Swim of the Night: Allison Schmitt, 1:54.40, 200 free, American Record – With all due deference to Mr. Phelps and his world-leading 200 butterfly that we didn’t really see coming after the rest of his meet, Allison Schmitt breaking away from the field at the first turn and cruising to a new American Record (by half-a-second) gives her this honor for Thursday’s session. What we’re starting to see from Schmitt is that she really has outstanding walls – and they’re walls that aren’t really mused about as much as many of the other superstars. She’s not yet a Natalie Coughlin, but for a middle-distance swimmer she’s one of the best in the country.
Theme of the Night: New Olympians – After seeing a lot of second-time Olympians through the first three days of the meet, the new blood really exploded on day 4. 7 out of the 10 Olympic swims that were awarded on Thursday evening were from swimmers without a shred of Olympic experience (though some of those are still not official – they’re foregone). That’s a huge positive for an American team that was in danger of getting trapped in a redundant cycle in a lot of events. That includes Caitlin Leverenz, Tyler Clary, Lauren Perdue, Missy Franklin, Ariana Kukors, Alyssa Anderson, and Shannon Vreeland.
Fun Fact of the Night: Dakota Hodgson’s Dad Developed Hy-Tek – The details are a bit fuzzy, but it turns out that Dakota Hodgson’s father (and coach) is actually the developer of the Hy-Tek program that runs the scoring and timing systems for most swim meets in the United States (and many internationally as well). Hodgson finished 6th in the 200 fly final in 1:58.07, which means he won’t hit his Olympic goal, but still: that’s better than I think most outsiders expected given the challenging first year he had at Auburn before returning home to train with his dad. He’s going to be a huge addition at USC next season.
