How Chris Guiliano Boosts Texas Men This College Season
The suspension of Notre Dame’s men’s team this season prompted Chris Guiliano to search for a new college home. In the aftermath of the best season of his life, when he became the first U.S. man since Matt Biondi to qualify for the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle at one Olympics and helped the U.S. men win Olympic gold in the 400 free relay, Guiliano has found his way to Texas. And provided he uses his final year of NCAA eligibility this season, the Longhorns have just gotten a lot better.
Remember, Texas always contends for men’s national titles. Last season, when longtime head coach Eddie Reese had already announced his retirement with no successor named, the program fell out of the top-three at the NCAA Championships for the first time in a decade-and-a-half. Once Bob Bowman, fresh off a national title at Arizona State, took the job leading the Longhorn men, the places were in place for a quick rebound.
Returning from last season are Luke Hobson, the Olympic bronze medalist in the 200-meter free, and a pair of swimmers who were individual finalists at the NCAA Championships as freshman, Will Modglin and Nate Germonprez. Veteran Coby Carrozza was back for a fifth year. Hubert Kos, the Olympic gold medalist in the 200-meter back, was following Bowman from ASU, and two American Olympians joined the team, David Johnston (returning from redshirt) and Aaron Shackell (transfer). Freestyler Rex Maurer, another incoming transfer, looks like he will make an instant impact.
Chris Guiliano — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Texas also produces consistent diving points on the national level, so the one hole on this roster was sprint freestyle. Sure, Hobson can swim a fine 100 free, but it’s not at the level of his 200 and 500-yard work. Enter Guiliano and the 45 individual points he scored between the 50, 100 and 200 last year. He adds serious punch to sprint freestyle relays on which Modglin, Germonprez and Camden Taylor all played larger-than-expected roles as freshman last year.
The medley relays could feature Modglin on backstroke, Germonprez handling breaststroke and Kos on butterfly, and that’s three-quarters of an elite roster, capable of matching if not exceeding whatever Florida and Cal can open with. With the addition of Guiliano, he can anchor the 200 medley team with Hobson remaining on the 400 medley relay for strategy purposes. Sure, Guiliano would seem like an obvious upgrade on that team but only marginally when the alternative is Hobson, and having him skip this relay would free him up to swim on the 800 free relay.
The longest relay on the meet program is a signature event for Texas, and Hobson has previously been part of national-title-winning teams in both 2022 and 2023. Also part of both of those rosters was Carrozza, who has clocked splits in the 1:31-range or better each of the last three years. Maurer looks like a dynamite 200-yard swimmer after he clocked 1:32.13 to finish just behind Hobson at Texas’ dual meet against Indiana last week.
Add in Guiliano, and Texas is suddenly favored to regain this title, even with Cal returning the entire quartet that clocked the fastest time in history last season (Gabriel Jett, Destin Lasco, Jack Alexy and Robin Hanson). And unlike in the sprint events, Texas has significant mid-distance depth, so much that a B-team of Kos, Shackell, Germonprez and Taylor would probably finish top-five (or better) in the country.
Any high-level college swim team would welcome the addition of an Olympian, but a swimmer with the freestyle-based skillset of Guiliano is particularly valuable given the NCAA event lineup, with Guiliano likely to make huge waves in both individual events and relays. In Bowman’s first season in Austin, the team has reloaded, and Guiliano could be the piece that puts the Longhorns in the race for another title.