The Big 12 Conference published their first version of the psych sheet for the 2015 conference Championships at the University of Texas from Feb 25th to 28th. The University of Texas’s men’s program has never lost a Big 12 Conference Championship since the formation of the conference 18 years ago. The women’s team from Texas also won last year, giving the Longhorns their 12th Big 12 Conference Title.
The biggest shock is that NCAA leader Jack Conger will not be swimming the 200 butterfly. The sophomore posted the fastest NCAA time of the year and a new Texas School record against Arizona and SMU at the end of January with his 1:40.34. Even though he is not swimming the event at the Big 12 Championships, the 200 fly could still be an option for him at the NCAA Championships. His butterfly has looked strong all year. He has the third fastest SCY 100 fly in the NCAA at 45.76 right now and he also posted a world leading 51.6 100 LCM butterfly earlier in January. Although he leads the nation in the event at the moment, he will face a lot of competition from Michigan’s Dylan Bosch at the NCAA Championships if he chooses to swim that event. Bosch broke Michael Phelps’ and Tom Shields’ US Open records last year with his time of 1:39.33.
This weekend, Conger is entered in the 100 butterfly, the 100 backstroke, the 200 backstroke, and the 50 free as his exhibition race. In his backstroke events, he is currently nationally ranked 13th in the 100 backstroke at 46.32 and fourth in the 200 back at 1:39.84.
In other news, Will Licon will be the top seed in all three of his races; the 200 IM, 400 IM, and 200 breaststroke. John Murray is the top seed in both the 50 and 100 freestyles, Joseph Schooling is the top seed in both butterfly events, and Clark Smith is the top seed in the 500 and 1650 freestyles. On the women’s side, Sarah Denninghoff is the top seed in both backstroke events and Madisyn Cox is the top seed in both the 200 and 400 IM.
To view the full psych sheet for the 2015 Big 12 Championships, click here.
The more I think about it, the less likely I think it is that Conger swims the 200 fly at NCAA’s. It sounds crazy, having the fastest time in the country and all, but the 200 back is his favorite, and Texas actually might be deeper already in the 200 fly.
If he was going to do 200 fly/back, wouldn’t it make sense to give it a shot at the Big 12 champs rather than doing it for the first time on the last day of NC’s?
I doubt he does the 2fly / 2back double. Not that he’s not capable of it, but it seems that only 3 people have ever A-finaled both of them. On top of that, the 2 back is way more competitive than the 2 fly this year. 1 fly / 1 back & 2 fly is a much more likely combination for him. He’s just wanting to see where he is at in the 2 back, and if he goes 1:38 low at conference, he might consider doing it instead of the 2 fly.
What’s the point for him to swim it at big12 of he’s already got a 1:40.3 in the event? Just save it for NCAA’s and seim another individual that he may be interested in. He’ll be swimming most likely 100 fly 200 back, maybe 100 back or just those two and some relays. His 200 fly is already ridiculous, he just needs to focus on getting better seed times in the 200 back and 100 fly, or just overall better times.
Rick Carey doubled up and A finaled the 200 back and fly at NCAAs. Another Horn from back in the day.
If Conger wanted to swim the 200 fly at big 12’s, then why would he swim it suited at a duel meet?
Based on interviews, I’d be fairly surprised if Conger does not swim the 200 back at NCAA. I am hoping to see him lead off the 400/800 relays this week to get times. You’d think he should be able to beat his PR of 42.8 in the 100.
But, this team has so much more than Conger. I don’t think he’s indispensable on any relay.
I think he should be on the 200 free relay because he’ll have nothing else on day one. I think Conger is leaning towards the 200 back/fly double unless he swims something like a 45.5 in the 100 back at big 12’s. If he does the 200 back/fly double, he probably won’t swim the 400 free relay.
Has anyone ever done the 200 back/fly double and made the A final in both? #askswimswam
I’m not sure, but I think Tom Shields could have done it. I think he doubled the 100 fly/back.
Hongzhe Sun did it for Stanford for at least one year. The guy had killer underwaters.
Side note, but lots of cool training stories about his kicking ability. Remember him going sub-1:00 100m kick, 40+ meters underwater off both walls. Used to do sets of 8-12 underwater 25’s kick on a 15 second interval… That’s a 200 or 300 basically 2 or 3 quick breaths at the wall.
That’s a pretty tough double.
Nate O’Brien for Texas in ’05 and I believe Hongzhe Sun of Stanford in ’07. It’s definitely the toughest double out there besides Matt Patton’s mile / 2 back in ’07 and Dana Vollmer’s 2 free / 1 fly in ’09.
It’s certainly a high class problem to have, but figuring out who gets on what relays is going to be pretty challenging for Texas.
I still feel like he will swim it at the ncaa’s
Without a doubt. My guess is that he is gauging his 200 back to see how it will stack up against his competitors come March.