Distance freestyler Logan Samuelson will transfer to the University of Iowa after one season at Auburn, he tells SwimSwam on Thursday.
“I decided to transfer because Auburn wasn’t a good fit for me and I wasn’t a good fit for Auburn,” Samuelson said. “After a lot of thought and research I chose to transfer to Iowa because I believe it is a better fit for me.”
Samuelson was a three-time Florida State Champion in high school with one win in the 200 free and two in the 500 free for Fort Myers High School, and was a highly touted distance recruit, but in his first season with the Tigers failed to go a lifetime best in any short course race or score any points at the SEC Championships.
Samuelson’s best times in yards, coming out of high school:
- 200 free – 1:38.58
- 500 free – 4:22.77
- 1000 free – 9:10.29
- 1650 free – 15:11.73
Iowa has some history of training distance swimmers, though most of that is thanks to the Olympic medalist Artur Wojdat in the late 80’s/early 90’s who was actually a peer of current head coach Marc Long when Long swam for the Hawkeyes.
More recently, freshman Chris Dawson had a breakthrough freshman season for Iowa last year. He improved his best time in the mile by 16 seconds in a single season in Iowa City to go 15:12.17 – a time that ranks him 5th on the all-time program rankings list.
If Samuelson even matches his previous lifetime bests, he should be at least a double-digit individual scorer for Iowa at the Big Ten Championships.
Samuelson will also have a chance at racing for a spot on a young Iowa 800 free relay, along with senior Luke Snow and junior Jackson Halsmer.
Interesting choice for a good distance freestyle prospect. Iowa has great facilities, top-notch / highly ethical coaching staff, and great diversity on campus. But I’ve never considered Iowa a great (or even good) distance freestyle program. The reference to Wojdat and Gawronski (and for that matter Davey and Lilley) were really more about Glenn Patton’s international recruiting acumen than Iowa’s distance coaching acumen. Wojdat set the 400m freestyle world record while swimming for Mission Viejo before ever attending Iowa, then plateaued never really improved on that time with 4 years swimming at Iowa. Same could be said about Bacon who increased greatly the first year and was an All American in the 500y freestyle, then plateaued.
Since those glory… Read more »
PSYCHODAD what years were you in grad school at Iowa? What degree program? Do we know one another? It’s easy for anyone to know/remember Artur Wojdat, but it takes a hard core Hawkeye to throw Tomasz Gawronski into the conversation. Great swimmers both, along with Eric Bacon, Stewart Carroll, Dan Stoppenhagen and others. It was a privledge to coach that group for four years, 88-92.
No, Brad, we do not know each other. I was at Iowa 1989-1992, Industrial Engineering.
I followed fellow Slavs more closely, including Rafael Szukala (sp?). I just looked you up on LinkedIn, very impressive resume indeed. Go Hawks!
Chris Dawson will be great to train with. My son trained with him in High School.
Brett Hawke losing yet another one? Auburn swimming is going downhill with this man. Fire Brett hawke or every swimmer will be gone at this rate
Oh, yes, Arthur Wojdat and Tomasz Gawronski, the hights of Iowa swimming in 90s during my graduate years at Iowa. Coach Long is doing great job in Iowa and new Natatorium will only help recruiting. Go Hawks!
Yes, his best times, if performed in prelims & finals would have netted him 11 points in the 2015 B1G Championships. I’d expect him to improve his performances, especially in the 1,650.