Cal junior Long Gutierrez is scheduled to race an unusual double at the 2016 NCAA Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships.
When the pre-selection sheets were released on Tuesday, Gutierrez was entered in the 100 fly, the 200 fly, and the 200 freestyle at NCAAs. The emphasis is 100 fly and the 200 free, which fall in back-to-back races on day 3 of the new NCAA lineup.
Gutierrez is seeded 10th in the 100 fly and 8th in the 200 free. If he’s able to pull that double off, and finish in the A-Final of both races, it would be quite a feat. Even the great Tom Shields, who was the fastest 200 freestyler in high school history when he came to Cal, only tried it once – as a freshman in 2010. Shields won win the 100 fly on the front-half, but only made the B-Final in the 200 free and wound up finishing last in that B-Final in a sluggish 1:39.85.
Shields never again tried that double, despite wining up as the school record holder in both races (which he remains today). Instead he opted to switch to the the 100 fly and 100 back – both also on the same day, but with a much greater space in between.
The difference between the two that might work in Gutierrez’s favor is that Shields was, primarily, a 100 butterflier, despite how good he was in the 200 free. Gutierrez, on the other hand is primarily a 200 freestyler, who also swims the 100 fly, and so will be settling into his more comfortable and familiar event on the back-half of the back-to-back swims.
Another Cal Bear pulled off this double in a super suit in 2009. Dana Vollmer got 4th in the 100 fly, then came back and won the 200 in an AR.
I’ve always thought he was a pretty under-rated swimmer, over shadowed by the many greats at Cal. But I think he may have bit off more than he can chew here. That is an unbelievably fast turn around.
On a side note, why can’t they just change the event order? I know it’s tradition and all, but at some point we should be honest with ourselves that we could construct a better event order at NCAA’s and most conference champs.
It’s tough to build much of a better one. Although many conference champs have gone away from the 3 day format, most still have it, and as such, you’re a bit stuck. Putting the 4im between the medley relay and the fly gives more rest to all the flyers in the MR. Putting as many events as possible between the fly and the back gives the most rest to people doing that double. Putting the 200 free as early as possible in the order gives the maximum amount of rest before the 800 FR. Etc etc.
In reality, the only people who are screwed by the current order are mid-distance swimmers who primarily do butterfly as well as the 200… Read more »
He won’t pull it off at all. Shields was far superior, this guy while very good, is a no name that will be forgotten in 1 or 2 years, while shields will always be remembered. He’s also far slower time wise then shields so he should not go for this double.
Well, both of the people we’re talking about have international medals.
Seems like you might just be a salty Trojan?
Why would a Trojan praise Shields so much? He’s as much a Cal Bear as Long.
Also, don’t forget what happened at Pac12s this year. Long didn’t even try in the A final of 100 fly (swam 52) and then went on to lose the 200 free. Now what would happen if he actually tried in the fly? I don’t think it’s smart for him to do this double, especially considering the Pac12s performance.
Guts. We’ll see how well he can do in the 2free, but with how good his back half is, he’s got enough endurance to be considered a threat in both events.
100 fly is going to be beastly with schooling, conger and dressel all in there and likely to be hovering around 44.5
I think schooling wins with a 44.2 or 44.3