Over the next few weeks, as the Long Course season closes out, new freshman are arriving on campus, and fans everywhere ramp up for another exciting NCAA Season, we will be running a team-by-team preview of the upcoming NCAA season. Starting with the no.12 teams and finishing with the defending National Championships (Texas men and Florida women) we will work our way down the top finishers from last year’s NCAA teams, and will also jump into some rising teams that we expect to break into the top tier this season. Click here to see the other men’s previews, and click here to see all of the previews for both Men and Women.
Key Losses: Joel Elber (4 NCAA Relays), Andrew Olson (3 NCAA Relays), Andrew Bretscher (1 NCAA Relay), George Markovic (15 NCAA points, 1 relay), Stefan Sigrist (23 NCAA points), Wes Wieser (22.5 NCAA Diving Points), Sam Pelkey (2 NCAA Points), Daniel Malnik (NCAA Qualifier), Ryan Jefferson (4 NCAA Diving Points), Burkley Showe (NCAA Diving Qualifier)
Key Additions: Alex Miller (distance free), David Boston (distance free), Ryan Bubb (sprint free, fly), Dak Stone (breast, IM)
2010 Surprise Season: In 2010, Ohio State caught the nation by surprise in knocking off the powerful Michigan men for their first Big Ten Championship since 1965. Were last year’s Buckeyes as good as that 1965 squad? Probably not – in 1965, Mike Peppe’s team won its 11th straight NCAA Championship. But last year’s team was built for Conference titles. What they lacked in star-power, they made up for in depth, and that helped them shine at the Big Ten meet.
At the NCAA Championships, they dropped to second amongst Big Ten teams, although their performance was not unimpressive. Their 136.5 points more than doubled their 2009 total (55), and were a 12th place finish in their DQ’ed 200 free relay away from passing Georgia for 8th.
As it was, the Buckeyes had to have been satisfied with their finish. The real trick is going to be repeating it this season. The bad news: they graduated more NCAA participants (10) than most teams qualify. The good news: their two returning stars had incredible summers, and can make up those lost points.
Superb Summer: Tim Phillips was a huge revelation for Team USA at the 2010 Long Course Nationals. At the 2010 NCAA Championships, Phillips was 12th in the 100 fly. At the USA-Swimming Nationals, 19-year old beat every other collegian in the field—including defending NCAA Champ and fellow sophomore Tom Shields from Cal—to finish 3rd and earn a Pan-Pac Championships berth. It should be a dogfight between Shields and Phillips for the NCAA crown in that event this year. Phillips only swam one individual event in 2010, however, and will need to expand that schedule for his Buckeyes to repeat their top-10 finish.
The other big name on this roster is senior Elliot Keefer. At the 2010 USA-Swimming Nationals, Keefer brought home his own bronze medal in the 200 breastsroke, as well as a 12th place finish in the 100.
Combine them with the return of sophomore Andrew Elliott, the Buckeyes’ top backstroker, and Ohio State should have a highly formidable medley relay combination this season.
The Ohio State Militia: Ohio State subscribes to the modern Big Ten methodology of carrying enormous rosters and has a veritable army up in Columbus. This year’s roster lists 38 members (swimmers and divers combined). Add to that the 12 freshmen reportedly headed to campus, and they will have right around 50 swimmers. Last year, Ohio State had an astonishing 51 on their official roster. Compare that with most of the other squads we’ve profiled, whose rosters hover right around 30. USC, for example, has 31, and Texas A&M has exactly 30.
It takes a certain type of swimmer to be successful on a team that size. There’s obviously a great deal of competition in practice and for spots in meets, which keeps swimmers motivated. At the same time, with that many swimmers, and still the standard two coaches, it can be challenging to get noticed. The swimmers definitely have to be self-motivated to avoid attrition and continue to improve. Luckily, Ohio State’s impressive new facility, which hosted both the Big Ten and NCAA Men’s Championships last year, has the size to support all of those swimmers.
Biggest Team Need: With a squad that big, there’s always bound to be someone who steps up in a big way. Ohio State will need that to come in the form of freestylers this year, which will be their weakest stroke. George Markovic, who was 5th in the Nation in the 500 free last year, has graduated. So has Stefan Sigrist, who was 5th in the mile and the Consolation Champion in the 500. Joel Elber, who anchored both medley relays and led off the shorter two free relays, has also moved on.
