Race video Courtesy of Tina Andrew.
As reported by SwimSwam’s Anne Lepesant and Braden Keith”
Hannah Stevens, who just finished her freshman year at University of Missouri, dropped a stunning 1:00.66 in prelims of the women’s 100 meter backstroke at the Central Section Region VIII Championship Meet hosted by Columbia Swim Club. Stevens took .99 off her previous best time to lead the field by over 3 seconds.
Stevens finished the 2014 long course season with a lifetime-best 1:01.96 that she earned in prelims at Summer Nationals. She lowered that to 1:01.65 at the Columbia Swim Club Summer Invite in June, 2015, but had never been under 1:01 until this morning.
Stevens’ best time coming into the meet was a very good 1:01.65, and after dropping a second (1:00.66) in prelims, she moved all the way down to 1:00.04 in finals for a new lifetime best. The swim also ranks her 2nd in the country among all swimmers in 2015, behind only Kathleen Baker (59.86).
Top 5 Americans in 100m backstroke – 2015
- Kathleen Baker, SwimMAC – 59.86
- Hannah Stevens, Missouri – 1:00.04
- Olivia Smoliga, Georgia – 1:00.08
- Natalie Coughlin, Cal Aquatics – 1:00.08
- Rachel Bootsma – Cal Aquatics – 1:00.27
- Liz Pelton, Cal Aquatics – 1:00.31
Stevens’ time also would’ve earned her a silver medal at this week’s Pan American Games in Toronto. She’s now dropped almost two seconds from her best in the last month of racing, and that time gives her a very, very good chance at qualifying for the 2015-2016 USA Swimming National Team.
Stevens had a solid freshman season, placing 14th in the 100 back at the NCAA Championships, but nothing that was indicative of this breakthrough swim in long course.
Great time drop. Love that coming from a college swimmer.
Another 1 second dropped in the next 12 months and she can go to Rio.
And thanks for the video Tina Andrew. I believe she’s Michael’s mother. Michael swam at the same meet last week.
Hannah Stevens – Local paper – http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/story/sports/local/2015/07/27/hannah-stevens-missouri-swimming-olympics-franklin/30755495/
Can you say ‘coaching up’?
Greg Rhodenbaugh has something big going on at Mizzou
Hannah Stevens, Carter Griffin, Michael Chadwick. Mizzou swimmers having a nice summer!
She’s ranked 3rd in the country now, because Coughlin is now first with a 59.05 from Pan-Ams.
The time was 1:00:04, as the caption on the video suggests.