Herbie Behm Asks: Should We Swim Duel in the Pool Events at College Dual Meets?

At the ASCA World Clinic in Las Vegas, SwimSwam caught up with Arizona State sprint coach Herbie Behm, who is coming off of a trip to Australia as a part of the USA Duel in the Pool contingency. Behm explains that while the Aussies had a better team on paper, the US coaching staff had more experience in a dual meet setting and therefore was more prepared for the format, even though the Australian’s made the rules. Behm was a fan of the Duel in the Pool event lineup with skins, broken events, and mixed relays, and asks the question: should we be swimming some of these events at some (not all) college dual meets?

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Radiogaga
1 year ago

Dual meets are exciting! More events with 50s of strokes, 1000 and 1650, 800 FR and 800 medley relay. Include 10m tower and synchro diving. Let the athletes shine and enjoy competition! Footieball games are over 4 hours – so collegiate dual meets should be 4 to 4.5 hours. Herbie is the greatest also!

BearlyBreathing
1 year ago

No. College dual meets don’t need gimmicks.

Dressel GOAT
1 year ago

@Coleman , where is the Swimswam Breakdown?

told me last Thursday that it’s gonna be uploaded this week, and here we are 10 days later and still waiting 🤯🤯.

I hope we’re getting a full 45-50 min breakdown this evening of all events that happened these last 2-3 weeks.

Gold Medal Mel
Reply to  Dressel GOAT
1 year ago

Coleman just returned from vacation…and I’m headed out on vacation. I think they’ll return to the breakdown this week.

HulkSwim
1 year ago

Yes

Swimfan
1 year ago

No reason to change the events. If anything, the championship season should be a tournament dual meet style with 16 teams and the 4 rounds spanning 2 weeks

Xman
Reply to  Swimfan
1 year ago

There does need to be more importance placed on duel meets. Currently they are treated as a special practice to get ready for the real meet.

Only importance they have is for swimmers on the bubble on making the conference team, or travel team if it’s a home meet.

Bill
1 year ago

Mixed relays yes, Skins no

Coach Hovland
1 year ago

‘Duel in the Pool’: Oakland Univ vs. Wayne State last night. Cross town rivals. Big crowd, music blaring, synchro diving in between shoot outs. Both teams only had a week to prepare but still posted some fast swims. Everyone loved it. Will probably do it again.

Xman
Reply to  Coach Hovland
1 year ago

Shoot outs?

Coach Hovland
Reply to  Xman
1 year ago

EX: Men’s 50 fly: OU 4 vs WSU 4, then 2 vs 2, and then 1 vs 1
same for the other 3 strokes….Top 2 swimmers end up swimming 3 x 50’s

Swimmer
Reply to  Coach Hovland
1 year ago

So basically skins?

Lovetoswim
1 year ago

I enjoy all I interviews but I miss the swim swam breakdown. Is it coming back soon?!

About Coleman Hodges

Coleman Hodges

Coleman started his journey in the water at age 1, and although he actually has no memory of that, something must have stuck. A Missouri native, he joined the Columbia Swim Club at age 9, where he is still remembered for his stylish dragon swim trunks. After giving up on …

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