Sophomore Brent Hitchcock will take over the distance events for the Buckeyes. Last year, he was 19th in the 500 (4:19.89) and 15th in the mile (14:59.40). Like his Buckeye teammates, he had a great long-course season, including a B-final berth in the 400m free.
In the sprints, junior Lincoln Fahrbach’s development will be huge for the success of the Buckeyes. Last season, he had the fastest split on the Buckeye’s 400 free relay at NCAA’s (43.48). He also went sub-20 (19.85) off of a flat-start in the 50 free.
Besides their size in terms of number of swimmers on the roster, the Buckeyes are also a huge team by height. Their roster lists 9 returning swimmers who are 6’3 or taller, including 6’10 giant Justin Farra. With that much size on the team, this quality coaching staff should be able to develop at least one other sub-20 and sub-44 freestyler.
Good Swimmers, But Don’t Fill the Need: The freshman class coming in doesn’t seem as though it will provide much relief in the sprint department. Out of all of the top 12 teams we’re profiling, Ohio State’s freshman class will have the least amount of starpower, barring any last-minute surprises. With at least 12 swimmers, however, it is certainly a class of depth.
The biggest grab was keeping the top Ohio recruit, Alex Miller, in state. Miller, who swam for the famed St. Xavier team that has won 31-straight state titles, will be the next in line for Ohio State’s previously discussed solid distance group. Miller’s career best times (all in textile) in the distance freestyle events are 1:39.66/4:26.44/15:19.90. This leaves him with a good opportunity to score a few NCAA points as a freshman if he has a good year, and solid prospects to equal the success of the departing Markovic in the long-term.
Rounding out that top group of distance swimmers for the Buckeyes this year is Brett Boston out of North Carolina. Boston is a guy who benefited hugely from the suits in 2009. For example, as a junior, his 500 free time was 5 seconds faster than as a senior (4:27 to 4;32), after rubber suits were barred. He still had very good numbers to round out his high school career, including a 1:40.4 in the 200 free, and a 9:18 1000. He didn’t swim the mile this past season, but based on his 1000 time projects to be very good in that distance as well.
Boston is also a plus performer in the 200 fly and 100 back as secondary events.
Beyond these two swimmers, the Buckeyes don’t have any recruits pegged by CollegeSwimming as better than 200th in the nation. The remainder of the class mostly consists of potential guys or swimmers with limited specialties, although they certainly have the potential to expand that focus under good coaching.
The best sprinter in the group is Ryan Bubb, the top-rated swimmer from the state of Nebraska. Bubb is a pure sprinter in the mold of a Josh Schneider (not accounting for speed) in that he basically swims 3 events: 50 free, 100 free, 100 fly, and that’s it. During his senior season at Lincoln East (one of Nebraska’s two power HS programs) he went a 21.15 in the 50 free, and a 46.11 in his 100 free.
(Interesting Note: One of his club coaches pointed out in the comments to this article that he feels that Bubb actually projects best as a middle-distance freestyler and butterflier. Seems as though some health issues might have been holding him back from full training in those events. If he’s going a 49 low 100 fly in high school, and his coaches feel he can be even better than that as a 200 flyer/freestyler, that would be scary.)
His 100 fly is where I think his real potential is, though. He is the Nebraska state record holder in the event at 48.96, set during his junior year. At the 2010 Nebraska state meet , and went a 49.25 (also under the old state mark). During his last two years of high school, Bubb had effectively nobody to push him in that event, so I think there is a lot of room for improvement there, especially training with Phillips.
The other top-flight specialist in the class is Dak Stone out of Wisconsin. Stone is a pure breaststroker, with textile-bests of 56.09/2:03.59. He’s got some potential in the IM’s as secondary events also.
Senior “Recruit”: Although Ohio State lost all 3 of their NCAA divers from last year (the nation’s second largest contingent behind Purdue), their diving program will score even more points next year. This is because of their “bonus” recruit, Sean Moore. Moore is a second-generation Buckeye diving National Champion who redshirted his junior season last year. Moore is one of the best young divers in the country at any level, and has a resume heavy on national and international experience.
In 2008, as a freshman, Moore took the NCAA title in the platform, 6th on the 1-meter, and 8th on the 3-meter for a total of 44 points. Another point haul in that range would be a big boon to the Buckeyes.
