Seven Names to Watch at the 2021 ISCA International Senior Cup

2021 ISCA INTERNATIONAL SENIOR CUP

• March 23 – 27, 2021
• St. Petersburg, FL (North Shore Aquatic Complex)
• SCY prelims/LCM finals
• Schedule (ET)
  • Tuesday: Timed Finals 4:00pm
  • Wednesday – Saturday: 8:00am prelims/5:00pm finals
• Meet information
• Psych sheet

Big names are coming to St. Petersburg this week for the ISCA International Senior Cup, which will race yards in prelims and long course meters at night. Here are seven names you should pay attention to this week.

RYAN LOCHTE

The 2021 Olympic Trials Wave II meet is less than three months away, and it’s starting to get to crunch time.

As Ryan Lochte aims for his fifth Olympic Games, huge question marks continue to hover around just how fast he can go this summer. We’re used to Lochte swimming broken down and well off of his times, so we may get more of the same this week. It would certainly inspire renewed hope in Lochte’s Olympic shot if he can drop a strong time in at least one event; for example, a sub-2:00 200 IM.

The new psych sheets still have Lochte in nine events: both IM events, both backstrokes, the 50/100/200 free, the 100 fly and the 200 breast. If he’s really doing all of those events, then it might be another training meet for him, so we might not get much speed quite yet.

CAELEB DRESSEL

Entered with LCM times (which is why he’s down at the bottom of psych sheets in most of his entries), Caeleb Dressel is entered in the 50/100/200 free, 50/100/200 fly, 100 breast and 200/400 IM.

Out of all of those events, the 400 IM would be the one we rarely see him swim. The American record-holder in the 200 IM in yards, Dressel’s best in the 400 IM is a 3:48.84 from a Gator-hosted meet in January 2019.

Dressel didn’t look all that sharp at the Pro Swim Series stop in San Antonio (which is typical in-season), and he also left the meet early to attend his friend and former UF teammate Ben Kennedy’s wedding, so we might see some more speed from him this week.

JACK CONGER

Conger recently moved training bases, leaving the small group working out of UVA after just over two years there to a larger contingent under Sergio Lopez at Virginia Tech.

Conger is still an Olympic team threat in both butterflies, but he’s only gone bests in the 50/100 free in LCM since 2018. He hit a 22.41 in the 50 free and 48.47 in the 100 free in 2019, solid early results after his winter move to Cavalier, but it’s been almost two years since another best.

He can count his former Texas teammate Joseph Schooling as one new butterfly teammate out of several at PVRT, so it’ll be interesting to see how his new program affects his performances in this Olympic year.

Conger will race the 50 free, 200 free, 50 fly, 100 fly and 200 fly this week.

JOSEPH SCHOOLING

2016 Olympic champion Schooling is another big PVRT name to watch here. He’s keeping it simple this week, entered only in the 50/100 free and 50/100 fly. In all of those save for the 100 free, he’ll go up against a field that includes Conger, and they should face-off in LCM finals, too.

The last time Schooling raced was at the 2020 U.S. Open, where he was 23.57 in the 50 free, 50.65 in the 100 free, 53.81 in the 100 fly and 2:07.40 in the 200 IM.

LEAH HAYES

Age group phenom Leah Hayes of the Fox Valley Riptides, now 15 years old, is one of the big names on the women’s side to keep an eye on.

Hayes, an incredibly versatile talent, is unsurprisingly entered in eight events. She’ll contest the 50/100/200 free, 200/400 IM, 100/200 back and 100 breast this week.

She’s seeded top-four in the 200 free and 400 IM, while she’s the top seed in the 200 IM. Already the owner of OT Wave II cuts in both IMs, she’ll try to add to that tally in a couple of other events.

ZIYAD SALEEM

After initially committing to the now-cut Iowa program, Schroeder YMCA’s Ziyad Saleem continued to drop time in the backstroke events throughout the pandemic, upping his recruiting value with seemingly every swim.

Saleem announced his commitment to Cal in February. He’s only entered in the 100 and 200 back, though he’s the top seed in the 100 and the three-seed in the 200.

ERIKA PELAEZ

One of the most exciting young sprint talents in the country right now, 14-year-old Erika Pelaez of Eagle Aquatics is entered in the 50/100/200 free, 50/100 fly and 100/200 back.

Earlier this month, Pelaez had a great string of performances in long course, including hitting a Wave II cut in the 100 free (55.51). She also clocked Wave I cuts in the 50 free (25.83) and 100 back (1:01.85), while she went lifetime bests in the 200 free (2:02.55), 100 fly (1:01.71) and 50 back (29.44).