SMU Invitational: Maddy Parker, Ethan Ekk Set Records on Day 3
Maddy Parker set the SMU program record in the women’s 50 freestyle, and Stanford’s Ethan Ekk downed a pool record in the 500 free on the third day of the SMU Invitational.
Parker went 22.10 in prelims, then matched the time in finals. She finished second in the event to Arkansas’ Harriet Rogers. Parker’s time trims .05 seconds off the 2015 record set by Isabella Arcila. Parker also jumped from third on the all-time list and over Marina Moravcova, a swim that dates to 1999.
Rogers, Parker and Utah’s Erin Palmer, who finished third in 22.11, all hit the NCAA standard.
Ekk went 4:11.10 to win the men’s 500 freestyle. His time was more than five seconds ahead of teammate Henry McFadden. Ekk’s time was more than four second quicker than the 2023 record set by Krzysztof Chmielewski of USC.
Stanford’s men are in the lead of the meet by a decisive margin. Arkansas is way out in front in the women’s competition of the meet that ends on Saturday.
SMU Invitational Men’s Scores
- Stanford, 666
- SMU, 577.5
- Utah, 488
- Drury, 326.5
- Air Force, 284.5
- Hawai’i, 246.5
SMU Invitational Men’s Scores
- Arkansas, 746
- Hawai’i, 481.6
- SMU, 449
- Utah, 419.5
- Drury, 252
- North Texas, 233
The men’s side was more prosperous in terms of NCAA A cuts. SMU’s Jack Berube won the men’s 100 back in 46.07, just .07 ahead of Drury’s Alvaro Zornoza Quiros. Stanford’s Finn Harland was third in 46.27. All three times were under the NCAA cut, in an A final where all eight were in the 46-point range.
Stanford’s Daniel Li won the 200 back ahead of teammate Go Nagaoka. Li went 1:51.88. Both swimmers and Kristaps Mikelsons of SMU, who was third in 1:53.69, hit the NCAA time.
Ekk was among three NCAA qualifiers in the 500. McFadden was second in 4:16.36. Utah’s Nick Chirafisi finished third in 4:16.63. The fourth-best time of the night session came from B final winner Mark Van Eybergen of SMU in 4:19.08.
Three was the number for the 50 free as well, led by Rafael Gu. The Stanford senior went 19.13 to book his NCAA spot. Teammate Jonathan Tan was second in 19.38, .01 slower than he was in the morning. Hawaii’s Karol Ostrowski finished third in 19.39.
Stanford set the pool record in the 400 medley relay with an NCAA qualifying time of 3:03.98. Harland, Zhier Fan, Gu and Andres Dupont Cabrera were the quartet. SMU went 3:05.89 for a provisional time in second place.
On the women’s side, Jimena Leal of SMU won the women’s 100 backstroke in 53.40. She was six tenths up on Arkansas’ Tammy Greenwood. Hawaii’s Zofia Tyminska picked up a second breaststroke win by going 2:11.56 in the 200. She was just .22 ahead of Gwen Bergum of Drury. Arkansas’s Sydney Craft won the 500 free in 4:47.52.
SMU capped the day with an exciting win in the 400 medley relay. Leal, Izzy Krantzcke, AnneMarie Vlaic and Parker went 3:35.33 to edge Arkansas (Greenwood, Ellen Garritson, Craft, Rogers) by .39 seconds.
