Like many Duke students, the Blue Devil swim team headed down to Florida this past week. But while most Duke students were enjoying the ocean views and warm weather, the swim team competed in the CSCAA National Invitational Championship.
About half of the men’s team and four members of the women’s team competed in Ocala, Fla., this past weekend. The meet, hosted by the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA), allows swimmers who didn’t qualify for the NCAA Championships, but still swam to a high time standard, a chance to participate in a competitive postseason meet.
Fifty-two Division I teams from all over the country sent swimmers to the meet. At the end of the competition, the Duke men took home 10th place with 322 points, while the women took home 30th with 84 points.
With the team’s NCAA qualifiers, such as ACC champion Kaelyn Gridley and Olympic Trials qualifier Tatum Wall not present, the freshmen had a unique opportunity to shine.
Freshman Kate Meyers-Labenz dominated in the 100-yard backstroke. Back in her home state, the Jacksonville, Fla., native placed fourth in prelims with a time of 54.24. She then finished sixth overall in finals, closely matching her prelims time with a 54.23. Meyers-Labenz has had large personal growth in the postseason. At the ACC Championships, she swam a 53.97, knocking down her previous personal best of 54.56. While not a personal best, her finals times in Ocala is the second fastest she has ever swam the event. Meyers-Labenz finals placement earned the Duke women a fifth of their overall points, adding 17 points to the tally.
Sophomore Kalen Anbar also had a standout performance Saturday in the 200-yard breaststroke. In prelims, Anbar placed first overall with a personal best time of 1:56.95, .01 faster than his previous best of 1:56.96 from 2024’s ACC Championships.
But finals is where Anbar truly shone.The breastroke and IM swimmer dropped over a second in finals to post a new personal best of 1:55.61. Anbar's fiery race earned him second overall, just behind Ohio State’s Luke Vickers, who swam to a 1:55.43.
Anbar also dominated in the 100-yard breaststroke. A 54.66 in prelims earned him 11th overall, just outside of the top-10 placement required to break into A-finals. As a result, Anbar was the top qualifier in the B-finals. However, in terms of point-scoring, no B-finals swimmer can move past an A-finalist on the leaderboard. This means that even if Anbar swam faster than an A-finalist in finals, the highest position he could earn is 11th. In finals, Anbar swam a personal best of 53.53, scoring him at 11th overall, but granting him the third-highest time of the finalist swimmers.
Junior Austin Simpson proved his endurance by placing eighth in the 500-yard freestyle. The mid-distance freestyler touched the wall at a 4:26.46 in prelims and a personal best 4:25.84 in finals. His finals performance also earned him eighth place and 13 points for the Blue Devils.
The CSCAA Invitational also gave swimmers the chance to swim events not usually included in NCAA programming. This includes the 50-yard butterfly, 50-yard breaststroke, 50-yard backstroke and 100-yard individual medley. In most meets, these events are eliminated after a swimmer turns 13, due to their short distance. However, select meets will hold these races to provide athletes new and refreshing events.
Freshman Colin Mikulecky placed 19th in prelims with a 22.87 50-yard backstroke performance. Mikulecky repeated his performance in finals to swim a 22.82 that also earned him 19th overall. In the 50-yard breaststroke, Jack Smith placed 19th overall, touching the wall at 25.50. In finals, Smith moved up to 16th place improving on his earlier sprint with a 25.29.
The CSCAA qualifiers will cheer on their teammates Gridley, Wall, Ali Pffaf, KyAhn Truong, Clare Logan, Molly Donlan and diver Margo O’Meara at the NCAA Championships in Federal Way, Wash., this week.
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