10 Observations During USA Swimming Short Course Nationals

Day 1 Recap | Day 2 Recap | Day 3 Recap | Full Results

Despite a diminished field compared to the long course National Championships, the three days of racing in Columbus still provided us with plenty of fireworks. First, The Swimmer’s Circle Swimmers of the Meet Awards:

Men’s-Matt Grevers (Tucson Ford Aquatics)-3 individual event wins

Women’s-Katinka Hosszu (USC)-3 individual event wins, three meet records

And now, the 10 biggest things that I kept thinking about while watching the meet.

1. The Americans’ breaststroke woes are not in short course what they are in long course. Mike Alexandrov now holds both both SCY American records, and by some reports wasn’t even fully tapered. The long course picture isn’t quite as pretty, however. Though the Americans have some depth there, with Alexandrov, Eric Shanteau, and Mark Gangloff all sitting in the top 12 of the World Rankings, not being able to muster a swimmer in the top 7 in the world is an odd sort of feeling for a typically dominant American program. So bad is it that rumors have been flying about a possible Ed Moses comeback to shore up that leg of the medley relay. If Alexandrov can carry his short course dominance into the long course pool, the American relay can feel a lot more comfortable in Shanghai.

2. America’s young backstrokers are even better than we thought. Coming into this meet, we knew about Cindy Tran, who smashed Natalie Coughlin’s high school record in May; we knew about Missy Franklin, who as a 15-year old is already a favorite to make the London Olympic team; and we knew about Rachel Bootsma, who a few weeks ago lowered Tran’s record by another few tenths. At Nationals, we got our first real taste of Bonnie Brandon from Mission Aurora (Colorado), who was fourth in the 200 back at 1:53.82, and Olivia Smoliga from the Glenview Titans (Illinois), who was third in the 100 back at 52.44. If you or your child is on their way to being an elite swimmer and has eyes for making a national team for the next 10 years, tell them to pick another stroke.

3. Ryan Lochte has some work to do in the next two weeks. He didn’t have a great meet, even if he didn’t rest or taper and was swimming in briefs. His only national title was on day 1 in the 200 IM, and some of his other swims were subpar by his standards. Of course, he still has time to turn this all around by Dubai, and probably will, but I expected just a little better two weeks out.

4. Dave Salo has really hit on something big in Los Angeles. His collegiate swimmers had an outstanding meet in accounting for 13 National titles in 36 events (plus two more from Trojan club swimmers Markus Rogan and Jessica Hardy). They appeared to have put in some rest headed into the meet, but even without a total taper they threw down times that will definitely medal, and could likely win, at NCAA’s if recreated in March. The men probably don’t quite have enough depth to crack the top 5 this season, but have a young, loaded squad for the future. The women definitely looked like a top-3 team, with a National Swimmer of the Year favorite in Katinka Hosszu.

5. Matt Grevers is still Matt Grevers. The Tucson Ford backstroker (and butterflier and freestyler) didn’t qualify for the Pan Pacs over the summer, though he didn’t have bad swims at Nationals. He came to this meet itching to put up some great times, and that he did. In the 100 back, he put up the third best yards time ever (44.82), and in the 100 free, he put up the second-fastest textile time ever (41.35). It’s really too bad that he isn’t making the trip to Dubai, as he is swimming incredibly well right now.

6. Hardy is a sprinter, plain and simple. Jessica Hardy has moved herself into that class of swimmers like Cesar Cielo, Roland Schoeman, and Therese Alshamar who are just sprinters of no particular persuasion. On day 3, she won the 100 freestyle, a stroke that she has been focusing most of her training on. Ironically, we learned that she hadn’t been doing any serious breaststroke training for a year in her post-race interview after she won the 100 breaststroke. She just swims fast, plain and simple.

7. Robert Margalis is aging like a fine wine. At 28 years old already, he’s going to be on the older end of the American National team headed towards 2012, but given that he’s still putting up career-best times, he’s still going to be in the mix for London His 400 IM time is the best he’s swum since NCAA’s in 2003, and his 200 fly was a career best that moves him into the top 15 American performers ever.

8. Morozov might have more potential than any sprinter ever. He’s already probably the fastest off the block in the world at only 18 years old. It’s hard to compare him to the other two youngest sprint stars from the last decade because Anthony Ervin was an NCAA champ as a freshman in a meters course and Jimmy Feigen entered college during the rubber suit era, but I’m certainly comfortable putting him among the top 3 teenage sprinters ever.

9. The Florida Gators have themselves a great men’s recruiting class coming in next year, definitely one of the two best in the country. Nicholas Caldwell was 4^th in the 500 free at 4:18.04 and third in the mile at 15:05.03. Matthew Elliott was 3^rd in the 400 IM. The Gator commits really turned some heads at this meet.

10.  Media reaction to Lochte swimming in briefs. While the expensive textile jammers undoubtedly provide a tiny advantage, it feels as though many overreacted to how they compare versus a brief. In the modern international swimmer, so little area is covered by a jammer that it’s unlikely they make a huge difference in times. Legskins versus full body suits I buy. briefs versus jammers are a minimal difference. I do give him big props for pulling off the white suit though.

Besides that, male swimmers have fought for decades to overcome certain stigmas that comes with the briefs–can we please avoid referring to them as “banana hammocks”?