- The Swimnerd Newsletter
- Posts
- SCY Record Breakers: MacNeil, Crooks, Douglass, Ramadan, Walsh
SCY Record Breakers: MacNeil, Crooks, Douglass, Ramadan, Walsh
ACC's/SEC's/B1G 10's + Don Swartz on the Pod
SWIM NERD
February 20, 2023
Morning, Nerd.
Welcome to the Swimnerd Newsletter where each week we highlight the most interesting stuff going on in swimming. This week...
🌎Fast Swims Around the World
📰 Swimming Headlines
📜 Set of the Week
🤡 Swimming Meme of the Week
This Week in Swimming is brought to you by D-Band. Used by top swimming programs like Texas, UVA and Cal, D-Band is an essential part of any world class swimmers' training equipment. It develops upper body strength while improving technique, balance, and endurance. When using the D-Band you can't correct your balance by using your legs. You are forced to use your entire body to maintain proper posture. Team boxes available!
🏊♀️FAST SWIMS AROUND THE WORLD 🌎
Victorian LC Championships
At the Victorian LC Championships (Australia) Tokyo Olympic gold medalist, Kaylee McKeown posted fast times in multiple events. The 21-year-old swam 1:06.86 in the 100m Breaststroke 🥇, 54.66 in the 100 Free 🥇, 57.93 in the 100 Back 🥇, and 1:58.21 in the 200 Free 🥇. She had two prelim-only swims this week in the 200 Breast (2:29.76) and the 200 IM (2:15.43). Great start for her in 2023.
Also participating in the meet was short-course world champion, Isaac Cooper. Cooper had a few fine swims with the highlight of his meet coming in the 50m backstroke where he won in a time of 24.91.
Lithuanian Winter Championships
Lithuanian Legend Danas Rapsys was in action this week at the Lithuanian Winter Championships. He swam both the 100 and 200m freestyle and won both. In the 200, Rapsys posted 1:46.73 which puts him as the second-fastest in the world this year behind Italy's Thomas Ceccon (1:46.52). Rapsys also won the 100m Free at 49.02 besting his previous best time of 49.04.
Konami Open
At the 2023 Konami Open, the Japanese swimming superstars came out to play. Here are some of the highlights:
Katsuhiro Matsumoto won the 200m Free in 1:46.71 (third-fastest time in the world this year) and 100 Fly in 51.74 (Fastest time in the world). Second in the 100 fly was Tomoru Honda in 51.82.
The ageless Ryosuke Irie won the men's 100m Back in 53.47.
Winning the women's 50m free was Chihiro Igarashi in a quick 25.21.
Kanako Watanabe won the women's 200m Breaststroke in 2:24.31.
Tomoru Honda also won the 200m fly in 🔥1:54.00🔥 - which, by the way, is the world's fastest time by nearly 2.5 seconds.
Cal vs. Stanford
The Cal men kicked Stanford's teeth in this weekend during the final dual of the season. After getting thrashed by ASU a couple weeks ago, they posted some seriously fast dual meet times:
Belgium's Lucas Henveaux broke the school record in the 1000 (8:45.3)
Destin Lasco blasted 44.7/1:38.2 in the backstrokes
Gabriel Jett went 45.2/1:39.9 in the fly events
Bjorn Seeliger split 40.6 on a relay
SEC's, ACC's, and B1G 10's
We'll go into greater detail on the happenings of all the conference meets tomorrow during the College Swimming Roundup, but as for the big three this week, a LOT happened.
Jordan Crooks (Tennessee) and Maggie MacNeil (LSU) were named swimmers of the meet in the SEC after historic performances by each of them. MacNeil swimming 22.5 in the 50 back (relay) and splitting the fastest time ever in the 100 free in the final relay (45.2).
Crooks split 18.9 in the FLY portion of the medley relay (first person ever) and won the 50 free in 17.93 - becoming only the second man in history to swim sub-18.
In the end, Florida's men captured their 11th straight SEC team title and Florida's women won their first team title since 2009. Interestingly to note, the last time both the Florida men and women's teams won the SEC team titles was in 1993.
