{"id":281533,"date":"2017-10-24T08:45:44","date_gmt":"2017-10-24T15:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=281533"},"modified":"2017-10-24T08:56:12","modified_gmt":"2017-10-24T15:56:12","slug":"final-touch-musings-from-the-deck-at-usa-college-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/final-touch-musings-from-the-deck-at-usa-college-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Final Touch: Musings from the Deck at USA College Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

By David Rieder.<\/em><\/p>\n

Before the first session of the USA College Challenge in Los Angeles, Lindsay Mintenko<\/strong> was giddy. The meet was her first in her new position as Managing Director of the U.S. National team, but with nothing really at stake in one of swimming\u2019s most fun formats, she could relax and enjoy herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a really fun group of people because it\u2019s different ages. Some of them haven\u2019t done a dual meet before, and some of them haven\u2019t done a dual meet in five years or 10 years,\u201d Mintenko said. \u201cIt\u2019s cool. It\u2019s really cool. It\u2019s going to be a fun meet. Dual meets are always fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

You bet. And location didn\u2019t hurt, either. There are few better settings for an outdoor swim meet than Southern California in late October, and Mother Nature delivered its end of the bargain. Sure, it got a little chilly after the sunset around 6:30 p.m. Saturday, but Sunday brought warm temperatures and plenty of sun.<\/p>\n

The stands at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center were mostly full for both sessions, and fans enjoyed post-meet autograph sessions and being in the background for athlete selfies. The spectators were a bit biased towards Katie Ledecky<\/strong> and the USC swimmers, but that\u2019s to be expected.<\/p>\n

Compare with the 2016 edition of the College Challenge: inside the cavernous IUPUI Natatorium, barely one-third full, during a chilly midwestern November. Advantage, Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Plus, in a departure from last year\u2019s blowout, fans at this year\u2019s College Challenge actually got to witness a competitive event.<\/p>\n

************************************************************************************<\/p>\n

The group of U.S. National team members Mintenko was responsible for was, to say the least, an interesting mix. As she was at the World Championships this summer, Regan Smith<\/strong> was the youngest on the roster at age 15, while 32-year-old Matt Grevers<\/strong> was the team\u2019s senior member.<\/p>\n

The main difference in LA: no middle group. The U.S. roster consisted entirely of postgraduate professionals and 18-and-under swimmers, with all of the country\u2019s best 18-to-22-year-olds in the midst of their college seasons, competing in the Pac-12 or elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\"daniel-krueger-\"

Daniel Krueger — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cNot everyone knows each other,\u201d Mintenko said. \u201cUnfortunately, in this situation there\u2019s not a lot of time to get to know each other, but we\u2019re having a good time. They\u2019re having fun. It\u2019s good that there\u2019s not just one junior team athlete and the rest are postgrads.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those high-school-aged swimmers, Daniel<\/strong> Krueger<\/strong>, posted the fastest freestyle split of any U.S. team member on the meet-opening 400 medley relay, at 42.53. Tom Shields<\/strong>, an Olympic gold medalist nine years\u2019 Krueger\u2019s senior, didn\u2019t know anything about the teenager before the two met on Saturday, but Shields was impressed, and he appreciated the opportunity to connect with some of the young talent in the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t have known who that guy was,\u201d Shields said. \u201cI think there\u2019s a disconnect from the pre-recruitment to post-recruitment in the swimming community. That\u2019s like the biggest divide, so this kind of softens that on the national team. If these guys are badass enough to make the team, then why not?\u201d<\/p>\n

************************************************************************************<\/p>\n

It\u2019s too easy to take Katie Ledecky\u2019s<\/strong> excellence for granted. Watching her break world records (remember the Olympics?) and win major international distance races by five-plus seconds is the astonishing part, while it almost flies under the radar that her in-season swims are just as quick as anyone else will go come championship time.<\/p>\n

Consider her 500 free from College Challenge: 4:28.75, the 12th-fastest performance of all time. Leah Smith<\/strong>, meanwhile, is the second-fastest performer in history, at 4:28.90. The 11 efforts quicker than Ledecky\u2019s from Saturday evening? Ledecky\u2019s swims from last year\u2019s NCAA championships, Pac-12 championships and Ohio State Invite, from her high school state championships and from Nation\u2019s Capital\u2019s annual December invitation.<\/p>\n

