Swimming World August 2021 Presents – The Male High School Swimmer of the Year: Aiden Hayes

Swimming World August 2021 - Male High School Swimmer of the Year - Aiden Hayes

Male High School Swimmer of the Year, Aiden Hayes [PHOTO BY PETER H. BICK]

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The Swimming World August 2021 Issue Presents

The Male High School Swimmer of the Year: Aiden Hayes

By Dan D’Addona

Everything appears to be OK for Norman North (Okla.) High School senior Aiden Hayes. He set two national high school records (100 fly and 50 free) this past season. He competed and gained experience at the U.S. Olympic Trials as the fastest 18-year-old in the country in butterfly. And he was named Swimming World’s Male High School Swimmer of the Year.

Aiden Hayes was an under-the-radar swimmer coming from an under-the-radar state. But after a stellar high school season and spot at the U.S. Olympic Trials, he is putting himself and the state of Oklahoma on the map.

It has been quite a year for the senior from Norman North High School.

Hayes set two national high school records at the Oklahoma state championships and was selected as Swimming World’s Male High School Swimmer of the Year.

“It is a really big deal,” Hayes said. “Oklahoma doesn’t get the recognition in swimming. It is definitely not the biggest sport, or even top five. But it has started to pick up around the state.

“It started a few years ago, and now Patrick Callan (a University of Michigan senior who’s from Owasso, Okla.) follows that up as one of two Olympians from Oklahoma.

“It is two Olympics in a row that we put someone on the Olympic team (the first was Oklahoma City’s David Plummer in 2016). To bring that experience back to Oklahoma is huge. I looked up to Patrick when I was younger, and to bring that fast swimming to Oklahoma has elevated our sport as a whole.

“It was a really big deal. I was obviously excited about it. To be up there with Joseph Schooling, Ryan Hoffer and Caeleb Dressel is pretty awesome. I am really excited about that!”

So was Sooner Swim Club coach Kent Nicholson.

“Oklahoma swimming has always had some top-level swimmers. We have some (NCAA) D-I swimmers, but what Oklahoma struggles with is the depth. You will have two to three fast swimmers in an event, then it will really drop off,” Nicholson said. “But you have these kids who swim super fast, and the younger kids are responding to that. We have some fast kids coming up in Oklahoma right now.

“Aiden was the Oklahoma Athlete of the Year, so swimmers being recognized as the top athlete in the state is a big deal.”

NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL RECORDS
Last February, Hayes took down a pair of national high school records, first lowering the standard in the 50 yard freestyle, and then breaking the record in the 100 butterfly. In the 50 free, Hayes produced a winning time of 19.20, which was quick enough to better the 19.24 that Matt Brownstead (State College Area, Pa.) posted at last year’s Pennsylvania 3A Championships. (However, Pennington School’s David Curtiss—who will be teammates with Hayes at NC State this fall—lowered the record to 19.11 a little more than a week later at the New Jersey state championships!)

Following the 50, Hayes took down Joseph Schooling’s 2013 record in the 100 fly. Touching the wall in 45.47, Hayes clipped the 45.52 that Schooling managed during his days at the Bolles School in Florida. A little more than three years after Schooling set the high school record, he claimed gold in the 100 fly at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. In addition to breaking Schooling’s overall high school record, Hayes cracked the public school standard of 45.88, set in 2019 by C.K. McClatchy’s (Calif.) Luca Urlando, now a sophomore at the University of Georgia.

“His 50 free and 100 fly were swum back-to-back, normally a 15-minute break plus awards, but because of COVID, there was no time to think, and he was swimming the 100 fly 12 minutes later. It was an interesting and fun experience. Those national records—I never envisioned seeing something like that,” Nicholson said.

And he did this all during a pandemic.

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SWIMMING WORLD AUGUST 2021 FEATURES

012 | READY FOR A NEW CHALLENGE
by David Rieder
Torri Huske finished her high school career by setting national high school records in the 100 yard fly and 200 IM and by being named Swimming World’s Female High School Swimmer of the Year for the second time (2019, 2021). The 18-year-old senior from Yorktown High School (Arlington, Va.) will be moving on to Stanford in the fall, but first, she set an American record in the 100 meter fly at U.S. Trials that earned her a trip to Tokyo to compete in her first Olympics.

