Disclaimer: BlueSeventy Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The BlueSeventy Swim is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.
Don’t forget the name Asia Seidt.
The Kentucky freshman has had one of the best rookie years of any swimmer in her NCAA recruiting class, and last week’s Atlanta Classic might have been one of the most noticeable examples. Seidt won three events in Atlanta and put up two more top-3 finishes in a pretty brutal event lineup. But the swim we’ll focus in on is her 200 backstroke.
As of her junior year, Seidt was ranked as the #19 NCAA recruit in her class, but was behind four other pure backstrokers and three more IM types who could be considered backstrokers. But Seidt has exploded at Kentucky, which is rapidly becoming one of the hottest backstroke groups in the country.
Her 200 back last weekend was a massive breakthrough. Coming into this long course season with a top time of 2:11.96, Seidt blasted a 2:09.82 to blow out a tough field that included several of her Kentucky teammates. In fact, Wildcats Seidt, Bridgette Alexander and Ali Galyer went 1-2-3 in the meet.
Seidt’s time now ranks #2 among all Americans this season, and just three one-hundredths behind national ranks leader Regan Smith. Her time would have placed her inside the top 8 at last year’s Olympic Trials and cracks the top 15 in the world this season.
Competing for her home club Lakeside in Atlanta, Seidt also won the 100 back (in a lifetime-best 1:01.04) and the 200 fly (a lifetime-best 2:13.51), which happened just a few events apart on the same night, plus she was third in the 100 fly (1:00.44) and second in the 400 IM (4:46.37) in back-to-back events on Friday night.
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