NISCA All-American Showcase: 1991 Bolles Boys, 1987 Germantown Girls Posts Special 400 Free Relays

PHOENIX, Arizona, July 18. 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, we’re end the series with a look at the 400-yard free relay. The 1991 Bolles boys and the 1987 Germantown girls had some special swims in their day.

Bolles’ 1991 swim has always been surrounded by controversy. At the time, the quartet of Gustavo Borges (43.80), Matt Guyot (45.30), Enrico Linscheer (45.30) and Charlie Santostefano (45.40) became the first high school team to break the three-minute barrier with a 2:59.98 at the Eastern Interscholastic Championships in Philadelphia.

That year, the time was honored as the top time on the NISCA All-American lists, but throughout the years, it has never been seen as the actual national high school record. Since the swim occurred outside of Bolles’ actual high school season, with Florida competing in the Fall, the time was not recognized as the record-holder.

It would take more than 20 years before a team broke 3:00 with an actual recognized record time of 2:59.76 from New Trier. The following year, after all the hubbub about whether New Trier should be recognized as the first high school team to break the barrier or not, Bolles eliminated all doubt by putting the record into a new stratosphere.

The foursome of Ryan Murphy (42.95), Santo Condorelli (43.11), Josh Booth (44.67) and Joseph Schooling (43.70) stunned the nation with a hard-to-believe time of 2:54.43. Murphy, who could have had more of an impact as an individual, swam a full load of relays to make sure that Bolles had the most epic set of national records in a single high school meet.

Here’s footage of the historic 2:54.43 courtesy of Bolles head coach Sergio Lopez:

Bolles’ 1991 time truly was ahead of its time as it would still have placed third this year on the NISCA All-American list. Granada (2:59.00) and Chesterton (2:59.36) were the two teams to break 3:00 this year.

BOYS 400 FREE RELAY TOP TIMES PER YEAR
1974, 3:07.6, Santa Clara
1975, 3:07.53, Hinsdale Central
1976, 3:08.74, Jacksonville-Episcopal
1977, 3:05.41, Bolles School
1978, 3:07.89, San Marino
1979, 3:04.87, Mission Viejo
1980, 3:03.29, Lynbrook
1981, 3:04.82, Mission Viejo
1982, 3:03.057, Mercersburg
1983, 3:03.34, Mission Viejo
1984, 3:03.20, Mercersburg
1985, 3:05.86, Mission Viejo
1986, 3:05.44, Leland
1987, 3:02.61, Mercersburg
1988, 3:06.43, Winston Churchill
1989, 3:02.12, Bolles School
1990, 3:01.68, Bolles School
1991, 2:59.98, Bolles School
1992, 3:02.90, Peddie School
1993, 3:04.77, Kingwood
1994, 3:02.62, Kingwood
1995, 3:03.81, Peddie School
1996, 3:03.88, Mission Viejo
1997, 3:04.14, Cypress Creek
1998, 3:03.70, St. Francis DeSales
1999, 3:01.80, St. Francis DeSales
2000, 3:01.80, Bolles School
2001, 3:02.34, Saint Xavier
2002, 3:04.24, Carmel
2003, 3:03.74, Lake Forest
2004, 3:03.43, Carmel
2005, 3:05.38, Eden Prairie
2006, 3:04.12, North Central
2007, 3:05.00, Mission Viejo
2008, 3:03.76, Yucaipa
2009, 3:00.68, Saratoga
2010, 3:02.37, Plano
2011, 3:00.71, Hershey
2012, 2:59.76, New Trier
2013, 2:54.43, Bolles School
2014, 2:59.00, Granada

The 1987 Germantown Academy girls posted one of the most epic swims in high school history with their sizzling 3:24.74 at the Eastern Interscholastic Championships that year. The foursome of Jennifer Greer, Suzy Buckovich, Jeanne Gibbons and Trina Radke cleared the national high school record by nearly two seconds with Fort Lauderdale having posted a 3:26.48 in 1982.

That performance would stand as the fastest high school swim in the event until 2003 when Irvine came along with a 3:24.64 to lower the record. Just three years later, Germantown would return with another barrier-breaker as the 2006 team of Katie Riefenstahl, Sara Coenen, Teresa Crippen and Alicia Aemisegger would pushed that record down to 3:22.34.

Germantown’s 1987 time of 3:24.74 would still rank 13th in the nation this year on the NISCA All-American lists, while its 2006 time would have ranked sixth in the country.

GIRLS 400 FREE RELAY TOP TIMES PER YEAR
1974, 3:35.1, Pine Crest
1975, 3:33.7, Pine Crest
1976, 3:34.35, Clear Lake
1977, 3:34.78, Mission Viejo
1978, 3:31.35, Mission Viejo
1979, 3:31.69, Wilson
1980, 3:29.88, Mission Viejo
1981, 3:28.91, Mission Viejo
1982, 3:32.26, Peddie School
1983, 3:26.48, Fort Lauderdale
1984, 3:29.23, Mercersburg
1985, 3:31.19, Bolles School
1986, 3:29.32, Mission Viejo
1987, 3:24.74, Germantown Academy
1988, 3:25.30, Pine Crest
1989, 3:27.81, Peddie School
1990, 3:25.80, Peddie School
1991, 3:27.98, Peddie School
1992, 3:27.45, Germantown Academy
1993, 3:26.99, Pine Crest
1994, 3:26.92, Germantown Academy
1995, 3:26.92, Carmel
1996, 3:27.74, Bolles School
1997, 3:24.08, Bolles School
1998, 3:26.66, Bolles School
1999, 3:25.69, Bolles School
2000, 3:24.82, Bolles School
2001, 3:27.71, Ursuline
2002, 3:27.25, New Trier
2003, 3:24.64, Irvine
2004, 3:27.91, Archbishop Mitty
2005, 3:24.84, Germantown Academy
2006, 3:22.34, Germantown Academy
2007, 3:25.57, Westlake
2008, 3:23.10, Westlake
2009, 3:23.53, Monta Vista
2010, 3:23.86, Edison
2011, 3:22.42, Regis Jesuit
2012, 3:22.99, Baylor School
2013, 3:20.42, Carondelet
2014, 3:21.20, 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 final day of 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, purchase back issues of Swimming World Magazine!

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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GermantownRules

9 years ago

Great Job with this series Swimming World!

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Jason Marsteller

9 years ago

Reply to GermantownRules

Thanks, GermantownRules! It was a fun series to do!