In the ACC, Kate Douglass (UVA) and Youssef Ramadan (Va Tech) were named swimmers of the meet. Douglass won all of her events including the 200 IM in the second-fastest ever swim of 1:50.15, the 100 fly (48.84) American and NCAA Record, and the 100 free in the third-fastest time ever of 45.86.
Youssef Ramadan put up some of the fastest times in the nation as well. He placed second in the 50 free in 18.82, won the 100 fly in 43.93 (top time in the country), and won the 100 free in 41.33 (third in the nation this year).
UVA's women dominated the meet easily winning the team's 4th straight title. NC State won the men's team title, making it two in a row - and 8 of the last 9.
In B1G news, the women's side had their meet this week with THE Ohio State University taking the title over Indiana and the host, the University of Michigan. This makes it 4x in a row for the Buckeyes.
Unofficially the likely swimmer of the meet goes to OSU's Katherine Zenick. She scored 91 points for the buckeye women and six wins (including relays) out of her seven races. Individually, Zenick won the 50 free in 21.85 and the 100 fly in 51.48. In the 100 free, she placed third in a time of 47.92 (47.37 in prelims). In addition, she contributed to four buckeye relay wins in the 200 medley relay (1:33.95 - 22.60 butterfly split), 400 Medley Relay (3:26.68 - 50.72 butterfly split), 200 Freestyle Relay (1:26.70 - 22.08 Lead-Off split), and the 400 Freestyle Relay (3:10.12 - 47.57 Lead-Off Split).
BRETT HAWKE CLIPS OF THE WEEK
This week on INSIDE with BRETT HAWKE...
This morning at 8AM EST...Dive Inside LIVE!
Brett and Sonny discuss what's been going on in the world of swimming. Join us live every Monday to catch up with the top swimming stories across the globe.
On Tuesday...Episode #301...Quantum Leaps in Swimming: An Interview with Don Swartz!
Don Swartz got his start as a club coach in 1967 when he worked with George French at the Ladera Oaks Aquatic Club in Northern California as an age group coach. After living in Davis, California, he moved to Marin County to become the Head Coach of the Marin Aquatic Club. From 1970 to 1976, he coached a number of swimmers who went on to make the Olympic, World Championship, and Pan-American teams. Some of these swimmers set world records.
One of his swimmers, Rick DeMont, broke the 4-minute mark in the 400-meter freestyle race at the World Championships in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in 1973. He was the first person to do this.The Marin Aquatic Club had a lot of high school All-Americans and usually finished in the top 10 at the AAU National Championships. Don was on the Board of the ASCA and spoke at a number of World Clinics for the ASCA. He was a coach on the teams for the 1975 World Championships and the 1977 dual meets in East Germany and Russia for the national teams.
Don started the Creative Performance Institute in 1977. For eight years, it was his main job to teach coaches and athletes about the mental side of sports. In his workshops, he talked about things like setting goals, taking risks, dealing with anxiety, and visualizing.
📝 SWIM SET OF THE WEEK
Today's set is something I love to do with the Navy FTP guys at least once a month. It's an extremely fun, challenging set. Each swimmer has their own personal record of how far down they can get down the ladder. We also have a team record. Nobody has yet to complete the entire thing. We've had one guy beat the :34 second interval and two guys to beat the :35 second interval.
30x50's LCM Kick with Fins and a Board
#1 is on :59
#2 is on :58
#3 is on :57
#30 is on :30
Once you miss the interval, you must take your fins off and tread water for the remainder of the time.
To do this set, it is recommended you have a Swimnerd Pace Clock so you can easily input the ladder set in a matter of a couple of seconds...
🤡 SWIMMING MEME(S) OF THE WEEK
Gretchen Walsh:
— Jacob (@JakeSwinn)
Feb 16, 2023
Eddie Reese watching the Florida men’s 400 MR
— Jacob (@JakeSwinn)
Feb 18, 2023
What is your favorite part of, "This Week in Swimming"?
Click on a link to tell us...