Courtesy: Tyler Montgomery
My name is Tyler Montgomery and I’m considered one of the top experts covering swimming in the media. And when I say top experts, I mean if you were to rank all the experts who study this topic that currently live in the Nashville metropolitan area, I would easily rank in the top 10. And when I say Nashville-metro area, I really just mean Murfreesboro, TN – specifically the western side of Murfreesboro. And by the western side of Murfreesboro, I don’t mean everything west of I-24, I’m really just referring to the New Salem part of town. I’ll just put it this way, if you live near the Publix on Franklin Road and you’re trying to find someone who studies swimming in the media that lives on your street, you’d only be able to find five or six people more qualified than me. I’ve done extensive research on this subject and you can review some of my findings here.
If you’re the type of weirdo who reads articles on swimswam.com then you probably agree with me that swimming deserves the public’s attention more often than just once every four years. Fortunately, our fine local news outlets not only carry that torch, but also offer a unique perspective on the sport that we don’t get from swimming-centric outlets. I’d like to take a moment to highlight some of the best swimming coverage I’ve seen from local news outlets in my area over the years.
It doesn’t get any better than a 1-2 finish, but I’d just like to point out that if your name sounds this much like “dolphin” you should have to give everyone a head start.
Anna was absolutely dominant in the intermediate medley, but unfortunately failed to reach the finals in the 200-yard advanced medley on day two.
Let’s see what the judges thought of that state record…oh my, the Golden Buzzer from Howie Mandel! Congrats Spencer, you’re going to Hollywood!
If you or someone you know is currently suffering from a free stroke, please stop reading and call 911 immediately.
I would be remiss if I didn’t tip my swim cap to my own high school’s yearbook staff for some of the excellent coverage they provided of the Riverdale High School Water Warriors when I was a member of the team.
Our yearbook staff gave away Chris’s secret here. He was able to make state in the 100 breast because he actually just swam butterfly the entire race, but his muscles were so big no one ever had the guts to call him out on it.
You wouldn’t believe the strategy those guys came up with for the relay. John said, “Why don’t we all just swim as fast as possible?” Blair and Gastone were skeptical but decided to give it a shot. Lo and behold, it actually worked!
I hate to break it to you, but all those times an opponent told you “Good job”, this is what they were really thinking. Luke had good reason to be confident as we’ll see in the next image.
I’ll never forget when Luke swam that sub-5:30 50 free, we were so pumped for that guy. He got a great start off the blocks and cruised to the 15-meter marker in under 2 minutes. I stepped away to take a phone call and missed half of his first 25, but when I came back and saw him hit the turn at 2:35.87 I knew he had a real chance to break the record. We started to panic a little when it took him 43 seconds to get to the flags coming out of the turn, but he got it together and finished strong. When he touched the wall at 5:28.12 the whole place went nuts, even the opposing fans were in awe of what they had just seen. We knew he had a 5:35 in him, maybe even a 5:30, but to see him put up a 5:28.12 (as a junior I might add!) in the 50 free still gives me chills to this day. Oh yeah, and Katelyn Bullock swam the fastest 200 IM in history that season, that was cool too.
I’d like to continue highlighting outstanding coverage of swimming from around the country. If you’ve seen coverage in your local newspaper or even high school yearbook that deserves a special shout-out, please send a link or screenshot to @montgump on the website formerly known as Twitter.
ABOUT TYLER MONTGOMERY
Tyler Montgomery had a four-year swimming career, all with the Riverdale High School Water Warriors in Murfreesboro, TN. He also had the privilege of coaching an amazing group of kids at Rockvale Middle and Rockvale High School between 2017 and 2023. He lives with his family in Murfreesboro and works in the publishing industry to make ends meet after giving up the fame and fortune of being a middle and high school swim coach.