Blueseventy Swim of the Week: Grevers Gets It Done For KrayzelburgSquad

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Disclaimer: BlueSeventy 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 BlueSeventy Swim 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.

It’s time for a postmortem on the first iteration of USA Swimming’s SwimSquad battles. What really brought about Team Krayzelburg’s dominant win?

In two words: Matt Grevers.

First of all, it wasn’t all Grevers. Only four starting swimmers in the entire league scored the maximum 20 points. Three of them were on KrayzelburgSquad. The first was Amanda Kendall, who was outstanding in the butterfly races but also took advantage of an absent Kelsi Worrell. Second was Chase Kalisz, the #1 overall pick and nearly a lock for 20 points everytime he hits the pool. The third was Grevers, who had to beat out a stellar field of backstrokers for his perfect score.

American backstroke has always been insanely deep. That’s what brought about world-class ‘Trials Thirds’, or swimmers who would likely have medaled at the Olympics but missed the team by finishing 3rd at American Olympic Trials. That list includes Grevers and Tyler Clary in 2016, David Plummer and Nick Thoman in 2012 and Ryan Lochte and Clary in 2008.

In Austin, Grevers had to face Olympic champ and world record-holder Ryan MurphyOlympian Jacob Pebley and World Champs team member (and 50 back specialist) Justin Ressalong with a couple of stellar young British swimmers.

Grevers topped the field to win the 100 back despite being 8 years older than anyone else in the field. At age 32, Grevers continues to excel after a disappointing 2016 Olympic Trials, and his continued presence on the national and international stage is keeping American backstroke in its world-dominant position. Grevers returned the next day to win the 50 back shootout, trading the top overall time back and forth with Ress through heats (Ress was 25.42, Grevers 25.61), quarterfinals (Grevers 25.20, Ress 25.39) and semifinals (Ress 25.10, Grevers 25.11) before winning the final 24.81 to 25.04.

Grevers persevered through four rounds of qualifying to ultimately beat Ress despite Ress being a whopping 12 years younger.

In SwimSquad terms, Murphy headed Natalie Coughlin’s squad and Ress powered Jason Lezak’s crew, meaning every Grevers win over the field was also carrying the team of another legendary veteran backstroker – Lenny Krayzelburg, whose team dominated by 19 points after getting 20 from Grevers in its “flex” starting spot.

WE MAKE SWIMMERS.

There isn’t a second that goes by when the team at blueseventy aren’t thinking about you. How you eat, breathe, train, play, win, lose, suffer and celebrate. How swimming is every part of what makes you tick. Aptly named because 70% of the earth is covered in water, blueseventy is a world leader in the pool and open water. Since 1993, we design, test, refine and craft products using superior materials and revolutionary details that equate to comfort, freedom from restriction and ultimately a competitive advantage in the water. This is where we thrive. There is no substitute and no way around it. We’re all for the swim.

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About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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