The upcoming dual meet on January 28th between the Texas and Arizona men just got a bit more interesting. Check out the Arizona roster, and you’ll notice a new name – Former Texas Longhorn Miles “Woody” Joye.

The sophomore Joye competed for Texas as recently as the December 1st Hall of Fame Invitational for the Longhorns, a meet where Arizona stole all of the headlines.

Joye will begin competing for Arizona at the Wildcats’ huge dual meets against Cal and Stanford on Friday and Saturday. This is a major tip in the NCAA battle.

Joye, who placed 21st at NCAA’s last year in the 100 fly with a 46.70, was expected to be a major contributor for the Longhorns this year. He would have likely scored in at least two NCAA events (the 100 fly and 200 IM), and probably held a few relay spots as well. Last year, he was on the Longhorns’ 400 and 800 free relays at Nationals, though he would’ve had a battle to hold onto those spots against Texas freshmen Kip Darmody and Clay Youngquist.

He was also on Texas’ 200 medley relay last year at NCAA’s, a spot where Texas likely were counting on him to swim again. He also would’ve been a big contender for the butterfly spot on the Texas 400 medley. Those look to be the weakest legs of both medley, and things may have juts gotten a bit tougher for them (though Neil Caskey is swimming well).

For Arizona, this will add an NCAA individual scorer first and foremost. With Giles Smith swimming well, they don’t need an A-relay butterflier, but what they desperately need is another 200 freestyler to their 800 free relay that placed 8th at NCAA’s last year. Joye would have been the 2nd-fastest leg on that relay at NCAA’s, and will serve to fill the noticeable hole left by Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or sitting the season out to train for the Olympics.

Not only does this make the dual meet more interesting, the battle for the NCAA Championship just got a whole lot tighter. This is the latest huge success for new Arizona coach Eric Hansen, who has swept into town and not missed a step from the legendary tenure of Frank Busch.

Joye, who is one of the best swimmers to ever come out of the state of Alabama, is a former YMCA National Champion in the 400 IM.

This is a further boost to Arizona who got back top-tier sprinter Adam Small at their recent meet against Iowa. He swam a 20.62 in the 50 and a 48.52 in the 100 in his first meet back, and is capable of a top-3 finish in the 5 free at Nationals. Noticably, AJ Tipton is no longer on the Arizona roster (he was a scorer at NCAA’s), though he hadn’t competed for the Wildcats this season.

As of posting time, Texas still listed Joye on their roster.

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