2015 Speedo Winter Junior Championships – West
- University of Texas’s Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center -Austin, TX
- Wednesday, December 9 – Saturday, December 11
- (Bonus long course meter time trials on Sunday, December 12)
- Prelims 9AM / Finals 5PM (Th-Sat), Wed. Timed Finals 6PM (U.S. Central Time)
- Meet Page
- Psych Sheets
- Live results
Indie Swimming’s Michael Andrew simply crushed the field in the boys’ 200 IM at Speedo Winter Juniors West, lowering his own meet and national age group records with a final swim of 1:42.77.
Andrew came into the meet with 1:45.73, dropped almost 2 in prelims, and then another 1.2 in finals for a total of 2.98 seconds. Up by a half-body length at the 50, he extended his lead to a full body length after the backstroke. Bryce Mefford of Sierra Marlins and Jack Xie of PEAK were tied for second heading into the breaststroke. Andrew really pulled ahead of the field at the 150, having split a 29.7 on the breast. Grieshop of Nitro had moved into third by now, just behind Xie.
Andrew touched with a new meet record and national age group record for 15-16 year-olds: 1:42.77. Grieshop got his hand to the wall just ahead of Xie for second, out-touching him 1:46.64 to 1:46.70.
| Finals | Prelims | |
| Fly | 21.65 | 21.84 |
| Back | 25.61 | 25.89 |
| Breast | 29.78 | 30.24 |
| Free | 25.73 | 25.97 |
| 1:42.77 | 1:43.94 |
Let’s not forget the national high school record for the 200 IM is 1:41.39 by David Nolan, who is also the current AR and NCAA record holder. David swam it at 18 years 3 months. Michael’s 16 years 8 months. That’s 19 months difference and only 1.38 seconds to separate. And consider that he dropped 3 seconds in a year’s time…Michael will own that record and will likely challenge Nolan’s AR record while still in HS! That is in no uncertain terms impressive.
Let’s face it, if Michael were any other nationality, he would have very good chances of making their Olympic team. As it is, I’m still not ruling it out.
He had a 50fly split of 21.6 in… Read more »
Might be time for the “dude, totally not fair you are allowed to swim Junior Nats” rule against MA swimming this meet next year. Especially in a 23 yard pool.
Joking…to be clear just in case. What an incredible performance!
People are so under educated when it comes to weight training and lifting. He should 100% be in the weight room right now, and honestly he should have been in there 1-2 years ago. It will take him well over a year to learn and be proficient at the lifts in the weight room, and it will break down his body for 8-10 easily. Male swimmers should be in the weight room at 14-15 with PCP pipes and broomsticks learning the proper technique. That way once that are a junior in high school they can focus on putting weight on the bar. As a college coach, I laugh when people think it is a good thing for swimmers to not… Read more »
The idea that younger teenagers shouldn’t lift weights never made much sense to me. This is saying it’s perfectly fine for them to exert their muscles in every other way, but somehow lifting a bar with metal weights on it is going to be detrimental. Doesn’t make much sense to me. If you’re old enough to lift weights with good technique, you are old enough to lift weights safely.
Hm, I can kinda buy this. Getting movement patterns down right now couldn’t hurt.
I still don’t think he needs any kind of weight volume for a couple years. At this rate he could wait until he really plateaus.
I dont think any kid should have a pcp pipe in the weight room… just isnt good for their health.
but a PVC pipe works.
(joking i know it was a spelling mistake.)
Yeah, his current approach clearly isn’t working.
Lifting weights is a good way to get good at lifting weights, but maybe, just maybe, being able to swim hard 3 times a day without undue muscle fatigue from lifting weights is a good way to get good at swimming.
Wow. Wow. Wow. MA’s times are amazing. He’d probably hold many or most team records at several DI colleges. A huge talent I have been following. Does he still promote P2 Life? What are the benefits? Should age group swimmers take it? I recall that being his original sponsor but haven’t seen him promoting the product. Also, I thought he was Adidas swimmer but appears to be wearing speed LZRX. How do these pro swimmer contracts work?
I don’t know about P2Life, but I can say with certainty that that is an Adidas suit.
Great race. He puts the SCY NAG records at a crazy high level.
But I’m not gonna hit the roof like if it was made by another “common” kid.
MA is a pro swimmer and deserves to be treated as any other pro.
Not as a simple age group kid.
