With conference championships beginning this weekend and the NCAA Championships in March fast approaching, we thought we would countdown the top 10 in-season swims this season in the NCAA.
Below are the top 10.
#10 KIERRA SMITH [MINNESOTA] – 200 Breast 2:05.12
Kierra Smith is on the fast track to becoming one of the top breaststrokes in the NCAA system. The Canadian who swims for Minnesota is leading the way in the 200 breast with a 2:05.12.
That time is faster than what she was last year at the NCAA Championships to take sixth place and would have bumped her up to second overall behind Emma Reaney who broke the national record.
Currently, nobody has come within a second and a half of Smith’s time this year which puts her in a very good position going into conference championships.
#9 BRAD TANDY [ARIZONA] – 50 FREE – 19.04
Last season Tandy was the co-champion in the 50 freestyle as both he and Kristian Gkolomeev tied with a time of 18.95. This season, he’s back and fast already going a 19.04 to pave the way in the sprint freestyle.
Right behind him in the rankings is Gkolomeev with a time of 19.11. You can bet that Tandy is looking to separate himself and take a full victory this season in March.
#8 JOSEPH SCHOOLING [TEXAS] – 50 FLY RELAY SPLIT – 20.05
Schooling was ridiculously fast on the 200 medley relay for an in-season performance against TCU, splitting a 20.05. To put that swim into perspective, the fastest time in the NCAA finals last year was a 19.99 from Cal’s Tony Cox. The only person faster than that was Jack Conger, a teammate of Schooling’s, but he swam the 19.96 in the prelims. He was a 20.0 in finals.
The fact that Schooling put up this time in-season is what makes it such an outstanding mark.
#7 RYAN MUPHY [CAL] – 200 BACK – 1:39.32
Murphy is currently the most dominant swimmer in the backstroke events in the NCAA system and leads the way with top times in both the 100 and 200 yard backstrokes.
His season best in his 100 is almost equally as impressive as his 200, so it was very difficult deciding which was the better performance, but the 200 stood out just a little bit more.
His current 200 time would have came fourth at last year’s NCAA championships, where he won, and falls just under two second shy of the NCAA record he set there. To swim a time like that in season shows that Murphy is on his mark and could possibly even challenge Ryan Lochte’s American record in the event.
#6 ELIZABETH PELTON [CAL] – 200 BACK – 1:49.00
Pelton is the American record holder in the 200 yard backstroke, so you can expect fast swims from her. A 1:49.00 in-season is a very fast swim and foreshadows the possibility of Pelton downing her own record this season.
Last season, Pelton lost to Brooklynn Snodgrass at the NCAA Championships. With her 1:49.00 she’s already a full second and a half faster than Snodgrass’ winning time from last year.
#5 JACK CONGER [TEXAS]- 200 FLY – 1:40.34
Jack Conger has had an amazing breakout season which has shown that he’s one of the best flyers in the United States at the present time. He’s had incredible success in the long course pool at the Pro Swim Series, and in yards his performances have been stellar as well.
Previously focusing on backstroke, Conger has showed that he has a wide range of talents which extend to the fly. He’s leading the NCAA with a 1:40.34 200 fly which is arguably one of the best performances of the year.
Conger is also ranked second in the 100 fly and third in the 200 back.
#4 MISSY FRANKLIN [CAL] – 200 FREE – 1:41.23
Missy Franklin can knock out a solid time in just about any event, but it seems as though the 200 freestyle is slowly becoming an in-season focus for her whenever she’s swimming short course yards.
Last season she absolutely dominated the 200 free race at the NCAA Championships, taking almost a full second off the 200 free American record to win in 1:40.31.
Already this season she is within one second of that mark, and swimming faster in the event than she was last year. Going into the meet last season the American record was 1:41.21. Now, she’s swimming times like that in-season which is what puts this swim on this list.
#3 LEAH SMITH [VIRGINIA] – 500 FREE – 4:32.61
Leah Smith is leading the scoreboard in the 500 freestyle with a very impressive time. That time would have came second at last year’s NCAA Championships and not far from first.
Missy Franklin and Brittany MacLean battled it out with MacLean winning in 4:32.53 and Franklin grabbing the silver with a 4:32.66.
Smith is already putting herself in the mix for the 500 freestyle win with that one. She was less than a tenth off MacLean’s NCAA record in the event, and should be right up there to challenge some of the big names come March.
