The Arizona swim teams left for Austin, Texas, last Wednesday for the three-day Texas Hall of Fame Invitational, aiming to achieve as many NCAA “”A”” cut times as possible. They left Texas with 14 qualification times and 18 overall wins.  

Unlike other teams, who began to tire by the third day, Arizona stayed strong and dominated most of the day’s events. They not only won eight of the 12 events but also made five NCAA times in the process.

Junior captain Cory Chitwood kicked off the winning streak by taking his signature race, the 200-yard backstroke, with an “”A”” cut time of 1:41.07. Even though the win was expected, his teammate, freshman Michael Sheppard, was shortly behind him with another NCAA consideration time of 1:42.87.

Another standout freshman was Margo Geer, who won the 100y freestyle with a 48.51 first-place NCAA consideration time. Her time is currently the fastest in the country.

Later that day, Geer was also on the winning relay team with freshman Kait Flederbach, freshman Grace Finnegan and sophomore Monica Drake. The men’s team also took the same event with the foursome of junior Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or, junior Cameron Owen, junior Nick Hadinger and sophomore Kelley Wyman.

Out of all the day’s events, the men’s 200y breaststroke filled the winner’s board with sophomore Carl Mickelson, junior Austen Thompson and junior Kevin Munsch respectively taking first, second and third. In the final heat, Mickelson won the race with 1:55.45. The three made NCAA consideration times and joined Geer by racking in some of the fastest times in the country.