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Opportunity Lost: How The Coronavirus Has Affected High School Swimming
By Dan D’Addona
High school swimming has multiple seasons with roughly 130 state/sectional/divisional high school championship meets held
as early as October or as late as May of the following year. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in mid-March, some high schools had already completed their championships, others saw their season canceled…while still others were interrupted during the middle of their meet!
Here are a few examples of how the coronavirus affected high school swimming:
PENNSYLVANIA DISAPPOINTMENT
At the Pennsylvania Class 3A Championships, March 11-12, senior Matt Brownstead of State College High School (State College, Pa.) clocked 19.24 in the 50 yard free to take down Caeleb Dressel’s national high school record of 19.29 from 2013. Then he did something arguably even more impressive: On the Lions’ 200 free relay, which finished fourth, Brownstead split a ridiculous time of 18.67 seconds on the anchor leg.
Prelims for the second day of the meet were held, but the evening finals were canceled due to coronavirus concerns, causing meet officials to designate the prelim results to be the “final” results.
Brownstead swam 43.29 in prelims—which was at the time fourth in the nation—but his opportunity to swim faster that night was taken away. Also quashed was his chance for being in the discussion for Swimming World’s Male High School Swimmer of the Year, along with Wyatt Davis and Jake Mitchell of Carmel High School (Ind.) and possibly Ethan Hu and Luca Urlando, whose May championship meets were later canceled in California.
There were plenty of elite swimmers in California ready to make their mark on their final high school season. Among them were Luca Urlando of C.K. McClatchy High School in Sacramento, who had a spectacular high school season last year as a junior, breaking Dressel’s national public school record in the 100 yard butterfly from 2013 by 1-hundredth of a second with a 45.88. That summer, he proceeded to win five gold medals at the World Junior Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Clovis North’s Claire Tuggle also has been one of the top teen phenoms in the sport, and she is just a sophomore. As a freshman in 2019, she swam the second fastest time nationally in the 500 free (4:41.60).
Who knows what they—and hundreds of other swimmers in California—could have done if they just had a season?
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Swimming World Magazine August 2020 Issue
FEATURES
014 OPPORTUNITY LOST
by Dan D’Addona
High school swimming has multiple seasons with roughly 130 state/sectional/divisional high school championship meets held as early as October or as late as May of the following year. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in mid-March, some high schools had already completed their championships, others saw their season canceled…while still others were interrupted during the middle of their meet! Here are a few examples of how the coronavirus affected high school swimming.
016 A GOOD INDICATOR OF FUTURE SUCCESS
by Andy Ross
Since Swimming World first honored its Male and Female High School Swimmers of the Year in 1997, 60 percent of those athletes have gone on to compete in the Olympics from 2000 through 2016.
019 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 2020 and where they’ll be attending college in the fall.
022 THE RECORD BREAKERS
by David Rieder
Nine high school swimmers from eight different states combined for 11 public or independent school records and eight overall national high school records—including three times in one event!
026 A GROSS INJUSTICE
by John Lohn
In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, 16-year-old Rick DeMont had won the 400 meter freestyle only to have his gold medal taken away several days later in one of the biggest injustices in Olympic history.
029 ISHOF: THE TOM AND MATT SHOW
by Bruce Wigo
As explained in last month’s issue,sprinters are considered a different breed of swimmer. They’re not just free spirits, but they seem to be rule breakers and troublemakers of the sport. In July, Swimming World featured two of swimming’s notorious female rebels, Eleanor Holm and Dawn Fraser. This month’s article takes a look at two male disruptors who paved the way for professional swimming, Tom Jager and Matt Biondi.
COACHING
012 SWIMMING TECHNIQUE CONCEPTS: DEVELOPMENT OF AN OPTIMAL MODEL FOR TECHNIQUE: PART VIII—BODY BASE OF SUPPORT FOR BREASTSTROKE
by Rod Havriluk
The torso is the swimmer’s base of support (BOS). During a stroke cycle of a typical breaststroker, excess vertical motion of the shoulder distorts the BOS, which compromises the ability to maximize propulsion and, as a result, limits swimming velocity. This article offers suggestions for how to stabilize the BOS to generate more propulsion to swim faster.
033 SUMMER LEAGUE: HAVING FUN AND GETTING THE WORK DONE
by Michael J. Stott
No matter what tomorrow or next year brings, one can hope that the benefits of summer league as we know them will persist.
035 SPECIAL SETS: TRAINING FROM TRIALS TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES
by Michael J. Stott
Through the voice of Michigan associate coach Josh White, this month’s “Special Sets” traces the training Connor Jaeger did in the period between the U.S. Olympic Trials to the Olympic Games in 2012 and 2016.
041 Q&A WITH COACH NEIL HARPER
by Michael J. Stott
042 HOW THEY TRAIN ANNA HOPKIN
by Michael J. Stott
TRAINING
010 DRYSIDE TRAINING: EXERCISES FOR EXPLOSIVE STARTS & TURNS
by J.R. Rosania
JUNIOR SWIMMER
039 GOLDMINDS: HOW TO BECOME AN “A” SWIMMER
by Wayne Goldsmith
Ultimately, success comes to those amazing people who make the decision to be successful and who then live that decision in practice and performance—in and out of the pool—until they realize their potential.
045 UP & COMERS: ABBY REICH
by Shoshanna Rutemiller
COLUMNS
008 A VOICE FOR THE SPORT
032 DID YOU KNOW? PETER JACKSON: “THE BLACK PRINCE”
046 GUTTERTALK
048 PARTING SHOT