Bob Bowman “Begs” Rex Maurer to Go Out Faster in the 500 | SwimSwam

By Madeline Folsom on SwimSwam

2025 Men’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships

• March 26-29, 2025
• Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatics Center, Federal Way, Washington
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Start Times: Prelims: 10 AM ׀ Finals: 6 PM (Pacific Daylight Time)
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  • Prelims: Day 2
  • Finals: Day 1

Rex Maurer won the men’s 500 freestyle tonight, and on the live broadcast after the race, spectators could hear Texas head coach Bob Bowman telling Maurer “you have to go out faster, you have to.”

Men’s 500 Freestyle – Finals

• NCAA Record: 4:02.31 – Leon Marchand, Arizona State (2024)
• Championship Record: 4:02.31 – Leon Marchand, Arizona State (2024)
• American Record: 4:04.45 – Rex Maurer, Texas (2024)
• U.S. Open Record: 4:02.31 – Leon Marchand, Arizona State (2024)
• 2024 Champion: Leon Marchand, Arizona State – 4:02.31
• 2024 Time to Final: 4:11.11/4:13.00

Top 8:

1. Rex Maurer (Texas) – 4:05.35
2. Luke Hobson (Texas) – 4:06.34
3. Lucas Henveaux (Cal) – 4:06.74
4. Jake Magahey (Georgia) – 4:09.03
5. Tomas Koski (Georgia) – 4:09.15
6. Charlie Hawke (Alabama) – 4:09.58
7. Zalan Sarkany (Indiana) – 4:09.69
8. Jovan Lekic (LSU) – 4:10.55

Maurer, the American Record Holder, swam the race exactly the way he always swims it, he went out with the rest of the field before he began separating himself right around the halfway mark, nearly negative splitting it coming in at 2:02.58 and 2:02.77.

When he broke the American record in the fall, his 250s were 2:02.08 and 2:02.37.

Not everyone was thrilled with his performance, however, primarily his coach Bob Bowman. Bowman is also primary coach of the current NCAA record holder Leon Marchand, who went 4:02.31 to win the event at last year’s meet, and he firmly believes that if Maurer wants to break the record, he needs to go out faster. This was evident in his comments on the livestream, but Maurer himself has said that Bowman has practically begged him to go out faster before.

Earlier this month, Maurer was the guest on the Unfiltered Waters podcast where he spoke to Missy Franklin and Katie Hoff about his 500 freestyle pacing.

At the 12:40 mark Hoff started the conversation, asking how he stays patient at the beginning of mid-distance and distance races. Maurer started laughing and said “It’s funny, Bob –sometimes it feels like begs– me to go out harder, and he’s just like ‘Maybe just try on the first 250 and then we’ll see what happens on the last 250.'”

Maurer went on to talk about the way that he sees the 500, saying the race is like his “baby”, and he’s swam it so many times he knows his race strategy like the back of his hand. He also said that he felt like his 2nd 100 was the place where he had the biggest room for improvement, as it was his only 100 that was still over the 50 second mark.

In November, he went 50.16 on the 2nd 100. Tonight, he was 50.18 and his 3rd 100 was also over 50 seconds at 50.33.

When looking at the split comparison of Maurer and Marchand, it is clear that the beginning of the race is where the biggest difference lies.

Split	Leon Marchand, 4:02.31, 2024 NCAA Championships (NCAA Record)		Rex Maurer, 4:04.45, 2024 Texas Hall of Fame Invite (American Record)		Rex Maurer, 4:05.35, 2025 NCAA Championships
50	21.09		22.24		22.50
100	23.53 (44.62)	44.62	24.82 (47.06)	47.06	24.80 (47.30)	47.30
150	23.99 (1:08.61)		25.12 (1:12.18)		24.88 (1:12.18)
200	24.51 (1:33.12)	48.50	25.04 (1:37.22)	50.16	25.30 (1:37.48)	50.18
250	24.82 (1:57.94)		24.86 (2:02.08)		25.10 (2:02.58)
300	24.37 (2:22.31)	49.19	24.96 (2:27.04)	49.82	25.23 (2:27.81)	50.33
350	24.87 (2:47.18)		24.80 (2:51.84)		24.83 (2:52.64)
400	25.12 (3:12.30)	49.99	24.75 (3:16.59)	49.55	24.77 (3:17.41)	49.60
450	25.46 (3:37.76)		24.41 (3:41.00)		24.15 (3:41.56)
500	24.55 (4:02.31)	50.01	23.45 (4:04.45)	47.86	23.79 (4:05.35	47.94

Maurer obviously has a stronger back 200, but on both 500s he was around five seconds behind Marchand at the 300 mark. How far behind is too far to catch up? Bowman clearly thinks five seconds is too much.

Maurer also doesn’t really start passing Marchand’s splits until after the 300 mark, giving him only 200 yards to make up that time. If he wants to make up five seconds in a 200, he would need to be 1.25 seconds faster each 50 at the end. He never meets that mark.

In his post race press interview, Maurer addressed these comments from Bowman, saying “He really wants me to try and be more aggressive and kind of take control of the race, right from the get go…take the lead and not give it back, and really just keep expanding it.”

He admitted that it’s a bad habit and he likes to sit back and “do what I know works.” He finished by saying that moving forward he will need to work on it, “just kind of taking out, trusting myself a little bit more, to really start descending right from the start.”

You can watch his whole post-race interview here:

Watch the Unfiltered Waters episode:

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