Readers of SwimSwam are very familiar with the names Regan Smith and Alex Walsh. The pair, both of whom are graduating from high school this semester before matriculating to college, are each strong candidates for the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Team.
The two are now receiving wider recognition after national high school sports news and management website MaxPreps named the pair among 25 “must-know” female athletes in the class of 2020.
The Stanford-bound Smith had a major breakthrough last summer when, as a member of the U.S. team at the World Championships, she broke Missy Franklin’s World Record in the 200 backstroke, then broke Kathleen Baker’s World Record in the 100 backstroke. That 100 backstroke record-setting swim came on the leadoff leg of the American 400 medley relay, which also broke a World Record.
Walsh, a member of the U.S. National Team, won gold medals in the 200 backstroke and 200 IM, as well as on the 800 free relay, at the World Junior Swimming Championships in 2019.
Smith was ranked 6th on the MaxPreps list, while Walsh was ranked 18th. The 5 athletes ranked ahead of Smith include 1 basketball player, 2 softball players, a volleyball player, and a distance runner.
The #1 ranked athlete on the list is Minnesota basketball player Paige Bueckers, who finished her career at Hopkins High School with a 62-game winning streak. The second-ranked athlete Jayda Coleman finished her high school career with a .722 batting average and 30 homeruns.
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Are Bueckers, Coleman, etc. already the best players ever at their positions, at any age, in the entire world? Because if not, I don’t really see how they can rank above Smith.
Smith is the fastest ever female backstroker, but she’s not the best ever female backstroker.
That title belongs to Kriztina Egerszegi
She was and still is an amazing talent and advocate for swimming.
Bueckers, Coleman, Tuohy, and Smith are really quite the class of high school athletes. All 4 have massive potential to be the best at their sport for their career.
As a world record holder, it’s surprising they only ranked Smith 6th. However, all of the girls on this list are incredibly talented and deserve such great recognition! Good job ladies!
Yeah it’s tough. “World Record” holder is unreal, but in other sports there’s not really “world records” for them to break.
I could also see dinging Smith because she didn’t swim high school and they’re a very high school athletics-centric site. So, no state titles to hang her hat on.