USA Swimming has dropped the lineup for the 2012 World Short Course Championship Team, and it will include many of the United States’ best and brightest Olympic heroes.
The headliners on the roster are Allison Schmitt, who will take time off in the middle of her Georgia NCAA season, and Ryan Lochte, who dominated the last version of the meet with 6 gold medals.
The meet will be held from December 12th-15th in Istanbul, Turkey.
Lochte seems to be holding firm to his desire to shift his event focus; he’s not swimming the 400 IM or the 100 backstroke, and instead will contest the 50 and 100 butterflies, the latter of which he placed 3rd in at the Olympic Trials. Assuming he swims all three relays, he would take a shot at 9 medals: an obscene number.
With many other Olympians declining invites, there are lots of opportunities for younger swimmers to step into the spotlight. For example, it appears none of the women from Cal, nor Missy Franklin, are on the roster. That means that swimmers like Olivia Smoliga and Bonnie Brandon will get a shot. Texas’ Laura Sogar will also get her first big opportunity on a senior U.S. roster.
For the men, Kevin Cordes will receive the same. He’s the best young breaststroker the Americans have had in a long time, having crushed the 17-18 National Age Group Records over-and-over again in the last 6 months, and now he will head to Turkey to swim the 50 and 100 breaststrokes. Ryan Murphy will be there as well.
Other Olympians who are competing include Anthony Ervin, Matt Grevers, Matt McLean, Clark Burckle, Kathleen Hersey, Jessica Hardy, Kara Lynn Joyce, Chloe Sutton, and Claire Donahue.
The full lineup is below:
* – denotes 2012 US Olympian
Original roster updated October 15th, 2012
(Update 10/29: Kara Lynn Joyce is out, Christine Magnuson is in. Read more here.)
| Women | ||
| Name | Event | Club |
| Ellyn Baumgardner | 50/100 breast | Curl Burke Swim Club/Arizona |
| Bonnie Brandon | 200 back | Mission Aurora Colorado Swimming |
| Chelsea Chenault | 4×200 free relay | Terrapins Swim Team |
| Maya Dirado | 100/200/400 IM | Stanford Swimming |
| Claire Donahue* | 50/100 fly | Western Kentucky University |
| Jessica Hardy* | 50/100 free, 50/100 breast | Trojan Swim Club |
| Kathleen Hersey* | 50/100/200 fly | Longhorn Aquatics |
| Kara Lynn Joyce* | 50 free | SwimMAC Carolina |
| Andrea Kropp | 200 breast | Rattler Swim Club/USC |
| Becca Mann | 400 IM, 800 free | Clearwater Aquatic Team |
| Melanie Margalis | 100/200 IM | St. Petersburg Aquatics |
| Lia Neal* | 4×100 free relay | Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics |
| Megan Romano | 100/200 free, 50/100/200 back | Athens Bulldog Swim Club |
| Allison Schmitt* | 200/400 free, 4×100 free relay | North Baltimore Aquatic Club |
| Olivia Smoliga | 50/100 back | Glenview Titan Aquatic Club |
| Laura Sogar | 200 breast | Bluefish Swim Club/Texas |
| Chloe Sutton* | 400/800 free | Mission Viejo Nadadores |
| Jasmine Tosky | 200 fly | Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics |
| Shannon Vreeland* | 4×200 free relay | Athens Bulldog Swim Club |
| Men | ||
| Mike Alexandrov | 50/100 breast | Trojan Swim Club |
| Bobby Bollier | 200 fly | Stanford Swimming |
| Clark Burckle* | 200 breast | Tucson Ford Dealer Aquatics |
| Kevin Cordes | 50/100 breast | University of Arizona |
| Conor Dwyer* | 100/200 IM, 200/400 free | Lake Forest Swim Club/Gator |
| Mark Dylla | 200 fly | Athens Bulldog Swim Club |
| Anthony Ervin* | 50 free | California Aquatics |
| Ryan Feeley | 1500 free | University of Michigan |
| Jimmy Feigen* | 4×100 free relay | Longhorn Aquatics |
| Matt Grevers* | 100 free, 50/100 back | Tucson Ford Dealer Aquatics |
| Ben Hesen | 50/100 back | Pacesetter Aquatics/Gator |
| Michael Klueh | 400 free, 4×200 free relay (added after Houchin dropped) | FAST Swim Team |
| Ryan Lochte* | 200 free, 200 back, 50/100 fly, 100/200 IM | Daytona Beach Swimming/Gator |
| Michael McBroom | 1500 free | The Woodlands Swim Team/Texas |
| Matt McLean* | 4×200 free relay | FAST Swim Team |
| Ryan Murphy | 200 back | Bolles School Sharks |
| Tyler Reed | 4×100 free relay | Southern Kentucky Swim Club |
| Tom Shields | 50/100 fly | California Aquatics |
| Josh Schneider | 50 free | SwimMAC Carolina |
| Steven Schmuhl | 400 IM | Indiana University |
| Garrett Weber-Gale | 4×100 free relay | Longhorn Aquatics |
| Scott Weltz* | 200 breast | Marin Pirates |
| Michael Weiss | 400 IM | Wisconsin Aquatics |
There were four World SC Champs held in 1990;s… the first in 1993. Only one male from the USA won a gold medal in an individual event during that time period (1990’s). That would be Tripp Schwenk in the 100 and 200 backstroke in 1993. Also, only one gold was won by USA men in the relay events during the first four champs – 1993 4 x 100 medley relay.(Schwenk, Wunderlich, Henderson, Olsen,)
Of course this team misses Missy Franklin and Katie Ledecky, the best american swimmers on the women’s side now with Allison Schmitt but I like this roster with many young swimmers like Becca Mann or Ryan Murphy. And it’s time for Megan Romano (I hope she will forget backstroke to focus on freestyle in the future) and Kevin Cordes (he has the keys of american breaststroke for the future) to show their massive potential in a very big international meet.
Yes, 9 medals for Ryan Lochte! He’s a fantastic swimmer and much better in short course but we must stay quiet. Many ignorant people talked about 10 gold medals for him in London for 2 years. And we have seen. Sometimes the Lochte mania seems crazy.
Overall, a pretty good roster for the meet. Seems like more swimmers are taking SCM seriously than in years past.
wonder why Chase Kalisz isn’t swimming the 400 IM…granted his fast times were LCM…not sure what his short course times are
Probably because our National Team director didn’t bother to use Jr Pan Pacs as a qualifying meet.
He went 4:15 at trials still ahead of the other 2 4imers??
Chase’s time from Trials would have qualified for the team. He probably declined the trip.
they sure had to go pretty far down the list to get a second mens 400 im’er
no Cal girls going and lots of UGA girls going?!?! wonder what that means come March? hard to do an Invitational, Finals, Worlds, Christmas and still have a lot left in the bank. Time will tell.
Did Megan Romano go to London?
No, she placed 7th in 200 free final.
No, she placed 7th in 200 free final in Olympic trials.
she has a * by her name but she’s not an Olympian (she is a star though!)