The Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center will be filled with fast swimmers on Friday, where spectators have the potential to witness record-breaking performances, upsets and plenty of photo finishes.
Texas swimming and diving is set to host Virginia, Arizona State and North Carolina State on Jan. 24 in what should be competitive matchups. Each of the participating programs has both men’s and women’s teams ranked in the NCAA’s Top 20, making this matchup both highly anticipated and filled with opportunity.
Arizona State and Virginia are the defending NCAA titleholders for men’s and women’s, respectively.
The No. 1 Virginia women’s program is led by several Olympians. The sister duo of graduate Alex Walsh and senior Gretchen Walsh along with juniors Emma Weber and Aimee Canny have all participated in the most recent summer games.
Gretchen Walsh set a world record in the 100-meter butterfly at the 2024 Olympics Trials with a time of 55:18 seconds. She went on to win silver in the event at the Olympics and gold in the 4×100-meter medley relay.
The Virginia women have unsurprisingly captured victories in every dual meet this season, but they also haven’t yet faced a team as highly ranked as the No. 2 Texas women’s team.
Texas is coming off a decisive victory against SMU, and they have been winning by large margins all year long. The team’s depth has helped them keep a winning record, but this is an opportunity for them to prove their capabilities against a higher level of competition.
For the women, NC State and Arizona State are ranked No. 9 and 14, respectively, and their contributions at the meet are likely to add excitement as well.
On the men’s side, the No. 1 Texas team will be up against No. 3 Arizona State, No. 6 NC State and No. 17 Virginia.
With Texas’ addition of new talented swimmers and the return of several difference-making swimmers, the Texas men’s team has earned and retained their No. 1 seating for several consecutive weeks.
Texas has a historically stronger program, but Arizona State has established itself recently by earning its first title last year and accumulating multiple impressive victories so far this year, including notable wins against No. 5 Cal., No. 6 NC State and No. 8 Stanford.
The Sun Devils won last year’s national title while being coached under current Texas men’s head coach Bob Bowman. With Bowman at the helm for the Longhorns, there is more energy and passion behind an already fierce matchup.
Bowman values competitive swimming environments like the Showdown, as emphasized at previous meets he has coached at.
“Fast swimming inspires others to do fast swimming,” Bowman said at the World Short-Course Championships in 2024.
With both teams facing tough competition, Texas will look to continue their winning record and make it to Friday’s finals, which are set to commence at 5:30 p.m. CST.
