Carson Foster is NOT Swimming at This Week’s Big 12 Championships

By Braden Keith on SwimSwam

The bomb I did not expect upon my inbox on a Monday morning before the Big 12 Championships begin: “Is Carson Foster swimming??”

Around 9AM, my phone blew up with the declaration that Olympian Carson Foster would be swimming at this week’s Big 12 Championships, but it turned out to be a false alarm, according to individuals in the Foster camp.

“One last dance with (Jake Foster),” read on Instagram, with the two brothers smiling on a pool deck at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.

SwimSwam reached out to people in Foster’s camp to confirm, because swimmers have been known to leave opaque messages about their futures in the sport, and it’s good we did. The camp confirmed Carson’s NCAA career is over and that neither brother was swimming at the Westmont Pro Swim Series stop the following week either.

The news was not hard to believe – Jake Foster was supposed to be done with his Texas Longhorn career too, initially opting to skip his 5th year of eligibility to focus on Olympic training before matriculating to medical school. Then he showed up at a dual meet in January and swam an NCAA season-leading time.

Carson, meanwhile, is a few weeks off an appearance at the World Championships as part of an abbreviated American team. There he took silver in the 200 IM, bronze in the men’s 400 free relay, and bronze in the men’s 800 free relay. He also placed 4th in the 400 IM.

His brother Jake took gold medals via prelims legs on the men’s 400 medley and mixed 400 medley relays.

Carson would have provided a huge boost to the Longhorns, who via graduations, transfers, Olympic redshirts, and retirements are left thinner-than-normal this year. At last year’s NCAA Championship meet, they were 3rd – snapping a nine-year streak of finishing in the top two. Foster was the team’s second-leading scorer with 42 points. Along with their top scorer David Johnston (43 points) and the graduated Caspar Corbeau, the Longhorns lost three of their top four from NCAAs last season, who combined for 120 points.

The Longhorns are still expected to dominate the Big 12 Championships, which begin Tuesday in Morgantown, West Virginia. All Big 12 students are admitted free with a student ID.

SwimSwam: Carson Foster is NOT Swimming at This Week’s Big 12 Championships