As 2022 Comes To An End, Eddie Reese Challenges Texas Squad With Killer New Year’s Eve Sets

eddie-reese-
Texas coach Eddie Reese (center) next to associate head coach Wyatt Collins (left) -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Texas Men Set Sights on 2023 After Extremely Challenging New Year’s Eve Sets

As with many swim teams across the country, it has become a tradition with the University of Texas men’s team to swim arduous sets around New Year’s, and this year’s edition of Texas “fun day” took place on Saturday, December 31. Over the years, the challenges have changed. What once started as 20 x 50 butterfly on 35-second intervals evolved into similar sets of 65 x 50 fly on the same interval or 40 x 100 freestyle kick on 1:15. But Texas coach Eddie Reese deemed these sets too demanding, since they required nearly a week for swimmers to truly recover.

The past, too, has featured 14 x 50 backstroke on :30 and 20 x 50 breaststroke on :35. One year, Reese noted, a member of the women’s team at Texas joined in on the grind and completed 20 x 50 (five of each stroke) on :35. Another Texas female handled 20 x 50 fly/fly kick (swim one, kick one) on :35. And a member of Reese’s men’s program once did 20 x 50 fly kick on :35 with a board.

Nowadays, the Texas men start discussing options for their New Year’s set shortly after their midseason invitational, and Reese said that “the coaches take suggestions and make suggestions” on possible sets. All require extreme physical effort and mental toughness to complete successfully, and the team members are vocally supportive of one another. This year’s sets included:

  • 12 x 100 backstroke on 1:00
  • 10 x 100 breaststroke on 1:10
  • 20 x 200 freestyle on 2:00: 1st 10 averaging 1:47; next 10 averaging 1:45
  • 500 free on 5:00, 5 x 100 free on :55, 2 x 50 easy on 1:00, and then repeating the same pattern with a 400, 300, 200 and 100
  • 4 rounds: 3 x 50 fly on 30 + 50 easy on 1:00
  • 10 rounds: 100 free on :55 (averaging :50) + 100 free kick on 1:25
  • 10 rounds: 1000 free on :55 + 25 easy on :25

The Texas men’s program has been one of the most successful in the country since Reese took over as head coach, having won 15 national titles (including five of the last seven championships) plus 13 runnerup finishes. Texas has finished in the top-two at eight consecutive NCAA Championships and 10 of the last 13, and this year’s team, led by individual medley specialist Carson Foster and breaststroker Caspar Corbeau, is expected to continue that trend.

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Rich Q
Rich Q
1 year ago

1000 free on :55 ??

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