From 41st Seed To Trials Finalist: The Stories of the Low Seeds

Since the year 2000, 91.8% of those who have qualified to swim for the USA at the Olympics went into Olympic Trials as the 10^th seed or higher in their respective event. It’s generally uncommon for those seeded deep down in the entries to make their way to the Olympic team, let alone the A-final. That rule, however, doesn’t come without exceptions.

Take Morgan Scroggy for example. Morgan Scroggy entered the 200 backstroke at Olympic trials as the 41^st seeded swimmer. Despite the 40 swimmers ahead of her, Scroggy managed to make it all the way through to the Olympic Trials A-final, ultimately earning an 8^th place finish. That movement from 41^st to 8^th has become the inspiration for this year’s US Olympic Trials.

Lowest Seed to Qualify for a US Olympic Trials Final, Since 2000

Interestingly, the 5 lowest seeds to have made an Olympic Trials “A” final were all women.

As detailed in our write-up from last week, the meet has been split in two with the fastest swimmers automatically getting to swim at Wave II and the slower half of qualifiers racing at Wave I, with the top 2 finishers in each event moving on to Wave II. The cut-off point for Wave II is where Morgan Scroggy comes in. At the time the cut-offs were published, the time to get to Wave II was the time of the 41^st fastest Olympic Trials qualifier at the time. Anyone who hits that mark between now and May 30, 2021, will get to go straight to Wave II.

We chatted with Morgan Scroggy about the decision to split Trials into 2 meets this year, as well as about the fact that her swim has become a pivotal factor in how the meet will run. Check out the full podcast here.

Below are the Wave I and Wave II standards:

The decision behind that cut-off came down to the person with the lowest seed going into the meet reach a US Olympic Trials A final. That swimmer is Morgan Scroggy who in 2008 broke her 41^st seed in the 200 backstroke and went on the place 8^th in the event.

Despite the fact that Scroggy made it to the final in the 200 back, she was actually seeded higher in the 100 freestyle when the meet began. In that sprint, she was seeded 30th with a 55.82 but didn’t make it past the first round when she fell to 34th in the heats with a 56.02.

While Scroggy is the lowest-seeded swimmer to make it all the way to the A final, a number of other swimmers have also soared up the rankings to notch a top 8 finish.

Kate Dwelley – 2004

In 2004, Kate Dwelley went into Trials as the 40^th seed in the women’s 200 freestyle. Back in 2004, Dwelley was a high school student in Brentwood, California. She entered the meet with a 2:02.96 which was more than 5 seconds slower than top seed in the event Lindsay Benko (1:57.41) and more than a second and a half slower than 8^th seed Rachel Komisarz’s 2:01.08.

Dwelley didn’t let her 40^th seed get in the way, however, as she managed to pull off a 12^th place finish in the heats in best-time fashion of 2:02.28. Having qualified for an Olympic Trials semi-final, however, wasn’t enough for Dwelley and she managed to knock another second and a half off her time, hitting a 2:00.80 in the semi-final, advancing to the final in 6^th place. Dwelley swam one last PB of 2:00.47 in the 200 freestyle final but ultimately fell to 8^th place.

While she never made it to the Olympics, Dwelley’s jump from 40^th seed to 8^th place finisher provided some momentum that would wind up resulting in a solid swimming career. Dwelley went on to race for Stanford collegiately, picking up several school records, 3 Pac-10 titles in the 200 freestyle (2008, 2010, 2011), and an NCAA title in the 4×100 freestyle relay in 2010. Internationally, Dwelley also recognized success, picking up a World University Games gold in the 4×200 freestyle and silver in the 4×100 freestyle in 2011.

Dwelley returned to swim at the 2008 Olympic Trials, this time as 11th seed in the 200 freestyle. She went in with a 1:59.03 in the event and swam just over her best time in the prelims, hitting a 1:59.79. That time was good enough to keep her 11th seed and advance to semis. There, Dwelley was just outside of the top 8 as she hit a 1:58.90 for 9th, failing to advance to the finals. In 2012, Dwelley made her final Olympic Trials appearance in the event but was unable to advance past the heats, swimming a 2:00.89 for 25th place.

Shannon Draves – 2012

8 years after Dwelley’s success, we saw another 40^th seed make her way to an Olympic Trials final. In 2012, Shannon Draves had just finished her junior year as an Ohio State Buckeye. At 2012 NCAAs, she had just missed out on getting a second swim in both the 100 and 200 butterflies, finishing 21^st in the former with a 52.86 and 20^th in the latter with a 1:57.01.

Following the collegiate season, Draves would have then switched gears from short course yards to long course meters as the 2012 US Olympic Trials approached. Draves entered the 200 butterfly at Trials that year as the 40^th seed with a 2:13.52, swimming in heat 11 of 14. Draves started out with a 2:12.73 to tie Kathleen Nolan for 14^th place in prelims. In her semi, Draves got herself down to a 2:11 flat, getting to the wall in 8^th only 0.35 seconds ahead of 9^th place finisher Courtney Otto. With one swim left to go, Draves went into the final as 8^th seed in an event where just days before she sat at a mere 40^th. Draves made the most of the final and managed to hit her 3^rd PB of the meet, swimming a 2:10.47 for 7^th place.

Along with the 200, Draves also managed to break seed in the 100 butterfly. She entered with a 1:00.19 which was just outside the top 30 entrants. In the prelims, Draves dipped under the 1-minute mark with a 59.84, moving up to 15th place and advancing to the semi-finals. In the second round of racing, however, Draves couldn’t quite crack the top 8 and wound up finishing in 16th place with a 59.63.

Katie Cowan – 2000

Joining Scroggy, Dwelley, and Draves as Olympic Trials finalist seeded well outside the top 8 is Katie Cowan. In 2000 Cowan entered Olympic Trials as a recent Brown graduate as 35^th seed in the 200 back.

Cowan managed to quickly jump from 35^th up to 13^th with her 2:17.54 prelim swim, going on to get down to a 2:16.83 for 8^th in the semis. That allowed her to qualify for the final wherein dropped back to a 2:17.96 for an 8^th place finish overall.

Morgan Scroggy, Kate Dwelley, Shannon Draves, and Katie Cowan are prime examples of making the most of their Trials experience – something that thousands of swimmer get the chance to do every 4 years (or sometimes 5). While their journeys from 41st, 40th, or 35th seed to an Olympic final are certainly impressive, there are also stories of swimmers going a bit further.

Check back in later for part 2 of this article when we explore 5 more cases of 4 swimmers cracking their deep seeds to actually go on and make Olympic team and in some cases, win Olympic gold.

Erin Phenix – 2000

More on Erin in our next piece – she’s a special case because she actually wound up making the team in the 400 free relay as a 38th seed in 2000.