Carson Foster, Texas Men Begin Push for 16th National Title with Orange-White Meet
The Texas Longhorns men’s swimming and diving team found itself in a familiar spot last March, winning an NCAA team championship, and after legendary head coach Eddie Reese announced his retirement and then decided to return, the team will be in the chase for another title in 2021. The biggest star for this Texas group is 19-year-old sophomore Carson Foster, who finished as high as second in the 400 IM at last year’s championships and then, after barely missing the U.S. Olympic team, swam a time faster than what it took to win Olympic gold in the 400-meter IM in late July.
Texas raced for the first time Friday afternoon in its home pool in Austin at its annual Orange-White meet, and Foster won two events: the 200 IM, where he swam a 1:42.37 for a two-second triumph over older brother Jake Foster (1:44.28), and the 500 free, where he recorded a 4:18.09 to beat Alex Zettle (4:19.67).
Meanwhile, Casper Corbeau, fourth at last year’s NCAA championships in the 200 breast and sixth in the 100 breast and coming off a pair of top-25 finishes for the Netherlands at the Tokyo Olympics, won both of his events, posting a 1:53.86 in the 200 breast and 52.60 in the 100 breast, with Jake Foster placing second on both occasions.
Senior Danny Krueger was impressive in the sprint events as he won the 50 free in 19.43 and 100 free in 42.43 before he anchored the White team 200 free relay in 18.95, helping his team of Anthony Grimm, Tim Connery and Zac Van Zandt edge out the Orange team, 1:19.15 to 1:19.30.
The fourth and final swimmer to win two events on the day was Coby Carrozza. The sophomore was a B-finalist in the 200 free at last year’s NCAAs, and he will need to step up into a larger role to make up for the departures of Austin Katz and Jake Sannem. At Orange-White, Carrozza captured first place in the 200 free (1:34.11) and 200 fly (1:46.71).
Jordan Windle, who competed for Team USA in platform diving at the Tokyo Olympics, easily won both the 1-meter (312.30) and 3-meter (361.58) events.
Grimm won the 100 back in 47.02, Van Zendt placed first in the 100 fly (47.00), Zettle beat his teammates by eight seconds in the 1000 free (8:53.43), and Jason Park won the 200 back in 1:45.31. In the end, Carson Foster, Corbeau and Carrozza led the Orange team to victory, 146 to 137.
Notably, senior and U.S. Olympic team member Drew Kibler and fifth-year senior Alvin Jiang both sat out the meet but are expected to return later in the season.
Full results from the meet are available here.