Disclaimer: Blueseventy Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The blueSeventy Swim is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.
It was quite a weekend for Cal senior Andrew Seliskar.
The Golden Bear put up nation-leading times in three events, along with two more events ranked inside the top four, leading to some serious speculation about his optimal NCAA event lineup. For the Swim of the Week, we’ll go with his 200 IM, a 1:40.55 that tops every other IMer in the nation by almost two seconds (more than any of his other events) and checks in just outside the top 10 performers all-time.
Here’s a look at Seliskar’s big weekend. Swims only include his times from the Georgia Invite, where he didn’t even swim what is perhaps his best event, the 400 IM.
| Event | Time | 2018-2019 NCAA Ranking (& margin over #2) |
Top NCAA Returner
|
| 500 free | 4:13.02 | 4th | 4:08.60 |
| 200 IM | 1:40.55 | 1st (1.88 seconds) | 1:39.97 |
| 200 free | 1:30.86 | 1st (1.34 seconds) | 1:29.50 |
| 100 breast | 53.22 | 24th | 49.69 |
| 100 fly | 45.59 | 4th | 44.50 |
| 200 breast | 1:51.85 | 1st (0.53 seconds) | 1:50.17 |
Those stellar 200 and 500 times probably won’t signal an event change from the IMs. Texas’s Townley Haas would be tough to beat, and Seliskar is probably better off in the IMs, where potential top 400 IM threat Hugo Gonzalez left the NCAA and 200 IM champ Jan Switkowski graduated. But the 200 has great merits for Cal’s 800 free relay (currently #2 nationwide), and also has a real argument to be the swim of the week, given it makes Seliskar the #3 all-time performer in the event.
Meanwhile Seliskar nearly won the 200 breast title last year, charging hard on Ian Finnerty. The sprintier Finnerty still looks fast in the 100, but doesn’t appear to have significantly improved his endurance, struggling hard in the 200 so far this year. The fast-closing Seliskar should still have a legitimate chance to win that race at NCAAs, even staring down a big lead with 50 yards to go.
No matter what this week’s Swim of the Week is, how Cal chooses to use Seliskar will almost-certainly determine whether the Golden Bears have a chance to unseat Texas for the NCAA team title.
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Abrahm Devine is the top returner in the 400 IM, not Hugo, and he is back at school.
The fact that this is a question is scary… he’s THAT good in so many events I can’t wrap my head around this fact.
Dude is on fire ……happy to see that
Can we compare Seliskar’s in season 200 fly? I believe it was a 1:44. Maybe compare it to how it ranks to invite times, and maybe how it does to pre-invite times. Cause if I remember correctly and his in-season time is actually a 1:44, that’s pretty quick.