NISCA All-American Showcase: Mercersburg, Irvine Clock Historic 200 Medley Relays

PHOENIX, Arizona, July 8. AS part of our 11-day series highlighting the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association’s release of the 2013-14 All-America lists, Swimming World will also be looking at the history of each event that is part of the high school schedule. Today marks a look back at the 200-yard medley relays.

Mercersburg Academy was well ahead of its time in 1992 in the boys 200-yard medley relay. Swimming at the 92nd Eastern Championships at LaSalle University in Philadelphia in late February, the foursome of seniors Zasha Robles, (22.98), Mike Kidd (25.54) and Brian Craft (22.29) and junior Greg Gipson (20.29) combined for a 1:31.10.The old independent school mark, which was the fastest high school time ever, was 1:31.88 by Peddie (N.J.) in 1990.

Even though several teams would make a run at the record throughout the years, including back-to-back 1:31s from The Woodlands (1:31.25, 1999) and Saint Xavier (1:31.22, 2000), it wasn’t until 2010 when The Bolles School finale swam pasts the mark with a 1:29.79. The time has since been revolutionized in the past five years, with Baylor pushing it all the way to a 1:27.74 this past year. But, Mercersburg’s time still holds up even against today’s standards. It would rank ninth in the NISCA All-American rankings this year.

BOYS 200 MEDLEY RELAY TOP TIMES PER YEAR
1974, 1:35.3, Santa Clara
1975, 1:33.89, Santa Clara
1976, 1:35.88, Jacksonville-Episcopal
1977, 1:35.40, Nova
1978, 1:35.29, Wilson
1979, 1:35.49, Memorial
1980, 1:34.62, Memorial
1981, 1:35.391, Peddie School
1982, 1:34.86, Bolles School
1983, 1:34.866, Mercersburg
1984, 1:33.87, Mercersburg
1985, 1:35.02, Peddie School
1986, 1:34.46, St. Joseph’s
1987, 1:34.52, Mercersburg
1988, 1:33.82, Mercersburg
1989, 1:33.21, Bellarmine Prep
1990, 1:31.88, Peddie School
1991, 1:32.47, Peddie School
1992, 1:31.10, Mercersburg
1993, 1:33.64, Mercersburg
1994, 1:31.98, Kingwood
1995, 1:32.85, Peddie School
1996, 1:32.68, Cyrpress Creek
1997, 1:31.94, Brother Rice
1998, 1:32.07, Bolles School
1999, 1:31.25, The Woodlands
2000, 1:31.22, Saint Xavier
2001, 1:32.89, Saint Xavier
2002, 1:33.05, Carmel
2003, 1:33.65, Carmel
2004, 1:33.40, Carmel
2005, 1:33.30, Upper Arlington
2006, 1:32.29, Westlake
2007, 1:33.39, New Trier
2008, 1:32.05, Chesterton
2009, 1:31.52, Baylor School
2010, 1:29.79, Bolles School
2011, 1:30.78, Bolles School
2012, 1:30.17, Bolles School
2013, 1:28.02, Bolles School
2014, 1:27.74, Baylor School

Irvine High, under head coach Scott Hinman, had a strong three-year run in the girls 200-yard medley relay in the early 2000s, including the first high school sub-1:44 in the sport. His quartet of Diana MacManus, Jane Hwang, Flora Kong and Courtney Cashion raced their way to a 1:43.71 in 2002. That swim smashed the previous record of 1:44.74 Upper Arlington in Ohio had set a few months prior.

“When our national record was broken in February, that got everyone motivated,” Hinman told Swimming World in the August 2002 issue. “Something like that can really get everyone focused. It’s a good team motivator. Our girls wanted to break the medley relay record again by such a great margin that it would take a long time for any other team to break it.”

The time would manage to hold up until 2005 when Arrowhead came along with a 1:43.16 in 2005. Arrowhead’s swim sparked a huge revision of the national record yet to come as Arrowhead then went 1:42.71 in 2006. In less than a decade since then, Carmel (1:40.83) and Carondelet (1:40.73, 1:40.80) have pushed the top mark into the 1:40s.

Irvine appeared on the cover of our August 2002 issue after winning the Swimming World High School National Championship.

GIRLS 200 MEDLEY RELAY TOP TIMES PER YEAR
1974, 1:52.5, Seabreeze
1975, 1:51.10, Pine Crest
1976, 1:51.26, Upper Dublin
1977, 1:51.50, Upper Dublin
1978, 1:48.62, Mission Viejo
1979, 1:48.65, Wilson
1980, 1:48.93, Capistrano Valley
1981, 1:47.62, Buchholz
1982, 1:47.58, Capistrano Valley
1983, 1:43.028, Mercersburg
1984, 1:47.48, Bolles School
1985, 1:47.06, Henry Foss
1986, 1:47.25, Germantown Academy
1987, 1:47.04, Carmel
1988, 1:46.02, St. Andrew’s School
1989, 1:45.73, Carmel
1990, 1:45.78, Peddie School
1991, 1:46.51, Oak Hills
1992, 1:45.54, Americus
1993, 1:45.33, Bolles School
1994, 1:45.50, Xavier Prep
1995, 1:45.40, Bolles School
1996, 1:45.26, Xavier Prep
1997, 1:45.18, Shadow Mountain
1998, 1:45.01, Bolles School
1999, 1:45.09, Cherry Creek
2000, 1:45.33, Germantown Academy
2001, 1:44.80, Irvine
2002, 1:43.71, Irvine
2003, 1:44.01, Irvine
2004, 1:44.20, Arrowhead
2005, 1:43.16, Arrowhead
2006, 1:42.71, Arrowhead
2007, 1:43.38, Peddie School
2008, 1:42.77, Las Lomas
2009, 1:41.63, Baylor School
2010, 1:40.80, Carondelet
2011, 1:40.73, Carondelet
2012, 1:41.01, Holland
2013, 1:41.17, Carmel
2014, 1:40.83, Carmel

2013-14 NISCA Girls High School All-Americans

2013-14 NISCA Boys High School All-Americans

NOTE: All America times have to be submitted to NISCA by a certain deadline in order to make the 2014 All-American list. Coaches can submit times here: http://www.niscaonline.org/aaswimming/. Corrections can also be submitted to NISCA via three emails: Boys Swimming contact: boysswaa@niscaonline.org; Girls Swimming contact: girlsswaa@niscaonline.org; Boys and Girls Diving contact: aadiving@niscaonline.org

This is the first day of what will be an 11-day showcase of the NISCA All-American program. Swimming World is proud to partner with NISCA to provided a global spotlight on high school swimming in the U.S., and will be talking to some of the top movers-and-shakers in high school swimming this week as part of the Morning Swim Show. Additionally, we’ll be taking a look back at some of the best of the best high school swimmers historically.

To access high school All-Americans all the way back through 1974, subscribe for a Total Access membership with Swimming World!

For more incredible high school content, make sure to subscribe to Swimming World TODAY to make sure you get our High School Swimmers of the Year (August) and High School National Champions of the Year (September) issues.

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