There was a big time battle of world class freestylers at The Arizona Senior Short Course State Championships on Friday. Olympic Champion Matt Grevers of Tucson Ford squared off against Phoenix Swim Club’s SC World Record Holder, Roland Schoeman, in one of, if not the, fastest 100 freestyle races we’ll see this championship weekend. Schoeman was out in 20.15 and back in 22.16 for an overall time of :42.31, holding off Grevers who was 20.40 on the way out and 22.05 on the way home for a blazing :42.45. As if that wasn’t enough star power three-time South African Olympian Darian Townsend finished 3rd with a :43.77 and Australian Short Course World Champion Bobby Hurley finished 4th in :43.92.
Hurley, Grevers and Townsend also teamed up with Clark Burckle for a dominant 200 Medley Relay that came up just short of an Arizona State Record (Hurley 21.18 Back, Burckle :24.12 Breast, Grevers :19.82 Fly, and Townsend :19.74 Free):
Grevers after the Races:
Schoeman after the Races:
Roland is such a genuine and driven individual. His passion is awesome and I enjoy every day I get to work with him as part of college swim scout’s post grad agency. Look for more profiling and showcasing of Roland on our site in the coming weeks!,
Schoeman, you got to hand it to the guy, 32 yrs old and still swimming hard.
Roland is still in PSC? training with? Thought he left and went to Miami or CA or something?
32 is getting up there for a guy sprinter.
Roland still trains at PSC but is training with Aaron Ciarla’s program in Miami. He has been a great role model to the kids at PSC and we are proud he calls PSC home. I am sure he would like to get to Miami at some point, but it’s amazing to see what he continues to do in the pool in spite of his age and literally training and racing on his own most of the time. Seeing him swim against Grevers and Townsend, et. al. last night and be successful just shows the guy is one of the best racers the sport has ever seen.
He was awesome this weekend especially Sunday with a 53 relay breaststroke split. Maybe that rule change can add another year to his career and a new event.