I will hit the roof if he qualifies for Rio at 17. If he does it, then I will be much impressed.
This kid is fun to watch develop for 6 years and I can’t wait to see what he has in store in the big pool in the next months.
Other teens have broken world records at 15. Let’s not forget that.
… Read more »
With your comment that “other teens have broken world records at 15,” I think you’re comparing apples and oranges. With a growing number of pro elites, including the GOAT, swimming now into their 30’s, and post-grad programs built to sustain them on the rise, MA is in a different world that any previous generation of men. If Spitz, Hall, Sr., and others had been supported and swum into their 30’s, and every succeeding generation had done so, the WRs today would likely be significantly faster. Men fully develop physically later than women, so comparing ages of world records of 15 year old women with men is invalid.
Fortunately, he doesn’t have the habits of some of the pros, like… Read more »
Swimdoc,
I get what your saying about not having a team to cheer him on, but when a swimmer of his caliber is at a meet EVERYBODY there is cheering that swimmer on to see something special. It doesn’t matter if he’s on your team or not.
Yes, for these meets. But when he’s doubling A and B finals of multiple events at Nationals or Grand Prix meets, or quadrupling at World Jrs., he’s not getting the same support as the one guy out in front by a mile chasing a record.
The kid is a racer with zero memory of his bad performances or anticipation of the pain he’s about to experience. Maybe that’s USRPT’s biggest training strength — the mental game. Plus he hardly ever sandbags prelims. He’s a Hosszu male equivalent in that sense, albeit shorter distances.
As much as his speed is impressive, his guts to get up there event after event in big meets and potentially fail and up the pain… Read more »
Yeah, I mean he’s a 16 year old kid going 1:42.7 in the IM, I don’t care if he’s getting paid or not, that’s fast.
But I’m not gonna hit the roof about it cause I have a 15 year old who goes 1:42.6.
In the freestyle.
We’ll have to stop saying “good for his age;” he is good period. That is near NCAA finals times.
I think his heels are breaking the surface in breaststroke, watch how high he started his kick on the pullout. There’s another .3 there.
This is an interesting kid. First I think he’s a backstroker, then he breaks the 100 fly NAG. Then I think he is a flyer and he breaks the 100 breast NAG. Now, IM.
I think he made the Olympic cut in many of his events. I think he currently is ranked 9th in the 100 breast. If he has another growth/strengh burst, he might come close to making the team, but I think he is… Read more »
no denying though… he is good for his age too. lol
I think we can all agree that “good for his/her age” is a necessary phrase in the swimming world. However, his SCY times are never going to be more than NAG records. And who really cares about those? He will never compete at the fastest SCY meet ever because he has gone pro already. It is pointless to say he would be an NCAA finalist. He will never be an NCAA finalist because he is getting paid right now.
Until he makes the Olympic team, then he just has some fast times. I am not denying that his times are fast. However, removing himself from college swimming has significantly decreased the value of his SCY times. He will never help… Read more »
Not sure if he’s stupid…or just bad at trolling…
A few quick observations on MA:
-He breathes every stroke on fly and still goes out in 21.6 without looking like he’s trying that hard. I’m excited for his 100 fly
-His backstroke seems to be weakest in short course right now, weak underwaters and a very long stroke and turnover. He’s a decent LC backstroker still, so i’m not too concerned
-His breaststroke kick is really, really powerful. I’d love to see an underwater shot of what he’s doing there. Just look at the wake he leaves on top of the pool compared to everyone else. There’s nothing like it. It might have to do with holding himself very high in the water, which is tough… Read more »
Yeah I agree he is back end kick looked alive. I was really surprised he split under 30 on the breast, so props there.
I also agree that he could really benefit from weight training. I could definitely see Team Andrew holding off on weights until he is 18 or 19. They do not want to inhibit any potential growth left at such crucial stage in any teenage athlete’s life. I don’t think Phelps started weight training until 18, just before Athens.
Many people seem to think he will plateau, but seeing how scrawny he looks, he still has a lot of room to grow and improve. 2016 may not be his year as far as Olympics, but would not… Read more »
Agree on the weight training. He absolutely DOES NOT need it now, but down the line it should help and I hope they embrace it. (I think I remember that was a split of theirs vs Rushall?)
I think MA does do some weight training, not like the big boys do. but you have to remember MA is still young. muscles will develop more with age. but yeah i’m pretty stoked to see what this kid can really do.