014 | TAKING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL
by Dan D’Addona
Everything appears to be OK for Norman North (Okla.) High School senior Aiden Hayes. He set two national high school records (100 fly and 50 free) this past season. He competed and gained experience at the U.S. Olympic Trials as the fastest 18-year-old in the country in butterfly. And he was named Swimming World’s Male High School Swimmer of the Year.

016 | CREAM OF THE CROP
by David Rieder and Andy Ross
There were some mighty fast swimmers who finished the 2020-21 high school season right behind Swimming World’s Female and Male High School Swimmers of the Year, Torri Huske and Aiden Hayes. Of the four runners-up, two of them are underclassmen and will be returning for more fast swimming in 2021-22.

018 | TOP HIGH SCHOOL RECRUITS
by Chandler Brandes
Swimming World takes a look at the swimmers it considers to be the 10 best high school recruits—both male and female—from the Class of 2021 and where they’ll be attending college in the fall.

021 | NUTRITION: WHAT TO EAT BEFORE THE “BIG RACE”
by Dawn Weatherwax
To reach your swimming goals, it is important to know what to eat—at what times and in what amounts. It is different for everyone, but very important to master.

022 | ISHOF: THE U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS—DONNA DeVARONA AND THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF WOMEN’S SWIMMING
by Bruce Wigo
At the recent U.S. Olympic Trials, there was one moment that linked the past with the present and future of swimming like no other. It came when Donna de Varona presented Olympic qualification medals to Katie Grimes, the youngest member of the 2021 Olympic swimming team, and three-time Olympian Katie Ledecky.

025 | ONE OF THE GREATEST SPRINTERS OF ALL TIME
by John Lohn
The 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney are widely remembered for the home-nation success of Australia, which was spearheaded by teenage sensation Ian Thorpe. But the Games Down Under also served as a redemptive locale for the Netherlands’ Inge de Bruijn, who used the stage to define herself as one of the sport’s legends.

028 | MENTAL PREP: BEFORE THE BEEP WITH KATE DOUGLASS
by Shoshanna Rutemiller

COACHING

030 | SPECIAL SETS: TRAINING KAYLA WILSON
by Michael J. Stott
Coach Richard Hunter of TIDE Swimming in Virginia Beach, Va. discusses goals and workouts for one of his top swimmers, Kayla Wilson, a rising senior at Norfolk Academy who recently committed to Stanford for fall 2022.

034 | SWIMMING TECHNIQUE CONCEPTS: MAXIMIZING SWIMMING VELOCITY (Part 4)—MINIMIZING THE ARM ENTRY PHASE TIME IN BACKSTROKE AND BREASTSTROKE
by Rod Havriluk
To minimize the arm entry phase time in backstroke, a swimmer must quickly move the hand downward directly behind and below the shoulder. Minimizing the arm entry phase (glide phase) in breaststroke requires precise control of the timing between the finish of the kick and the beginning of the pull. A decrease in the non-propulsive entry phase decreases the time for a stroke cycle, increases stroke rate and increases swimming velocity.

038 | SPECIAL SETS: ENERGY SYSTEM TRAINING
by Michael J. Stott
George Heidinger, former USA Swimming National Team High Performance Consultant and owner of Pikes Peak Athletics (Colo.), specializes in long-term athlete development. As such, he is well-schooled in the science of energy systems and shares some sample sets he has given to rising high school senior Quintin McCarty and his PPA senior teammates.

040 | A COACHES’ GUIDE TO ENERGY SYSTEMS (Part 3): WHILE THEY’RE YOUNG
by Michael J. Stott
In Part 3 of our series on energy systems, two age group coaches—one from Clovis, Calif. and one from Richmond, Va.—share how they inform and guide their younger athletes through energy system training.

043 | Q&A WITH COACH NICHOLAS ASKEW
by Michael J. Stott

044 | HOW THEY TRAIN: MILES SIMON
by Michael J. Stott

TRAINING

033 | DRYSIDE TRAINING: GOLD MEDAL WORKOUT
by J.R. Rosania

JUNIOR SWIMMER

036 | GOLDMINDS: 10 GREAT REASONS TO GET BACK IN THE POOL
by Wayne Goldsmith

47 | UP & COMERS: BRIAN HAMILTON
by Shoshanna Rutemiller

COLUMNS

008 | A VOICE FOR THE SPORT

011 | DID YOU KNOW: ABOUT ETHELDA BLEIBTREY?

046 | HASTY HIGH POINTERS

048 | GUTTERTALK

049 | PARTING SHOT

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Aman

2 years ago

Are you sure he’s not 26?