Swimming race video is courtesy of Indie Swimming.
Michael Andrew 100 Breaststroke 13-14 NAG Record, 54.80
Michael Andrew Schroeder YMCA A+ Meet report below by Troy Gennaro.
Michael Andrew is one of the headliners at the Schroeder YMCA A+ meet in Brown Deer, Wisconsin this weekend, and on Saturday night he’s already broken two National Age Group Records.
He had three swims tonight, and some how managed to break the NAG Records in all three events. First was his 100 freestyle NAG Record with a time of 44.16. Next was his NAG Record in the 100 breaststroke, touching the wall at 54.80.
If that wasn’t spectacular enough, he dove in for the 200 IM and added his name to the record board in another event. In 2009, Gray Umbach, who currently swims for Stanford, set the 13-14 NAG Record in the 200 IM at 1:48.08. Today, Michael Andrew bumps Umbach’s swim to number two on the all time list with a mind blowing 1:47.44!
Michael Andrew is on fire! His first two swims broke the records he already held, but the 200 IM is the fifth event with his name on it in the National Age Group Record book in yards for the 13-14 age group. He now owns the NAG records in the 100 of every stroke and the 200 IM.
To put his swim in perspective, his 200 IM time from tonight would leave him tied with the 54th fastest time this season if he was swimming NCAA Division 1. Although the comparison is interesting to note, he still is years younger than the youngest freshman competing and will never be allowed to compete as an NCAA athlete due to his professional status.
Psychodad, come out come out wherever you are! 🙂
He’s very busy working on his new presentation on how to swim breaststroke properly…
Can’t wait! 😉
Hulk:
I thought you were into USRPT. Have you read all of Rushall’s writings? Rushall doesn’t believe in mixing strokes within a set. Therefore, he trains all four strokes, but does no IM.
Right. But by doing all four strokes equally… isn’t that training IM? Even before I got on USRPT, it made sense to train 4 strokes separately for IM… Yetter talked about this a while back…
http://developingthechampionwithin.blogspot.com/2011/06/training-and-racing-for-individual.html?m=1
Just because he isn’t mixing strokes doesn’t mean he isn’t training IM. My guess (and I’ve never spoken to any of the Andrews so it really is a guess) is that ALL of their training is with the 200 IM in mind… MA was way more pumped after the 200 IM record than I’ve ever noticed him before.
My understanding is he trains all four strokes equally. I also understand that he does ZERO IM training, excluding turn work.
Ok. If he trains all four strokes equally, how is it that he does zero IM training?
It is possible that Michael alternates which strokes he trains each time he swims a stroke set in practice, but does not actually work on transitioning muscle groups between each stroke. If this is the case, that only makes his potential in the IM events even scarier
Where is Psychodad? 🙂
I’m sure he has a lot of things to say about Michael Andrews’ breaststroke technique.
Bobo… allow me… *clears throat*
His technique is all wrong. Eddie says you need to have a narrow kick. Eddie says you need to take more strokes. Eddie says you shouldn’t move your head and glide so much… He won’t achieve a typing in breaststroke until he starts swimming correctly. He’s got no future swimming this way.
😆 😆 😆 😆
His kick recovery does look like it semi-slows him down? Obviously gets a lot of power out of it, but might be something worth messing with. (His knees and ankles look flexible as all hell, though!)
His breaststroke definitely looked best to me in his IM.
Steve… hit feet could go into his pants pockets… it’s silly.
I think they are playing the risk/reward game here… yes it may create drag, but with that kick it may be negated in power gains…
Agreed. A couple times it looks like it messed up his rhythm, but yeah, looks fine to me.
First thing I noticed about his stroke is how wide his kick is. He has huge potential in the 200 breaststroke with his strong kick and smooth glide.
That music is hilarious. Whoever made the vid, could you please set his next NAG record to something slightly less dramatic? Otherwise, by the time he’s 15 you’ll already have to use O Fortuna from Carmina Burana and there will be nothing left to adequately capture the grandeur of any of his future records. Pace yourself. 😉
I’m not a technique expert like many on here, but to a “lay” observer this looked like a great combo of power and technique in such a tricky stroke, especially for a swimmer so young. I wonder if breast will end up being his best stroke. I’m wondering if he trains a lot of IM at this stage, and/or divides up training between… Read more »
I like his breaststroke technique best of all his strokes with fly being second. His versality is what will help him navigate the ups and downs that most swimmers face during a career. Being a one trick pony can put a lot of stress on kids. If a swimmer is only good at the 100 back and does poorly in that event, then there meet could be perceived as a failure. Michael will able to bounce around to different events if he encounters set backs…if that ever happens.