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Stanford has secured a pair of international commitments on the men’s side for the Cardinal’s class of 2028.
Japan’s Go Nagaoka and New Zealand’s Finn Harland will both join Stanford’s squad under fifth-year head coach Dan Schemmel beginning next fall.
Nagaoka is a breaststroke specialist who owns best times of 29.14/1:00.00/2:09.71 in short course and 35.98/1:03.20/2:15.53 in long course. He’s expected to be the second-best breaststroker in his class behind No. 11 recruit Daniel Li, who committed to the Cardinal earlier this week.
Nagaoka’s best converted 100 breast time is a few seconds away from NCAA scoring territory while his best 200 converted 200 breast time is about six seconds shy.
Nagaoka’s Best Times (SCM)
- 50 Breast – 29.14
- 100 Breast – 1:00.00
- 200 Breast – 2:09.71
Nagaoka’s Best Times (LCM)
- 50 Breast – 35.98
- 100 Breast – 1:03.20
- 200 Breast – 2:15.53
Nagaoka’s Best Converted SCY Times (From SCM)
- 50 Breast – 26.56
- 100 Breast – 54.99
- 200 Breast – 1:58.58
Harland is a backstroke and freestyle specialist who is slated to represent New Zealand at the World Junior Championships two weeks from now in Israel. His best converted 100 back and 100 free times are about five seconds away from NCAA scoring territory.
Harland’s Best Times (SCM)
- 50 Back – 25.56
- 100 Back – 55.20
- 200 Back – 2:02.27
- 50 Free – 24.14
- 100 Free – 51.72
- 200 Free – 1:56.64
Harland’s Best Times (LCM)
- 50 Back – 25.67
- 100 Back – 55.33
- 200 Back – 2:06.43
- 50 Free – 23.53
- 100 Free – 51.00
- 200 Free – 1:52.87
Harland’s Best Converted SCY Times (From SCM)
- 50 Back – 23.00
- 100 Back – 50.04
- 200 Back – 1:50.00
- 50 Free – 21.94
- 100 Free – 46.83
- 200 Free – 1:45.77
Nagaoka and Harland join Li and Abram Meuller in Stanford’s anticipated graduating class of 2028. The Cardinal men placed 8th at the 2023 NCAA Championships last season with 143.5 points. By the time they arrive at Stanford next fall, the Pac-12 may no longer exist after eight schools left the conference this summer.
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Finn is an amazing young talent, it’s been a pleasure to watch him develop in the last few years in NZ. Hope you enjoy the States!
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Notorious Winterfell Yeti crusher Caskey reeling them in.
Nagaoka’s opening split for 1:03 is surely faster than 35.98
Which would also mean his closing 50 of that 1.03 is quicker than 35.98 too. Was probably 14 or 15 the last time he swam a 50 breast.
Swimswam been using that cover picture for years
They can’t use a recent one or the Stanford team would be seated and crying based on their results in the last couple years. They have to go way back to see the men excited. At least those men are leaving with Stanford degrees…
Just a tad bit better than that ASU degree
Fact check:
This photo is from 2019 NCAAs (in Austin) where they got 15th with Ted Knapp
Since then
*2020-Covid
2021 NCAAs – 14th
2022 NCAAs – 7th
2023 NCAAs – 8th
It is pre-Dan Schemmel because Ted Knapp is in the photo.
Does swimswam just refuse to use common sense, when using conversions? 55 lcm is way faster than 50. backstroke… 51 free is like 44 low 43 high
Agree even if you just use the straight up distance conversion the 100 and 200 breastrokes would be faster not accounting at all for the extra 19 yards you are swimming in a 200 and less wall and underwater as a percentage. 54.99 x 1.094 = 1:00.16.
They’re converting SCM to SCY which is likely translates more accurately than long course. His LCM times are a lot better than his SCM times though
No…. The opposite
It does translate better if he’s actually swimming SCM seriously, which much of the world does not. When your LC 100 FR is faster than the SCM version it’s not worth using the SCM time for a conversion. Even the very worst swimmers with turns and underwaters still don’t get slower in SC compared to LC times.
And even more, Harland’s best LCM times are from 2023 and SCM from 2021… Pretty sure 2 years makes a big difference for a high schooler.
FYI 95% of swimming in NZ is SCM. There are only about 5 LCM pools available for competition in the whole country and they are usually set up for SCM …Good luck to Finn – great lad and awesome family.
I mean, that’s fair but I’m just reading off the dates of his PRs from swimrankings.
Swimswam’s conversions suck. Been offering my stroke specific formula for a while now and they still won’t bite.