Olivia Smoliga Swims New Lifetime Greatest in Dallas (Pros at Age Group Meets April Roundup)

Pros, post-grads and different senior-level contenders raced at relatively-minor meets throughout the nation over the previous few weeks, which features a lifetime greatest from Olivia Smoliga in essentially the most encouraging indicators of her comeback to this point.

SMU Senior LC Meet

• April 24-26, 2026
• Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center, SMU Campus, Dallas, Texas
• Long Course Meters (50 meter)
• Results on Meet Mobile: “2026 SMU Long Course Meet”

The 2026 SMU Senior Long Course Meet was mild on individuals, however Coley Stickels‘ professional group from cross-town Texas Ford Aquatics supplied a little bit increase of consideration to the affair.

That consists of Olivia Smoliga, 31, who’s on her comeback path after lacking the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team. She swam for the primary time on the World Aquatics World Cup in Toronto in October, after which made an look on the Westmont Pro Swim in March

Her racing over the weekend in Dallas included a brand new lifetime greatest – albeit in an occasion that she hasn’t swum too usually traditionally. She posted a 26.73 to win the 50 fly, bettering on the 26.92 that she swam on the Westmont Pro Swim in a time trial race.

Prior to Westmont, she swam the race as soon as as an grownup, clocking a 27.42 at a university twin meet in 2023 whereas racing as a professional. Before that, she hadn’t swum the occasion since she was 12.

Smoliga, who was a dash freestyler and backstroker within the earlier phases of her profession, could possibly be the poster youngster for the brand new Olympic stroke 50s maintaining huge names within the sport longer. In Westmont, she swam the 50 free (24.96), 50 again (28.41), and 50 fly (26.92). Her 50 free this weekend was 25.37.

Those instances are nonetheless a good distance from difficult for the U.S. crew, however seeing greatest instances go on the board needs to be encouraging for the comeback.

She wasn’t the one Stickels swimmer who carried out effectively on the meet.

Luke Barr gained the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.65, which is simply three-tenths shy of his lifetime better of 1:00.32 set every week earlier on the Bergen Swim Festival in Norway. Part of a resurgent American males’s breaststroking contingent, Barr is a former Indiana Hoosier who can also be now coaching with Texas Ford.

Barr added a 2:12.96 lifetime greatest within the 200 breaststroke, an occasion the place he doesn’t focus as a lot. His earlier quickest was a 2:15.4 from a Pro Swim in 2023.

Barr has swum 1:00.95-1:00.32-1:00.65 in consecutive weekends, even with a visit to Norway in there, actually mentioning his consistency heading into the again half of the Olympic quad.

Earlier within the month, he and most of that very same Texas Ford group raced on the Super League meet in Frisco. Morgan Scott additionally raced at that meet, although she wasn’t at SMU, posting instances of 26.22 within the 50 free and 1:01.26 within the 200 free.

Other Notable Names:

• Texas Ford’s Mitch Mason swam 1:02.53 within the 100 breaststroke to complete 2nd behind Barr. The former LSU Tiger is one other swimmer coming back from an prolonged break after the 2024 Olympic Trials and does have a sub-minute swim on his resume from 2023.
• NCAA Championship qualifier Francis Brennan swam a greatest time of 1:50.01 to win the 200 free. That’s a lifetime greatest for him by .13 seconds. Still solely 18, he represented Canada on the World Junior Championships final yr, and is inside attain of an 800 free relay spot on the Olympic Games (he ranks sixth in Canada to this point this season) in the event that they ship a relay. He simply completed his freshman season at SMU, the place he completed 18th within the 200 free at NCAAs.

2026 Aggieland April LC Invitational

• April 17-19, 2026
• Texas A&M Student Rec Center Natatorium, College Station, Texas
• Long Course Meters (50m), Timed Finals
• Meet Results (PDF)

A few Texas A&M present and former swimmers raced at an area meet in Aggieland final weekend. That consists of Connor Foote, who is predicted to return to the varsity crew subsequent season after taking a redshirt yr for an internship.

Foote swam 23.40 within the 50 free, 24.26 within the 50 fly, and 54.90 within the 100 fly.

Former Aggie Chloe Stepanek, whose final meet was again house racing in New York and representing the Long Island Aquatic Club, additionally made an look. She swam 2:01.46 within the 200 free, 1:04.10 within the 100 again, and a couple of:19.40 within the 200 IM in an informal outing.

Other Aggies with notable performances on the meet embrace rising junior Ella McQuinn. She swam lifetime bests in each the 100 free 57.87) and 50 breast (33.05), and simply missed her lifetime greatest within the 50 free (26.86).

