With Caeleb Dressel blowing minds tonight by becoming the first 17-year-old boy to break 19 seconds in a 50 free, the world of junior swimming in the world has been rocked. Sure, there have been other great swims by junior swimmers in history, there have been other time barriers broken and records set, but there’s something about the 19-second barrier that has roundly captivated swimming fans for years. An 18-anything 50 freestyle has almost been this white whale, this glowing beacon calling for the world’s fastest men ever since Fred Bousquet first proved it could be done back in 2005.
Girls mature differently, and it’s not unheard of for junior women to compete with the very best in the world: just look at Missy Franklin or Katie Ledecky, just the next few in a long line of young women to dominate the sport. But the size and strength difference between a 17-year-old boy and a 27-year-old man is a huge hurdle to overcome, and why it’s so hard for juniors to compete with seniors on the men’s side, particularly in the sprints, like Dressel has done.
His awe-inspiring swim generates so much fanfare and so many I-can’t-believe-it’s that it’s got the folks at SwimSwam thinking: is this the most unreal yards swim by a high school age male the current swimming generation has ever seen?
Yes, overall, Phelps was the greatest male junior in the last 20 years. There’s no question. He broke World Records while in high school, which isn’t done anymore. But short course is what these swimmers’ peers relate to best, it’s what they swim in high school, it’s what they’re trying to swim in college. Yards has an extra wow factor.
Dressel’s gotten plenty of fanfare and analysis today – you can check out the link above or view the live recaps (and comment section) of the still-ongoing Junior Nationals finals. But over the past 10 years, what other crazy high school age yards swims rival Dressel’s?
There’s certainly David Nolan’s earth-shattering 200 IM of 2011. A high school senior, Nolan went 1:41.39 at the Pennsylvania High School State Championships, smashing the national high school record by a margin that you just don’t break records by. The time was transcendent because, although it came from a high school meet, it was the fastest time in the nation that year, period. High school or college. The notion that an 18-year-old high school senior could outdo all the the athletes at the Division I NCAA Championships was all but unbelievable – before it happened.
One only has to look back as far as last spring to remember Jack Conger‘s 500 free at the Washington D.C. High School State Champs. Conger’s swim was fast – a 4:13.87 is fast at any level, and at the high school level, it’s unheard of. But what made that swim so jaw-dropping is that it wasn’t even in Conger’s best event. Conger was a pretty well-known backstroker to that point in most swimming circles. But when a guy goes out and breaks a 30-some-year-0ld record (a record that was beginning to look like it would never fall) in a time very few swimmers of any age will ever go… and he does it in his off event? That’s just not fair. Conger’s versatility made that swim a special moment in junior swimming history.
Speaking of versatility, how can we have a discussion about most unreal anything involving a pool without inviting the man who holds trademark on the word “unbelievable” – Michael Phelps? Isn’t that some kind of violation of intergalactic law? Let’s take it back to 2004, when a then 18-year-old Phelps went a ridiculous 4:12.33 at the Maryland club championships. It’s hard to quantify exactly where the 500 free ranks in Phelps’ list of best events, but you’d be hard-pressed to find someone to rank it above either butterfly or either IM distance. So here you’ve got a high-school age swimmer putting up a time that would make any swimmer’s jaw drop in what’s, at best, his 5th best race.
If we really want to stir things up, we could bring Kostoff’s old record that Conger broke into the conversation… but we’ve already traveled across enough time and space – there’s no need bring a whole different era in to muddy the water even further.
Was Stewart’s 1:41.78 200 Fly in high school? I know it is listed as 17-18, but it is also the exact same time four years later to win NCAAs?
Jeff Kostoff’s 4:17 HS record from 1983 that was broken earlier this year (30 years!) has to be one of the greatest HS performances of all time. It was an American Record at the time.
I wonder why David Nolan hasn’t produced in long course or in other international water. To consider how incredible he was in s/c, swimming faster than NCAA champs before he was out of high school is ridiculous. He’s being compared to even Michael Phelps but hasn’t as far as I know made an international team, while Dressel is Jr world champ and Conger is universiade champ too.
While this is amazing, id argue mack horton at 17 is better. Plus his swims are in long course. Even their 100 LC free times are similar
Regardless of which is the top swim, five under 18y/o boys under 20 insane for the US. Up-coming sprinters I say!!
I’d say Andy Coan 100 Free 43.8 way back in 1976 is right up there among the best.
When I was growing up, Anthony Robinson’s 19.9 50 free, and Nate Dusing’s 47.1 100 fly made my jaw drop.
USA Swimming’s website lists “All Time Top 10 Performances”, “All Time Top 25 Performers” and “Top 10 USA Performers”.
Caeleb Dressel’s 50 yard Free 18.94 does not place him on Top 10 Performances list, places him 15th of All Time Top Performers and 8th as a USA Top Performer.
David Nolan’s 200 yard IM 1:41.39 places him 10th of All Time Top Performances, places him 4th of All Time Top Performers and 3rd as a USA Top Performer.
Jack Conger’s 500 yard Free 4:13.87 does not place him on Top 10 Performances List, does not place him in the 25 Top Performers List, but 21st as a USA Top Performer. This may not be Jack’s best 18 and… Read more »
Since Murphy’s 200 Back wasn’t done in an actual HS meet, nor a HS event, should we count any of Phelps’ swims while still in HS?
The entire article is about a swim (18.94 for a 50) that was not swum at a high school meet. so YES we should count all swims that were done during the time the swimmer would have been in high school
When Alex Lim set the 100 back HS record of 46.82 in 1999, the winning time at NCAAs was 47.12. His underwaters were incredible. Lim’s time stood for 10 years and was only dropped in the suit year of 2009 by Cole Cragin to a 46.75.
I was going to post about Lim’s 100 Back as well.
How many HS boy’s times would have won NCAAs that same year? Those are the swims that should be considered the greatest of all time. So far we have Lim, Murphy, and I think Nolan’s was faster. Who else are we missing–Kostoff, Hudepohl, Phelps?
Phelps was 4:12 in HS in the 500 as someone mentioned, 1:33.8 Fr, 1:41 Back, and 3:42 IM. Obviously he could have been faster if he rested/shaved/focused on SCY meets, but we’ll just use the times he actually went.
Since NCAAs were in SCM in 2004, Phelps senior year in HS, I am using the top NCAA time from 2005. PVK was 4:09 in… Read more »
Art,
If you look back to the 70s, you will find that high schoolers were beating times, setting American records and just faster than NCAA swimmers. Tim Shaw is one example of that. He was setting world records in high school and regularly beating the college swimmers. At that time Cali swimming was probably the fastest area for 400/1500 in the world.
…and then Lim never won an individual NCAA title so all this HS v. NCAA time comparison is “fun” but really means little
ill just play devils advocate here, because im not sure what side of the fence I stand on, but I would say that for an event like the 50, making the top performers list as a 17 year old would be way way harder than doing it in the 200 back or even 200 im, since it is dominated by large, physically mature athletes. That being said, I think a lot of people might be overlooking the 1:38 slightly just because last year he was accompanied by an equally impressive backstroker in jack conger. if he stood alone in the sub-1:40 range as a high schooler at 1:38, people may be more impressed. is it fair? no. but we were… Read more »