#2 COURTNEY BARTHOLOMEW [VIRGINIA] – 100 BACK – 50.01
Anytime you threaten a Natalie Coughlin NCAA record, you know you’re moving fast, and that’s just what Bartholomew did this season in the 100 backstroke.
The current record sits at 49.97 set by Coughlin at the 2002 NCAA Championships. Coming just four one-hundredths shy of the record in-season is no easy feat, neither is topping the 2014-2015 NCAA charts by 1.19 seconds over such an amazing backstroke class.
Considering how close she was to the record, and by how much she’s leading some of the top backstrokers in the nation, this not just one of the top 10 performances this season, but one of the best overall.
#1 SIMONE MANUEL [STANFORD]- 100 FREESTYLE RELAY SPLIT – 45.81
Simone Manuel is having a fantastic freshman year at Stanford showing an absolute dominance in the freestyle events. She’s currently ranked first in the NCAA in the 50 and 100 freestyles, and second in the 200 freestyle. There’s no denying that she’s thrown down some very impressive performances.
The Art Adamson Invitational saw the true strength of Manuel on the Stanford roster. She swam some very fast sprint freestyles which included downing age-group records, however her best swim was on the relay. Manuel threw down the fastest 100 yard freestyle leg of all time with a sub-46 second split of 45.81. She has quickly emerged as the top sprinter in the NCAA system.
To put into perspective how great that split was; at same meet she swam it, Manuel swam a 46.62 in the 100 free. That time is leading the way in the NCAAs by a long-shot, and the freestyle split was almost a second faster.
I’m just here for the coffee and donuts.
Was Rowdy’s auburn record in 200 of 133.8 broken tonight? I believe the lead went 133.4?
Yes, stood for a long long time.
It’s really tough to compare these swims since everyone is at a different point in their season when they swam these times. I think they all were suited up (maybe other than Schooling’s 20.0), and probably got a little to a lot of rest. Most people know that UVA rests and shaves for their mid season meet, which is fine. They are certainly going to have an advantage over teams that don’t shave for their mid year meets. All but 2 of these swims (I could be wrong, though) were done at a big championship style mid season meet. Because of that, Conger’s dual meet 1:40.3 TEXAS RECORD is the #1 in season swim in my book. I don’t even… Read more »
Here’s a simple way to eliminate the controversy: rank the performances by the per cent off the U.S. Open record. I would use that record rather than the NCAA record because all swimmers should be held to the same standard–the best time ever. I don’t think relay swim should really be in this ranking. Just my opinion. Using this method Kalish’s swim would be about the same as Smith’s and Franklin’s 200 free would probably be the best along with Manuel’s flat start 100. Smiths 200 br and Pelton’s 200 back also.
I think Courtney Bartholomew’s 100 back would be the best considering it was only.04 off of the U.S. Open record.
I think Chris Swanson’s 1650 is under appreciated. Here is an Ivy League swimmer who is already 14:43 mid-season and is sure to have an impact at NCAAs this year.
Swammer– your comparisons work against themselves! You can’t boost one swim by comparing it to the best swimmer in the world (at the time) and in the next paragraph put down another swim by comparing it to the (current) best swimmer in the world!
You’ve gotta look at the college landscape as it is. The greatest swimmer in the world happens to be a female high schooler right now, that doesn’t diminish any accomplishments by college athletes
Eagleswim I hope your career doesn’t involve any type of litigation-because those comparisons don’t work against themselves in any way, nor do I see your reasoning on how they do.
However, I will elaborate further, this list IS for in season swims (I understand its just college swimmers as well);
So a 3:39 is 5 seconds off the US Open record- I only used Phelps time as comparison to reiterate my point of how fast this swim was.
The 500 freestyle time is 6 seconds off the US Open record. Again, I used Katie’s time to base a ground of reasoning and understanding.
My question is, how does the 500 swim get considerably more credit and praise… Read more »
Yep, I think a 3:31 would do it.
Saw five of these swimmers at the UGA Invitational!!! So exciting to witness excellence.
Give this message a thumbs up if you believe Missy will go 1:39 at NCAAs!! Thumbs down if you don’t believe she will.
She didn’t even beat Manuel at the Stanford duel. I think Missy will win 200 free in 140.6