Nova Southeastern 22-year old freshman Anton Lobanov has broken his 2nd NCAA Division II Record of the weekend at the Sunshine State Conference Championships.
In Sunday’s final, he swam a 1:53.49 in the 200 yard breaststroke to win the conference title ahead of Southern freshman Luis Jasso.
The time by Lobanov destroyed the old Division II Record of 1:54.45 done at last year’s NCAA Championship meet by UC San Diego’s now-graduated Nicholas Korth.
This adds to Lobanov’s record on Saturday in the 100 breaststroke, where he swam 52.00.
Race video can be watched here http://www.sunshinestateconference.com/article.asp?articleID=3086
28 strokes in a 200 breast? are you kidding me!
I had the opportunity to coach Anton at Bolles for over a year before he enrolled at NOVA and the only thing I can say is that I am very happy for him and very proud of him. He is a very good swimmer but an even better person, with a big heart. I am just happy to see him take this opportunity that has been given to him to get an education in the USA and swim at a high level. Trust me he is very thankful and understands what the USA is doing for him. Just sharing my thoughts 😉
The team website said he completed a two year degree in Russia before enrolling here in the US, but did not swim for his school in Russia. Have no idea if there is such a thing as college swimming in that country. I think the comments are a bit too harsh. Coming to the US to get a college degree from another country, with English as a second language shows some grit. And there are examples of college athletes in other sports entering as 20 or 22 year olds. Check an ice hockey roster out sometime. Nearly every D1 athlete on the top 20 program rosters played juniors in Canada and went the college route when professional hockey hopes didn’t… Read more »
I’m guessing the 1st line of the article was “22 year old freshman” was to get a response. As was mentioned before, D 2 rules are different than D 1, so there’s nothing wrong with being a 22 year old freshman. In fact, you could actually be a 40 or 50 year old freshman in D 2.
It just seems like the purpose of putting “22 year old freshman” in the article was to diminish his accomplishment by stating that he was much older than most freshman.
txswimdad, 22 is not necessarily old for being a D 2 freshman. It would be very old if he were a D 1 swimmer (actually illegal), but he’s not.
That’s obviously the first thing which made me react.
22? Freshman? 😕
He will be a senior at 25! 😆
Meh. Tomas Kuzvard was in his early 30s when he finished his eligibility.
Why write 22 year old Freshman? I doubt if/when Simone Manuel breaks the 100 Free NCAA record, the first line will be “19 year Freshman Simone Manuel breaks NCAA record.” Just seems odd to me.
Because 22 is quite old for a college freshman and it adds context to the story. Saying Simone is 19 would not.
I dont think you quite understand. Being a 22 year old freshman takes away from the accomplishment. It really isn’t fair/normal to the traditional kids who go to college at 18 and graduate at ~22.
This guy is 22,he has 4 more years of phyical maturity than your traditional 18 year old freshman. NCAA DIV 2, really needs to do something about this.
If Div II rules are anything like Div I rules, he may not be able to complete his eligibility because he’ll be too old during his senior year.
Even still, his age doesn’t take away from his accomplishment. If you think age is an issue, well, he’s 22, which is within the normal range for a collegiate swimmer (17 to 23, I’d say).
Further, any college swimmer has the option to compete within the rules and could choose to take some time off, train/work, then come back at 22 as a freshman. Lobanov hasn’t broken the rules, so his records are completely fair.
It’s not about whether he’s breaking the rules or not, it’s about whether this is fair. As a college freshman and breastroker coming out of high school, I might never have a chance to make nationals because when I’m a senior and 22, there are freshman coming in like Anton that have four years left. How fair is it to the teams that recruit fast 18 year-old-freshman out of high school looking for degrees in engineering and also trying to be competitive at nationals when teams like Nova are grabbing international freshman that are older than the seniors on other teams? But is it against the rules? No.
destroyed the record? This man beat the record by less than a second for a 200, not a 50 or 100. His age is indeed an issue. Comparable to a 6’8 senior playing on a frosh soph high school basketball team and calling it fair. If you have to dig technicalities out of the rule book to justify something, you know you’ve lost.
everyone has the option to take time off and work/train so that they can come back at age 22 way ahead of the competition, but that’s an impractical route that most don’t take. Might as well go pro. D2 rules aren’t typically issues for Berkeley kids.