In her 1000 free, Ledecky\u2019s time was 9:11.68, eighth-fastest all-time. In the 200 free, she won in 1:41.60, 21st all time. Routine? Perhaps. But it\u2019s October, not exactly a month that typically produces lightning-quick swimming, and as Ledecky pointed out after the meet: those times are still darn fast.<\/p>\n

\"katie-ledecky-\"

Katie Ledecky — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI had no idea what to expect coming into this meet,\u201d she said. \u201cWe threw suits on, and that helps a lot. Those are really good times right now, but I\u2019m honestly going to just forget about them and move on. You can\u2019t read into them, you can\u2019t take too much confidence from them because you just have to move forward and really just not get comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the thing with Ledecky\u2014even if she\u2019s not at her best, even if she\u2019s not perfect, she\u2019s still the best in the world.<\/p>\n

So what she didn\u2019t win the 200 free at the World Championships this year? \u201cBy no means did I have a disappointing summer,\u201d she insisted. \u201cWinning five golds and a silver, that\u2019s the best medal count I\u2019ve had at an international meet.\u201d<\/p>\n

True statement. And that was a year she called \u201cchallenging\u201d and a year when after she accomplished everything she wanted to at the Olympics, \u201cresetting those goals was tough last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the Katie Ledecky curve, her times from College Challenge were unremarkable. On any normal grading scale, she gets an \u201cA.\u201d<\/p>\n

************************************************************************************<\/p>\n

Once elite swimmers finish up their NCAA eligibility, they zero-in on long course swimming. The Olympic Games are held in long course, so most prep meets are also long course. Hence, opportunities for Olympic hopefuls to race in the familiar short course yards format are scarce.<\/p>\n

\"josh-prenot-\"

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n

And when they do swim yards, the swimmers have not much idea what to expect from themselves. When Josh Prenot<\/strong> swam the 200 breast Saturday evening at College Challenge, it was his first time contesting the event in 19 months, since finishing second behind Will Licon<\/strong> at his senior-year NCAA championships.<\/p>\n

He won the race in 1:53.42. Was that faster or slower than he expected? Rowdy Gaines<\/strong> asked the question on the Pac-12 network post-race television interview, and Prenot proclaimed that the time fell within the range he figured he might swim\u2014a range of ten seconds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really know what that time means anymore, but I\u2019ll take it.\u201d<\/p>\n

************************************************************************************<\/p>\n

Ella Eastin<\/strong> looked phenomenal this weekend. After her rocky summer, which included her heartbreaking 400 IM at U.S. Nationals, she\u2019s back in the format she has owned to the tune of four individual NCAA titles in her first two years at Stanford.<\/p>\n

She nearly broke 4:00 in winning the 400 IM, touching in 4:00.02. That\u2019s the 20th-fastest performance in history, and only two other active NCAA swimmers (Ledecky and\u00a0Sydney Pickrem<\/strong>) has ever been under 4:00. Remember, it is October, so it\u2019s perfectly conceivable that Eastin could take a shot at Katinka Hosszu\u2019s<\/strong> U.S. Open record of 3:56.54 this college season.<\/p>\n

On day two, Eastin added a win in the 200 fly (1:52.83) before tying with Kathleen Baker<\/strong> to win the 200 IM (1:53.24).<\/p>\n

Long course has been a source of frustration for Eastin over the past two years, but her short course prowess is unquestioned. Still, any individual accomplishment she can achieve in the 25-yard tank at this point in her career is all secondary to how she can contribute to the Stanford Cardinal.<\/p>\n

\"ella-eastin-\"

Ella Eastin — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n

As a freshman, Eastin was the best swimmer on a team that very nearly stole an NCAA title. As a sophomore, she was the No. 3 option behind Olympic gold medalists Katie Ledecky<\/strong> and Simone Manuel<\/strong> on a team that dominated the NCAA championships.<\/p>\n

This year, most of the core of Greg Meehan\u2019s<\/strong> team back\u2014all except Lia<\/strong> Neal<\/strong>\u2014Stanford is favored for a repeat and for the beginnings of a dynasty. And the team has reinforcements, the most notable of whom is freshman Brooke<\/strong> Forde<\/strong>, who finished second behind Eastin in the 400 IM Saturday night in a brisk 4:02.02.<\/p>\n

