arena Swim of the Week: Collin Holgerson Breaks Ryan Murphy’s Independent HS Record In 100 Back

Swim of the Week is brought to you by arena, a SwimSwam partner.

Disclaimer: 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 Swim of the Week 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.

Tennessee commit and McCallie School junior Collin Holgerson was on fire last weekend at the TISCA State Championships in Nashville, sweeping his individual events for the second straight year and doing so in record-setting fashion.

Holgerson’s headlining swim came in the 100 back, where he clocked 45.26 in the final to lower the National Independent High School Record of 45.34 set by Olympic champion Ryan Murphy in 2012.

The swim for Holgerson was not a personal best time, having been 44.94 at the 2025 Winter Junior Championships – East in December, which made him the fastest 17-year-old in history.

His performances over the last few months have been incredible in the event, given he entered Winter Juniors owning a personal best time of 46.87, set in March 2025.

In addition to breaking Murphy’s National Independent High School Record, Modglin came within two-tenths of taking down the overall National High School Record, which stands at 45.08 from Will Modglin in 2023.

Modglin, currently a star with the Texas Longhorns, owns the American Record of 43.26, set this past November. Murphy owned the American Record in the event from 2016 until 2022.

Split Comparison

Holgerson also won the 200 IM at the TISCA State Championships in a time of 1:43.72, just under half a second shy of his personal best time set in December (1:43.23).

And perhaps most notably, the SwimAtlanta product set a new lifetime best in the 50 back leading off McCallie’s 200 medley relay, clocking 20.91 to improve on his previous mark of 21.02 set at Winter Juniors – East.

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