How They Train: The Practice Sets of the Naval Academy’s Caleb Mauldin

How They Train: The Practice Sets of the Naval Academy’s Caleb Mauldin

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Submarine posting may be known as the silent service, but there was nothing quiet about the performances of Midshipman Caleb Mauldin while swimming for the Naval Academy. Mauldin completed his academic time in Annapolis with impressive showings at February’s Patriot League Championships, helping the Middies win for the 18th straight year.

In his individual events, Mauldin won the 100 yard backstroke (46.12) and finished third in both the 100 freestyle (43.92) and 100 butterfly (47.12). For context, he holds eight of the top times in Navy history in the 100 back and three of the top 10 in the 200 back, and he also ranks eighth in the 100 fly.

“Where he excelled was on relays,” says his coach, Bill Roberts. “He would often set the tone as a backstroker.” At the PLC meet, Mauldin led off both winning medley relays with backstroke splits of 21.50 and 46.00. “If he swam fly or free, he was one of our most reliable and exciting relay swimmers.” In the 200 (second) and 400 freestyle relays (first), Mauldin registered anchor splits of 19.97 and 43.01.

“Caleb is one of the most dedicated athletes I have ever coached,” says Roberts. “He is a terrific student of the sport. He takes any piece of information or idea and pursues it to its fullest. It is the reason he improved in multiple events while at Navy.

“He came to us as a very skilled underwater swimmer from Coach Steve Bialorucki’s program at ODAC (Old Dominion Aquatic Club, Va.) and continued to get better. In our kick sets, we had a hard time keeping up with him, as he essentially met any interval we threw at him. Fins or no fins, front side/backside, dolphin or flutter, Caleb was operating in the fastest interval lanes at all times. During his senior year, he began wearing two pairs of socks—one over his feet and one over his ankles. This was a terrific addition and was a challenge he mastered.

“One area where he may have struggled was during the middle of a training cycle. His effort was always there. However, with a limited number of meets, he just could not replicate his traditional performances in the midst of high training.

“Yet Caleb was very resilient. Freshman year during our winter training camp, he had an emergency appendectomy. After several weeks, he returned to training, nearly regained peak form, and was named rookie of the Patriot League Championships. As a senior against Army, he set pool (breaking Michael Phelps’ record), meet, league and Service Academy records with his 45.82 in the 100 back,” says Roberts.

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