She was a person and relay NCAA qualifier for the Aggies final season.

2026 Longhorn Aquatics 11 & Over Long Course Kick Off

• April 24-26, 2026
• Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, University of Texas, Austin, Texas
• Long Course Meters (50 meters)
• Meet Results

Because Texas is such a giant state, its professional and collegiate ranks divided into at the very least three totally different meets over the past two weeks.

In Austin, Texas swimmers got here off their NCAA Championship on the lads’s facet to publish some early lengthy course markers.

That included a stacked area within the 200 free, the place Rex Maurer gained in 1:48.47 forward of Baylor Nelson (1:49.14), Rafael Fente-Damers (1:49.39), and Jacob Wimberly (1:49.56).

The end order was flipped for the highest two within the 200 IM, with Nelson successful in 2:01.02 and Maurer ending 2nd in 2:01.53.

Other Texas Men’s Highlight Results:

• Rising sophomore and World Championship crew member Campbell McKean was 4th within the 200 IM in 2:05.13 and 2nd within the 100 breast in 1:01.73. As the reigning American champion within the 100 breast, that point is on the skin of what America’s different prime breaststrokers have been within the final month as a part of a bunch that’s getting higher in a rush nationwide. McKean, although, has been a very good taper swimmer, so it’s no trigger for panic both.
• Example of the above: his teammate Nate Germonprez gained in 1:00.92. He was additionally 2:05 within the 200 IM.
• Cooper Lucas gained the 200 fly in 1:58.58 and was 2nd within the 200 IM in 2:02.83.
• Alexey Glivinskiy, who on Friday entered the NCAA switch portal after one semester with the Longhorns when he was minimize by the crew, nonetheless raced at this meet. He swam 1:52.18 within the 200 free and a couple of:08.97 within the 200 IM.

Maybe the true story, although, was the quiet comeback of Joanna Evans, who hasn’t raced within the United States since receiving a 4 yr doping suspension in 2021.

She really made her comeback in March at a meet in her native Bahamas, swimming 2:00.49 within the 200 free and 4:19.28 within the 400 free. Over the weekend in Austin, she swam related instances of two:00.95 and 4:19.48.

Evans represented the Bahamas on the 2016 and 2021 Olympic Games.

Other Notable Results

• The winners of the boys’ 100 breaststroke within the 15-16 and 17-18 age teams each had huge time drops. In the 15-16 group, Daniel Franco from Waterloo Swimming posted a 1:08.42. That ranks him twelfth amongst 15-year-olds nationally this season. His earlier greatest time was a 1:12.88 from final yr’s TAGS summer season championship. He additionally registered huge drops within the 100 again (1:07.02), 100 fly (1:14.47), and 200 breast (2:44.31).
  • Zach Marshall from Nitro gained the 100 breast within the 17-18 age group though he’s solely 17. He swam 1:04.86, which drops about six-tenths off his earlier greatest from January. A highschool senior, he’s dedicated to NCAA Division II energy Colorado School of Mines. He additionally gained the 400 IM for his age group in 4:40.45.
• Karly Whitehead from Alamo Area Aquatic Association gained the 100 again in 1:04.97. That is a half-second drop to kick off her lengthy course season and follows a 1.4 second enchancment in yards over the winter. A highschool sophomore, her recruiting cycle is scheduled to kick off over the summer season.
• Nitro 15-year-old Sophie Jones gained 5 of her six occasions (and was 2nd within the 200 free). That included a giant drop within the 800 to go 9:43.41.

2026 Orange Committee BB Minimum LC Age Group Meet

• April 11-12, 2026
• Fullerton, California
• Long Course Meters (50 meters)

Meanwhile, in California, a bunch of execs coaching with Aquatic Sports Performance raced at an area age group meet – although they formally represented the Fullerton Aquatics Sports Team (FAST).

On the lads’s facet, that included U.S. World Championship crew member and Canadian/Italian Olympian Santo Condorelli.

The sprinter swam 23.25 within the 50 free and 24.57 within the 50 fly. In each races, he squared off towards Singaporean and coaching companion Tzen Teong, who swam 24.14 and 24.15, respectively. Teong was a 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medalist within the 50 fly.

On the ladies’s facet, taking part execs included Maxine Parker, who went 25.13 and 57.02 within the 50 and 100 free, respectively; and 2012 Olympic medley relay gold medalist Breeja Larson, who swam 1:10.99 within the 100 breaststroke.