Two FAST Swimmers Post Jr. National Cuts at Senior Intrasquad Meet

Fast Green/Blue Senior Intrasquad

The Flying Fish Arizona Swim Team (FAST) hosted an intrasquad meet on August 7, its first since the coronavirus canceled meets across the country.

The meet consisted of swimmers from the team’s senior squad with several college swimmers participating as well. According to FAST senior coach Carl Jones, swimmers were rested, suited-up, and shaved for the meet.

Individually, two swimmers achieved their first Winter Junior Nationals qualifying times. The times will count for qualification, as USA Swimming lifted its restrictions on times counting for qualifying standards for national meets beginning in August. Under the previous rules for July, times swum at meets during the month of July could only be used to qualify for LSC level events and meets, meaning swimmers could not use the times to qualify for Zones, Sectionals, Futures, Junior Nationals, Senior Nationals, or Olympic Trials.

In the 100 backstroke, 18-year-old Sam Stuckey chopped almost 3 seconds off of his previous best to finish with a time of 49.72. His swim slides approximately .2 under the 2019 Winter Juniors cut of 49.99.

Meanwhile, in the 100 breaststroke, 17-year-old Andrew Schou finished with a time of 56.44, which cut over 2 seconds off of his previous best of 58.59, while also coming in .6 under the Winter Juniors cut of 56.99.

Other Highlights:

  • Both Schou and Stuckey also slashed a second off of their best times in the 100 freestyle. Stuckey finished in a time of 47.45, while Schou finished in 48.89.
  • University of Arizona sophomore Wyatt Matson swam a best time in the 50 freestyle, hitting the wall in 20.84, which sliced .03 off of his previous best of 20.87 from the 2020 PAC-12s. Matson also won the 100 butterfly in a time of 49.73, coming within a second of his personal best.

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Chemistrycolleen
4 years ago

Big shout out to Coach Carl Jones and Matt Brauer for a quality swim program at FAST! I’m thrilled for these swimmers!

Viking
4 years ago

But how great that these kids at least got this opportunity. FAST should really be looked at as example of how to move forward in a pandemic and do things responsibly! There is a way forward if you really want to try.

dcba
4 years ago

Feel sad for the athletes that can’t race big meets this summer and then will age up or out next season. An 18yo old qualifying for Jnr Nats now won’t get to go to Jnr Nats. There’ll be no Jnr Nats in Dec and will age out for summer ‘21. Same for all those 10, 12 or 14 yo’s at age group meets this summer.

About Nicole Miller

Nicole Miller

Nicole has been with SwimSwam since April 2020, as both a reporter and social media contributor. Prior to joining the SwimSwam platform, Nicole also managed a successful Instagram platform, amassing over 20,000 followers. Currently, Nicole is pursuing her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. After competing for the swim …

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