By Terin Frodyma on SwimSwam
2026 SMU Last Chance Invite
February 26 – March 1, 2026 Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center, Dallas, TX SCY (25 yards) “2026 SMY Last Chance Invite (W)” on Meet MobileA number of swimmers logged big swims in their final opportunities to earn their spot at the NCAA Championships later this month.
USC junior Lindsay Barnes jumped well into NCAA Championships contention with a near half-second best time in the 200 backstroke, taking the win in 1:52.55, making her the 24th fastest performer in the NCAA this season.
Prior to this Last Chance meet, Barnes had finished 4th at the Big Ten Women’s Championships a little more than a week ago in a (then) career best 1:52.95, a time that would be 35th in the nation today. In Dallas, she clocked a prelims 1:54.03 to secure the top seed in finals. Then she would blast her fastest 200 back in 1:52.55, her 2nd career best in less than two weeks.
Last season, the cutline sat at 1:53.31, and her current best would have finished 20th at the 2025 NCAA Championships.
Barnes’ 200 back has seen a major jump this season, having held a pre-season best of 1:55.78 from last season’s Big Ten Championships, and has since been under that time seven times as a junior. This would mark Barnes’ first NCAA qualification of her career.
Texas’ Inez Miller took four tenths off of her 200 freestyle lifetime best from the Texas Hall of Fame Invitational in November of 1:44.40 to take the event win in 1:44.00 and move up to the 43rd fastest performer in the NCAA this season, but still could find herself on the outside looking in.
She initially swam 1:44.51 in the prelims of the 200 free. But would then go on to clock the fastest time of her career in 1:44.09. With one more crack at the 200 free in a time trial, she would shave another nine hundredths off of that newly minted best in 1:44.00.
Miller swam the 200 free twice at the SEC Championships a little more than a week earlier, touching 13th in prelims in 1:45.96, qualifying her for the consolation final. Her finals swim would be significantly faster than the morning swim, jumping three spots to 10th, and nearly a second and a half faster than her prelims swim in 1:44.55.
Last season, the cutline was 37th, with 1:44.74 being the 37th-fastest time. That time last season would have sat tied for 19th prior to NCAAs. The path to an NCAA qualification will likely come down to the scratches. With names like Torri Huske and Anastasia Gorbenko ahead of her, there are scenarios in which she finds herself racing later this month at the NCAA Championships.
The Tar Heel women of North Carolina were well represented here. Leading the charge was senior Aislin Farris in the 400 IM, taking just a second and a half off of her best time to climb into the top 30 in the NCAA this season in 4:07.25 (30th).
Farris bested her former best from the 2025 ACC Championships of 4:08.60; she also raced at the 2025 NCAA Championships, finishing 23rd (4:08.97). This season, Farris had only recently logged a time under 4:10 when she touched in 4:09.83 at the ACC Swimming and Diving Championships last weekend. This time would have been 20th heading into last season’s NCAA championships.
Farris’ teammate Samantha Armand also crept into the top 30 in the NCAA this season, this time in the 100 breaststroke, taking three tenths off of her ACC Championships time of 59.51 to leapfrog into the top 30 performers this season in 59.19, placing her 29th in the country.
Prior to this meet, Texas A&M’s Ava Whitaker had not seen an improvement in the 200 fly since the beginning of the season, where she swam 1:55.01 in a dual meet with Houston in late October. In Dallas, she surged to a lifetime best and moved up to a tie with NC State’s Leah Shackley for 27th in the NCAA this season in 1:54.86. This move in the standings is crucial, as her previous 1:55.01 would only be tied for 32nd today.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Lindsay Barnes, Inez Miller, and Aislin Farris Each Shine in Dallas at SMU Last Chance Meet
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