At the end of a University of Tennessee practice, sophomore Jordan Crooks swam an unsuited 50-yard freestyle from the blocks and blasted a stopwatch time of 18.9. Assistant coach Joshua Huger filmed the swim, and the video is available below.
As always with these social media videos, we rerun the timing with our own watches to see what we get. In this case, we clocked 19.10, 19.12, 19.16, so maybe not a true 18.9, but it’s still a fiery swim for practice this early in the season.
Last season, Crooks made headlines when he became the fastest freshman in NCAA history in both the 50 and 100-yard freestyle. First, he ripped 18.53 in the 50 freestyle at the 2022 SEC Championships, surpassing Caeleb Dressel‘s freshman record of 18.67.
At the same meet, he swam 41.44 in the 100 freestyle leading off Tennessee’s 400 freestyle relay to set the freshman record on the 100 free. He then lowered that record at NCAA Championships, swimming 41.16 in prelims. In finals, he finished fifth in 41.24. In addition to his individual swims, he swam a 40.52 anchoring Tennessee’s 400 medley relay.
The Tennessee men finished second at SECs behind Florida, and went on to finish at 18th at NCAAs with 72.5 points. With 29.5 points, Crooks was the highest scorer on the team.
Crooks joined the Vols from the Cayman Islands, and last season was his first season ever swimming short course yards. He owns Tennessee school records in the 50 free, 100 free, and 100 fly, and was a part of the record-setting teams in the 400 freestyle and medley relays.
Their 2022-23 season gets underway on September 30 with a dual meet against UNC Wilmington.
Folks, he was 9 strokes down 10 strokes back at SECs. 6 strokes down 8 strokes back here. That’s bonkers
So smooth and controlled. Great feel for the water and you can tell from the entry too; minimal splash even with straight arm recovery.
Liendo’s article one below this is suddenly unimpressive
Any day now we’ll get an American record set after practice. In a brief. From a shouted start.
Early prediction for how the final will go at NCAAs
1. Crooks
2. Seeliger
3. Liendo
4. Curtiss
5. Curry
6. Krueger
7. Brownstead
8. Chaney
I feel
Don’t forget Korstanje!
I timed it twice and got 19.22 and 19.24. Appears this was timing was taken right out of the DeSorbo handbook for getting accurate (inaccurate) practice times. If I had to bet, guessing there were some recruits on the pool deck during this to liven up practice atmosphere. Either way, the dude is fast.
I just timed it 6 times and I’m getting 18 high like the person in the video. Out of curiosity, what made you decide to double check the time? I was interested in timing this again after reading your comment, but for you it seems like there may have already been a reason to doubt the time so that checking became necessary. I’m kinda curious about this.
hand-held stop watches are so 20th century.
So, is it: 19-something; or is it 18-something??
If the former, there would probably be no story;
on the other hand [pardon the pun] the latter time is worth talking up.
Did you ever swim? Do you follow swimming and know what times are good? Serious question
12 years of competitive swimming thru college [NAIA] – surprise!
Mike, not too bright in Dallas.
IQ or EQ – either of mine is still pretty high, but then, you’re mixing brain vs. brawl here when dealiing with swimming, right? – bad optics.
yeah your name being in all caps really gives off the vibe of a great thinker
I dunno, 19.1 in practice unsuited in September is probably still newsworthy.
Good things happen here every day!