Jack Conger
Jack is a member of the USA National team and a 2016 Olympian. He is a graduate of the University of Texas, and currently holds the American and NCAA record in the 200 yard butterfly.
Personal life
Jack Conger was born on September 26, 1994. Conger grew up in Rockville, Maryland swimming for the Rockville-Montgomery Swim Club under head coach Sue Chen. In his later years, Conger attended Our Lady of Good-Counsel High School in the DC area and represented his school in high school swimming. During his high school swimming career, Conger broke the National High School Record in the 500-yard freestyle by three seconds, the oldest High School Record in the books (30 years old). Conger is also the National Independent High School Record Holder in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 42.81. Some other impressive times for Conger coming out of high school are his 46.15 100-yard butterfly, his 45.32 100-yard backstroke, his 1:38.75 200-yard backstroke, his 1:34.16 200-yard freestyle, and his 19.85 50-yard freestyle.
University of Texas
2013-2014
In just his freshman season at Texas Conger finished as a five-time All-American. He placed fifth in the 500 freestyle, sixth in the 100 butterfly and eighth in the 200 backstroke in addition to his two top-eight performances as a member of the 200 medley relay and the 800 freestyle relay.
Texas Alum and Olympic swim star Aaron Piersol is a big inspiration to Conger. And after hitting a mental wall his freshman year, it was a conversation with Piersol that changed Conger’s mentality about the sport.
2014-2015
courtesy of Andy Ringgold
At the NCAA Championships Conger advanced to the championship final of the 100-yard fly within a stacked heat all within just one second. He touched in 2nd overall after leading the heat at the 50-yard point, just .04 seconds behind teammate, Joseph Schooling. In the 200-yard fly, which he had recently broke both the American and U.S. Open Records in, Conger finished 2nd once again behind Schooling this time by just .12 seconds.
2015-2016
At the 2016 Big 12 Championships, Jack Conger won the 200 butterfly, placed 2nd in the 100 butterfly, and 3rd in the 100 backstroke. He was crowned NCAA Champion in three relays with Texas, the 400 medley, 200 free, and 800 free. In his individual swims, he picked up a silver medal in the 200 yard butterfly in 1:38.06 behind Texas teammate, Joseph Schooling. His time was a new American record. In the 100 yard butterfly, Conger took the bronze medal in 44.87.
2016-2017
In his final NCAA Championships, Conger finally became an individual National Champion in his last ever individual swim as a college swimmer. He took gold in the 200 yard butterfly in a new NCAA, U.S. and American record time of 1:37.35. Conger wasted no time in dominating the rest of the field, leading by over a second by the halfway point. He continued to build momentum to finish 1 and a half seconds ahead of silver medalist Zheng Quah from Cal. In the 100 yard butterfly, Conger finished third behind Florida’s Caeleb Dressel and Texas teammate Joseph Schooling. He swam a best time of 44.35. Conger also picked up three golds and a silver as a member of Texas relays to help Texas secure the National Title. The golds came in the 200 and 400 freestyle and 400 medley relays. The silver came in the 800 yard freestyle relay. He also swam the 50 yard freestyle, finishing second in the consolation final.
International Competition
2012 Olympic Trials/US Open
At the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials Conger advanced to the final in the 200m backstroke, where he finished fifth, and also in the 100m backstroke, where he came in eighth. Two months later Conger placed second in the 200m backstroke at the U.S. Open Championships, which placed Conger on the 2012-2013 U.S. National Team.
2012 Jr Pan Pacific Championships
Conger brought home the gold in the 200m (1:57.20) and 100m (54.07) backstroke and 50m freestyle (22.69) at the 2012 Jr Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, as well as a bronze in the 100m freestyle. He also earned a gold in the 400m Freestyle relay, and silvers in the 800m freestyle relay and 400m medley relay.
2013 World University Games
He won gold in the 200m backstroke at the 2013 World University Games (1:55.47), and at the same University Games he also earned a bronze medal on the 400m medley relay.
2015 World University Games
At the 2015 World University Games, Conger earned a silver in the 100 meter freestyle and 400 meter freestyle relay and a bronze in the 100 meter backstroke.
2016 U.S Olympic Trials (Omaha, Nebraska)
Jack Conger (4×200 free relay)
Conger secured a relay spot on the US Olympic team with a bronze in the 200 meter freestyle. He had a stunning final 50 split of 26.83 to gain on the leaders and over take Ryan Lochte. He finished 0.11 seconds behind his Texas teammate Townley Haas who took the gold.
2016 Rio Olympic Games (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
In his Olympic debut, Conger won a gold medal for his heat swim of the 800 meter freestyle relay. He combined with Clark Smith, Gunnar Bentz and Ryan Lochte to send Team USA into the final in second position.
Conger got caught up in an incident in Rio with teammates Bentz, Lochte and Jimmy Feigen. The four were involved in an incident at a gas station, where initially it was said Lochte had been robbed at gunpoint. That story was later disputed by the Rio police. After different versions of the story and accusations surfaced, Conger and Bentz were pulled off the plane to provide testimony.
2017 World Championship Trials (Indianapolis, Indiana)
Conger qualified for the World Championships with a gold medal in the 200 meter butterfly. He touched first in a new best time of 1:54.47, just ahead of Pace Clark in second. He just missed out on another individual swim in Budapest when he touched third in the 100 meter butterfly, 0.03 behind Tim Phillips in second.
2017 World Championships (Budapest, Hungary)
Conger won a bronze medal in Budapest as a member of the 4×200 meter freestyle relay. He joined Blake Pieroni, Townley Haas and Zane Grothe in the final.
Earlier in the week, Conger swam in the 200 meter butterfly where he finished 5th in the final in 1:54.88.
2018 U.S. National Championships (Irvine, California)
Conger finished second in the 100 butterfly (51.11) and third in the 200 butterfly (1:55.21) at the 2018 Phillips 66 National Championships in Irvine, California. He also finished sixth in the 200 freestyle (1:47.45)
2018 Pan Pacific Championships (Tokyo, Japan)
After swimming prelims of the 200 free and finaling in the 200 fly, conger earned his first medal of pan pacs on day 3 in the 100 fly. He touched in 2nd behind teammate Caeleb Dressel in a time of 51.32.
2018 Short Course World Championships (Hangzhou, China)
Conger had a busy schedule in Hangzhou, swimming on prelims of both medley relays as well as finals of the 4×50 and 4×200 free relays, netting him 2 golds (4×50 free, 4×100 medley) and a silver (4×50 medley). He also swam the 100 fly individually, where he placed 7th in the final (50.32).
ISL – LA Current
On June 18, 2019, Jack Conger was announced as a member of the LA Current ISL team, headed by GM Lenny Krayzelburg.
2019 World Championships (Gwangju, South Korea)
Jack Conger swam 4 races at world championships, 3 on Day 6. Conger swam prelims and semi finals of the 100 fly, earning 11th at 51.91. He also swam on the prelims of the 4×200 free relay, splitting 1:47.99 to help secure a spot for USA in finals, where they went on to earn bronze.
On the final day, Conger swam on the prelims of the 4×100 medley relay, where he split 51.70 on the fly leg. The relay went on to get silver in finals.
