, facing Stanford Jan. 24, 2014. The diving team has yet to compete in their week-long USA Diving Nationals in Austin this month. The team will begin competition on Dec. 15 before its month-long break.
—Follow Nicole Cousins @cousinnicole
