Jordan Crooks, Rex Maurer Share SEC Weekly Honors
Tennessee sprinter Jordan Crooks and Texas distance swimmer Rex Maurer shared the SEC Weekly Honors for their outstanding performances at the mid-season invitationals, the conference announced Wednesday.
Maurer’s Texas teammate Emma Sticklen earned the women’s swimmer of the week honor. Alex Painter of Florida and Texas’ Cooper Lucas shared male freshman of the week honors, while Jillian Cox of Texas took the women’s honor. The top divers from the invitationals were Sophie Verzyl of South Carolina and Tennessee’s Bennett Greene.
Maurer was one of the headliners of the Texas Invitational in Austin. He broke the American record in the men’s 500 freestyle with a time of 4:04.45, dashing two seconds off the existing record and lowering the SEC record. He set the nation’s fastest time in the 1,650 free by winning in 14:30.47, the second-fastest time in program history. He also set the fastest time in the nation in the 400 individual medley in 3:34.19 and is fourth in the country in the 200 back at 1:38.27. Maurer helped the Longhorns win the 800 free relay in a nation-leading 6:09.30 and finish second in the 400 free and 400 medley relays.
Crooks was the star of the Tennessee Invitational, winning all eight events in which he participated. He blasted a time of 18.16 seconds in the 50 free, 40.26 in the 100 free, 43.77 in the 100 butterfly and 1:30.00 in the 200 free. All four are the fastest times in the country for the Caymanian Olympian, and the 200 free is a program record. The Volunteers’ 400 free and 400 medley relays set nation-best times to go with wins in the 200 free and 200 medley relays. He also split 39.89 in the 400 free relay and 17.57 in the 200 medley relay.
Sticklen posted an A cut in winning the 200 fly in 1:49.54 and in the 200 IM by going 1:52.72. She also won the 100 back in 50.85 and was second in the 100 fly with an A cut of 49.60. She was part of the 200 and 400 free relays and both medley relays that the Longhorns won. Her 50 free split of 21.50 is the program record.
The home board was to Greene’s liking, the freshman Knoxville native winning both springboard events at the UT Invitational. Greene set his best scores of the season on all three heights, winning 3-meter with a score of 412.85 points and 1-meter with 361.15. He was the runner-up on platform, scoring 343.15.
Verzyl starred at the Georgia Invitational, the junior winning both of her events. She topped the field on 1-meter with 337.60 points and tallied 372.00 to win 3-meter.
Cox set the fastest time in the nation in winning the 500 free in 4:30.68 and 1,650 free in 15:34.66 to pick up wins in Austin. The time in the mile set the Longhorns program record by some 11 seconds and is one of the top 10 all-time college swims. She also was part of Texas’ runner-up 800 free relay and took home seventh in the 200 free in 1:45.82.
Painter was part of Florida’s stellar performance at the Georgia Invitational. The English international helped Florida win all five relays, all in A cuts. Painter led off the 400 free and 800 free relays and anchored the medley relays. He also swam on the 200 free relay. Painter was third in the 50 free in 19.24, with top-10 times in the 100 free and 200 free.
Lucas finished in the top seven in all three of his events at the Texas Invitational. He was third in the 400 IM in 3:40.75, the seventh fastest in the nation. He placed fifth in the 200 fly (1:42.72) and seventh in the 500 free (4:16.31).
