The National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association (NISCA) has released their All-American lists for the 2016-2017 swim season.
For an athlete to achieve All-American honors, one must achieve the automatic qualifying time that was determined at the beginning of the season, or be one of the top 100 competitors under the consideration standard. The athletes must also achieve these times in a high school level competition, as club competition times do not qualify.
This year’s list featured athletes from several familiar high school powerhouses, such as Carmel High school in Indiana, Minnetonka High School in Minnesota, and Saint Xavier High School in Cincinnati.
One athlete in this list that stood above the rest was Carmel Junior Drew Kibler, who earned All-American honors in four events, including achieving the top time in two of events. Kibler achieved the top times in all of high school swimming in the 200 freestyle (1:33.30) and in the 100 freestyle (43.20). He was also a contributor on Carmel’s 200 freestyle relay, which was only beaten by the team from North Allegheny High school, and Carmel’s third place finishing 400 freestyle relay, which fell behind the team from Southlake Carroll High School in Texas, and the team from St. Xavier. Kibler is currently committed to swim at Texas after graduating in 2018.
St. Xavier senior and Arizona State commit Grant House frequented the All-American list this year, as he achieved honors in eight of the eleven events. House earned honors in the 200 freestyle, 200 IM, 100 butterfly, 100 freestyle, 500 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, as well as being a part of Xavier’s 200 and 400 freestyle relays. House was also among the top three finishers in both in the 200 and 500 freestyles as well as both relays.
On the women’s side, there were several athletes who achieved multiple All-American honors, including sophomore Katherine Douglass of Pelham Memorial High School in Pelham, New York. Douglass achieved the honors in the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, and the 200 and 400 freestyle relays. Douglass was the top finisher in the 50 freestyle at 22.21 and was second in the 100 freestyle at 48.54.
Another woman that stood above the rest was Carmel High school and Georgia commit Sammie Burchill. Burchill contributed to Carmel’s All-American placing 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay, as well as picking up individual honors in the 200 IM and 100 backstroke. Burchill was the fastest 200 IM swimmer in the nation by nearly a second and a half after going 1:56.67 at the IHSAA state finals.
This swim season also featured one new national high school record, as William Penn Charter School Junior Reece Whitley set a new national record in the 100 breaststroke. Whitley broke Creighton Prep’s Jacob Molacek’s old record of 52.92 by more than a second, as he went 51.84 in the final of the 2017 Eastern Championships. Whitely also achieved All-American honors in the 200 IM and as part of William Penn’s 200 medley relay. Whitley is committed to swim at Cal after graduating in 2018.
The NISCA have not released the standards for the 2017-2018 season.
NATIONAL INTERSCHOLASTIC SWIMMING COACHES ASSOCIATION
2016-2017 ALL-AMERICA SWIMMERS AND DIVERS
Boys Events in Yards
200 Med Rel | 200 Free | 200 Ind Med | 50 Free
Dive | 100 Fly |100 Free | 500 Free
200 Fr Rel | 100 Back | 100 Breast | 400 Fr Rel
Girls Events in Yards
200 Med Rel | 200 Free | 200 Ind Med |50 Free
Dive | 100 Fly | 100 Free | 500 Free
200 Fr Rel | 100 Back | 100 Breast | 400 Fr Rel
Water Polo
Diving
Academic
Also noteworthy: not all State High School meets are a Championship format (P/F). So, it’s a bit strange to rank them all as equal. Everyone who knows swimming understands that a Prelim/Final meet is going to produce faster times, particularly states that hold the finals session on the following day (i.e. CA and TX). Because of this, many swimmers don’t rest for any HS meets. I think that would be an important call out in this article.
Many swimmers don’t rest period and it is not because of the format. It is because it is high school swimming.
Any swimmer getting best times in their best events who aren’t shaved and tapered must be a new breed of swimmer. Sounds like a miracle kid to me!
I agree with Cheez. I’ve been to state meets where kids are preparing for it as if it was Nationals and other state meets where kids had club practice the morning of the meet. Completely different state championship.
too bad for super fast swimmers who live in towns without high school swimming. Eastern Washington-dead zone!
Ethan Hu from California is missing. A freshman gling 47 in the 100 fly and winning states is pretty hard to miss, unless im missing something.
I think coaches have to submit swimmers and times to the NICSA and a lot of them don’t. There are lots of swimmers and teams missing.
The coach has to submit the swimmer and their times in order for them to appear in the list. NISCA Member coaches do it for free, while non-members pay a small fee.
Which I think makes the coach look bad. Why on earth would a swim coach not submit their athlete’s times/grades to NISCA if they are likely to be All American in swimming or academics? Especially for high school kids applying to college. All American swimmer/Academic All American look great when applying for schools (a lot of these kids don’t end up swimming in college even though they made the list), and they also give the swimmer a little more credit for all the hard work they put in. When I look back at my swimming career, I definitely cherish the fact that I was lucky enough to make the NISCA AA list a couple of times. And it really disappoints… Read more »
I made it in the 100 Fly and I was not listed. I guess my coach forgot to do it.
I don’t see Oklahoman Patrick Callan on there, or am I missing something?
Nevermind, I see why. He swam the 200 IM and 100 fly at State, and while he was pretty fast in both he wasn’t top 100.
As a former high school coach, I always found it strange that NISCA requires coaches to submit times rather than collecting them on from the readily available sources. I know it takes a little work and is not “automatic,” but I am sure many readers know of times that should be on this list but aren’t. Being from Florida, I note, for example, that Bolles did not submit any times at all (at least for the boys) and they are always near the top in many events.
NISCA is a membership organization, with a fairly modest budget. It doesn’t really have a lot of resources to track down times (and scores — for diving) throughout the country, so it relies on its membership for submissions. And you have to be a member to have your team’s and athlete’s accomplishments recognized.
I’m sure anyone can find holes in any given event of times missing — perhaps an incentive to join!
You do not have to be a NISCA member to have your athlete recognized. There is a small fee for non members. It is a shame that deserving athletes get left off, but I believe that most state meet directors make a concerted effort to remind coaches that they must submit the application. Form is online and it is a relatively simple process.
I feel sorry for my daughter whose coach forgot to submit her times! She is so deserving to be recognized in the 200 and 100 freestyle. She is a top competitor and this is the second time it has happened! Why should she be penalized at least let her have the certificates!! I don’t know how I am going to tell her ….
You don’t have to be a member of NISCA to submit an All America application. If you are a member, there is no application fee. If you are not a member, there is a $30 non-member application fee. A NISCA membership is $50 for the year and includes a bi-monthly journal, full access to past journals and other information on the website and a $1M liability insurance policy that covers the coach at any pool.
Good to know, can a parent join and enter there daughters times ? Our daughters coach is not a member …
NISCA is wholly a volunteer organization – there are no paid positions. With more than 7000 schools participating in the US and no single governing body or organization it is nearly impossible to collect all those times throughout the year – particularly if the time is swum in a dual meet. There isn’t a SWIMS database for high school swimming. We rely on the coaches (or parents) who want to have their athletes recognized to let us know about them.
What can we do as a parent when the coach forgets ?
Correction: Whitley is committed to Cal, it says uncommitted in the article.