2011 Season Outlook: With the number of swimmers Ohio State graduated, it will be a very challenging class to repeat as Big Ten Champions, even with Tyler Clary leaving Michigan, but a second place finish there should be a minimum expectation. They have 3 athletes who should medal at NCAA’s—Phillips, Keefer, and Moore—but they lack have a serious lack of sprinters. And while the freshman class is big and deep, it lacks anybody that will have an immediate NCAA impact beyond a few points.
Unless someone gives them a real surprise on the freestyle relays, I think they slide back slightly from the 9th place finish. Based on individual performances, the season should be even more successful than last year. But the event schedule of the modern NCAA puts so much emphasis on sprint freestyle, that the team performances might suffer. The teams behind them have improved too much for the Buckeyes to stay in the top 10, though they will certainly remain in the top echelon of teams that are well-regarded nationally.
But then again, they surprised us all last year. Who says they won’t do it again?
No body was concerned about these issues given his results based on less the perfect training. If anything it was to his advantage, knowing he has not maxed out already. He is in a program now with a great deal of patience and a track record for bringing in good swimmers and having them turn out great.
His background didn’t scare anyone off, but his current event focus made it hard for some schools to consider heavy pursuit. He has solid times for his class, but his class was heavy in sprint free/fly. With a national pursuit of swimmers like Kyle Whitaker, it was a matter of timing. But I don’t think he should have gone anywhere else. Everyone has… Read more »
And as always, we appreciate your comments :-).
Out of curiosity, were these issues he was having brought up during the recruiting process? I’m always curious about how college swimming programs handle things like that. With so few scholarships available, what happens with taking a risk on a kid where you’re almost positive that he can be a star, but there’s still a good deal of unknown. Did that scare any programs off of him?
No worries, just putting in my two cents, adding a little to the conversation.
Yep, I’m his club coach. Have been since August 2008. A lot transpired in the last two years, much of which leads me to believe there is a lot more there than the results indicate thus far.
The 1:44 was after last years state meet at the Austin GP, in an OLD FS2 jammer, not in a body suit like you claim. Long story short, he never got comfortable with the walls at UT and missed timed 6 of 7 turns. Two of which were almost complete misses.
Oh yeah, no weight program either and is projected to grow another 2-3 inches making him 6-5 to 6-6.
Thanks for that info Erik. Always great to hear a little bit of inside info from a coach! I’ll update the article with that info when I get a chance. Man, going a 49 fly with whatever was going on. That’s impressive. Makes his future even more exciting.
Really? I mean, he hasn’t swum the 200 fly since he was 16, according to the USA-Times Database. His best 200 free time was 1:44, and that was in a suit. As a senior, he didn’t go faster than a 1:51. It sounds like you know him personally, but nothing about those times convinces me that those will be his two best events.
I’m not doubting that he can get there, but cutting off 10 seconds in an event over 2 seasons to become competitive would be quite a feat…Would think they’d focus him on the 100fly/sprint events that he’s already done well in…
I know a little about Bubb, a little off on the ‘pure sprinter’ category Braden. Correct on the Fly though the distance is still up for debate. I’ve been telling him for 2 years he will be able to come down for the 50 but his strength lies in the 200s and 100s.
His 48.92 was in a body suit, his 49.25 came after a devastating missed turn (literally, not just a bad turn and his second 25 from a dead stop was 12.3) in the finals of the 50. The 46.11 came at the end of the meet, in which he was gassed and as we found out was (according to his doctor) suffering from Epstein Barr at the… Read more »
Yeah, they really weren’t on anybody’s radar last year, but both (especially Phillips) had such amazing LC seasons, I’m curious about what they can do.
And for those who don’t get the joke, my Dad is a Michigan grad….:-) Thanks for that, David.
Wow, Braden, you must really love Ohio State to think Phillips has a chance against Shields! Don’t think he even finalled last year. Ditto Keefer. I bet you think he, Scott Spann, and Eric Friedland will be the top three in the 200 breast this year. What happened to unbiased reporting?
In all seriousness, I really don’t know what Keefer and Phillips can do at NCAA’s. Neither finalled last year, but both had strong performances at Grand Prix meets to indicate something they could do something good at Nationals. I would say Shields is a lock for the 100 fly, but behind his teammate Gydesen, I can’t really think of anyone who is a lock to even final. 200 breast… Read more »