In the SwimSwam Podcast dive deeper into the sport you love with insider conversations about swimming. Hosted by Coleman Hodges and Gold Medal Mel Stewart, SwimSwam welcomes both the biggest names in swimming that you already know, and rising stars that you need to get to know, as we break down the past, present, and future of aquatic sports.
We sat down with the University of Cincinnati’s NCAA qualifier in the 200 backstroke, Blake Hanna. Looking at Blake’s times, specifically his 1:40 in the 200 backstroke, you’d think that he was highly recruited coming out of high school. Turns out, he was barely recruited at all and therefore didn’t end up swimming for a team straight out of high school, as he was set on going to Cincinnati for academic reasons. However, he did swim with the colleges club team and ended up winning the national college club championships in the 200 back with a 1:47 his sophomore year.
Hanna explains his drive to win the college club nationals after getting 2nd his first year and how that landed him a spot on the bearcats DI collegiate team once he did.
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Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com
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Opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the interviewed guests do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the hosts, SwimSwam Partners, LLC and/or SwimSwam advertising partners.
I hope he scores and makes All-American. He deserves the success. Hard work pays off!!!
Coleman you’ve really improved in your interview skills, that had to be best one you have done.
Few things
- I’ve listened to a lot of talks and read books of a lot of well known motivational leaders. This young man in that class. This was up there was Arnold Schwarzenegger’s biography of how he became Mr. Olympia
- I follow the sport and know the top big names and who is likely to finish in the top 3 at NCAA and even Olympic Trails, but after listening to that podcast I’m sold that that is going to be the winner of the meet. If any PR agent for the big name swimmers needs to demo for their clients
… Read more »In a crappy year of teams being dropped and programs being shutdown- can we all agree that this is best underdog story of the year in college swimming?
So proud of you, Blake! Glad I got to watch this all unfold firsthand. Thanks for covering this, Coleman – it’s hard for people to fully understand how incredible this kid is but this story is awesome. Go Bearcats!
I’ve only listened to 10 minutes so far, but I love this kid and I love the podcast. What an awesome story. Blake talks about how doing his college club helped him grow personally and physically. It really makes you think how many kids, especially males, never reach their potential as competitive swimmers because of not having the opportunity to gain weight and get taller because of the training and academic demands of high school. Congrats to Blake and the Cincinnati program. My Godson goes to the school and I’ve heard nothing but great things about the swimming program and coaching staff.
The legend! Let’s go buddy, you can achieve everything!
This is one of the best SwimSwam podcasts I’ve listened to. You could tell Coleman was getting more and more invested in the story as the podcast went on. Loved it
Also absolutely INSANE that Blake was swimming 30-40k a week BY HIMSELF. I haven’t heard of anyone else that has that kind of dedication
Go to USMS Nationals. You’ll find a number of such people, certainly at the low end of that range.
agreed
Yeah, and they are all former “All Americans” as well.
30-40K is not that unusual for swimming by oneself, if one’s motivated; that’s only 5-6k per workout 6x per week.
“only”
As a club-to-D1 swammer, big ups to Blake for going all the way! This is such a great story