LumaLanes Performance of the Week: Ally Howe Breaks 15-Year-Old Mark

ally-howe-award-100-back-american-record

Photo Courtesy: Chuckarelei / Pac-12

Fifteen years. That’s how long is has been since Cal legend Natalie Coughlin blasted past the 50 second barrier to post an otherworldly American and NCAA record in the 100 backstroke. Before this weekend, no other woman had been able to crack that elusive mark, but now Stanford junior Ally Howe has added her name to the record books and taken down Coughlin’s last short course yards American record.

Hitting the wall in 49.69, Howe took nearly 3-tenths off of Coughlin’s long-held record on the third night of the 2017 Pac-12 Conference Championships. There had been plenty of near misses, including one from teammate Janet Hu earlier that day in prelims when she moved up to fourth all-time with a 50.29. More than a few NCAA Champions had gotten close, including Cal’s own Rachel Bootsma and Virginia’s Courtney Bartholomew, who 50.01 from 2014 had remained the second fastest performance up until Howe’s swim. But the junior was the one to finally bust through that barrier, knocking down a record that was set when she was just six years old.

Howe has had an impressive improvement curve since coming to Stanford, dropping about a second off her 100 backstroke each year she’s been in college and finishing third in the 100 back at NCAA’s last year with a 50.86. But when swimming on a team with multiple Olympians, Olympic gold medalists, and world record holders (not to mention the most dominant athlete in swimming right now, Katie Ledecky), it takes something special to stand out. While Stanford had plenty of notable performances this week, Howe’s was truly the most impressive when considering the magnitude of the record she took down.

With the focus now shifting to NCAA’s, Howe will enter the meet as the top seed in the 100 back by a half-second. Following her race, head coach Greg Meehan suggested that Howe may have another drop in her, commenting that they rested her less for Pac-12’s relative to last year. But regardless of whether or not she drops the record lower in a few weeks, Howe has etched her name in the record books and potentially opened the floodgates for more women to join her under 50 seconds.

Congratulations Ally Howe on earning Swimming World’s Performance of the Week!

Special Thanks to LumaLanes for sponsoring Swimming World’s Performance of the Week.

Learn More About LumaLanes

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use