What the group could accomplish together is means the most for Eastin. At the NCAA meet last year, it was the team\u2019s drought-busting title win, not her own American record or NCAA titles, that nearly brought Eastin to tears. Now, Eastin leads the quest for a repeat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have an opportunity to do something special,\u201d Eastin said in a post-race television interview Saturday evening. \u201cI\u2019m so blessed.\u201d<\/p>\n

************************************************************************************<\/p>\n

October breakthroughs are rare. That makes sense, right? Grueling early season training typically doesn\u2019t lead to lifetime bests. But in the span of two weeks, USC freshman Maggie Aroesty<\/strong> has cut almost three seconds off her lifetime best in the 200 breast.<\/p>\n

When she arrived on campus in August, her lifetime best was 2:09.43. She dropped her best down to 2:08.01 at the SMU Classic in mid-October. And then one week later, she beat out the likes of Olympian Molly Hannis to win the event at the College Challenge in 2:06.88.<\/p>\n

Later that evening, Aroesty learned that she had broken the USC pool record, a mark previously owned by Olympic gold medalist Rebecca<\/strong> Soni<\/strong>. At that news, she was almost speechless.<\/p>\n

\"margaret-aroesty-\"

Maggie Aroesty — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n

On day two of College Challenge, Aroesty finished fourth in the 100 breast. She didn\u2019t get to swim either IM event this weekend, but those events are right in her wheelhouse as well. At the SMU Classic, she won the 400 IM in 4:10.18, a time which ranks No. 3 in the country this year behind Eastin and Forde.<\/p>\n

Clearly, something is going right in her transition to college. Yes, freshmen often swim well early in their first season, but best times by more than two seconds in a 200? That\u2019s stunning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a little bit of a rocky year last year, but coming here I just tried to forget about that and create my new beginning,\u201d Aroesty said. \u201cThe training has been amazing. I\u2019ve been going so much faster in practice than I have before. I think the different kind of training is helping me.\u201d<\/p>\n

But clearly, the difference has to do with more than just the training, and don\u2019t underestimate the impact of climate, coming from Long Island, N.Y., to Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would get into these little grooves in New York when it\u2019s cold and rainy and my hair\u2019s freezing after practice\u2014literally frozen,\u201d Aroesty said. \u201cIt\u2019s sunny, and so far it\u2019s just been so great. So happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

************************************************************************************<\/p>\n

Tom Shields<\/strong> is good at underwaters, and he likes swimming in lane one. The underwaters part has been well-known for years, since Shields powered to an NCAA title as a freshman all the way back in 2009. The Southern California-native took advantage of that to win four individual races this weekend\u2014all from lane one.<\/p>\n

Shields\u2019 advantage on the underwaters was the difference in all of his wins. With that advantage multiplied in short course, he will take what he can get.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice,\u201d Shields said. \u201cIt\u2019s nice for sure. I seem to have it in-season, where a lot of guys tapering can catch up. Now I\u2019m trying to figure out how to have that advantage when we\u2019re all tapered.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"rio-tom-shields-100-butterfly\"

Tom Shields — Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports<\/p><\/div>\n

The wins came in the 100 and 200 fly and in the 100 and 200 free. Shields won multiple NCAA titles in the fly events and swam the long course versions of both events at the Olympic Games, but freestyle? Not as much his specialty.<\/p>\n

Well, not anymore, that is. Shields was an excellent 200 freestyler back in his younger days, including setting a National High School record in the event, but he moved away from the event in college when the 100 fly-200 free back-to-back at the NCAA championships became impractical.<\/p>\n

Long course is obviously a different animal than short course, with underwaters having much less of an impact, but would Shields seriously consider focusing more on freestyle moving forward?<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably not,\u201d he said. \u201cI swim a pretty flat freestyle, so I\u2019m trying to figure that out. I use it mostly for training right now, and if through using it for threshold training, I get good at it, then fine, yeah, I\u2019ll do it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By David Rieder. Before the first session of the USA College Challenge in Los Angeles, Lindsay Mintenko was giddy. The meet was her first in her new position as 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