1) Nic Fink – 100 breast – Despite coming into the meet with top 10 seeds in all three breaststroke events, few projected Fink to be a true contender in Indianapolis; on the surface, the field just seemed too crowded with high-caliber breaststrokers. Kevin Cordes was projected to dominate (and he did). Mike Alexandrov had rebounded from his iffy Olympic year with great in-season times, including a 1:00.63 at the Mesa Grand Prix. Cody Miller was coming off a career-best season at Indiana. Proven breaststroke Olympians Clark Burckle, Scott Weltz, and Mark Gangloff have all been under 1:01 multiple times.
In retrospect, though, Fink’s odds were better than simply looking at a psych sheet would indicate. Weltz has been battling through injuries and illness all year, and the post-Olympic lull typically has a larger effect on post-graduate athletes (Weltz, Burckle, Gangloff, Alexandrov) than those still competing collegiately (Fink, Miller, Cordes). Fink posted some great times for the University of Georgia this past short course season, and followed up with big swims in the 100 and 200 breaststroke in Indy. In finals of the 100, he played to his strengths, cruising over the first 50 meters, then outsplitting the entire field on the second 50 to storm past Alexandrov, shedding almost a full second off his seed in the process. His final time, 1:00.24, is the second fastest for a teenager in U.S. history, surpassed only by Cordes’ 59.99 from the same heat. Between Cordes, Fink, and upstart Arizona senior Kevin Steel, the future of Team USA breaststroke looks bright.
2) Maya Dirado – 200 fly, 4×200 free relay, 400 IM – Coming into Indianapolis, seeing Dirado finish in the top two in an individual event wouldn’t have been a total shock; she’s had a great year, and her closest competitors in the IM events (Elizabeth Beisel, Caitlin Leverenz, and Cammile Adams) have been well off their year-over-year times the last six months. The surprise, though, stems from how well she swam, and the events in which she qualified. The rising Stanford senior surpassed expectations and had the meet of her life, ultimately qualifying in three events (200 fly, 400 IM, and 4×200 freestyle relay). By the time the weekend was over, Dirado had dropped 3.5 seconds to win the 400 IM, 2 seconds in the 200 freestyle to grab a relay spot, and 4.5 seconds to finish second in the 200 fly. Had it not been for an unfortunate DQ in prelims of the 200 IM, it’s likely Dirado would have had more races in Barcelona than everyone on Team USA except Missy Franklin and Ryan Lochte.
3) Simone Manuel – 4×100 free relay, 50 free – With superb technique and tremendous upside, Manuel has been considered a major factor leading up to the 2016 Olympics and a huge asset for American sprinting in the future. While the sixteen-year-old Texas native has improved rapidly over the last eighteen months (posting sprint times that would place in the championship final at NCAA’s) few expected Manuel to make her move to the top of the long course ranks so soon, particularly against a field largely unaffected by retirement; the top 15 swimmers in this event from Olympic Trials all competed last week in Indianapolis.
Manuel opened the meet by sneaking into the A Final in the 100 free, and then cut a full second from her preliminary time to finish third behind Franklin and Georgia’s Shannon Vreeland, securing a spot on the 4×100 free relay in Barcelona. She finished off the week with a surprise second place finish in the 50 free, touching in 25.01 to break Franklin’s 15-16 NAG record. Look for Manuel, who now holds all four 15-16 sprint NAG records and is just 0.01 away from Kara Lynn Joyce’s 17-18 record, to play an integral role for Team USA over the next decade.
4) Eugene Godsoe – 50 fly, 100 fly – Godsoe finaled in the 100 fly at Olympic Trials a year ago with a very respectable 52.47. But with four of the six names in front of him returning, including the #2 flyer in the world in 2012 (Tyler McGill) and a fresher Ryan Lochte swimming a reduced schedule, it looked like he could get lost in the mix again this summer. The 50 fly field seemed even more crowded, with sprinters Matt Grevers and Cullen Jones throwing their hat into the ring. To top of it all off, Tom Shields, who was 51.86 in the 100 last summer in Omaha, dropped 1.5 seconds in the 200 fly on day one of World Championship Trials to show he was ready to make his mark in the long course pool.
Putting his primary focus on the fly events for the first time in his career (he made his biggest mark at the NCAA level in the backstrokes), Godsoe vastly improved in 2013. He rose to occasion in a big way on night two, upsetting top-seeded Grevers, McGill, and fly speedster Tim Phillips to punch his ticket to Barcelona in the 50 fly. Grevers took a sizable lead off the start, but Godsoe closed like a freight train over the final 15 meters for the win. Two nights later, the Greensboro, North Carolina native swam a personal best by nearly a full second to out-touch Lochte for the win in the 100 fly. After finishing seventh at U.S. Trials a year ago, Godsoe is now ranked #4 in the world.
I hope the number of UGA swimmers on the World Team (6 not including Schmitt who was expected to make the team) will finally get us some love from SwimSwam. Jack has built a program that excels during the college season, summers with ABSC and post grad. The difference between UGA and CAL is they have a strong relationship with elite club teams like North Baltimore and a partnership to make sure their swimmers get the best coaching from two Hall of Fame coaches. No disrespect to CAL and their strong post grad program, but wanted to point out that UGA swimmers get the choice to train where they respond the best. GO DAWGS!
Nope, sorry, SwimSwam doesn’t “give love”. We report on news, training, technique, human interest stories, analyze swimming, make predictions, etc.
You can ask any parent, coach, swimmer, or fan who has ever asked for us to “give them love”. They all get the same response.
Also, if you would like to read the hundreds of articles we’ve written about Georgia, here is the relevant link:
http://swimswam.com/tag/georgia-bulldogs
No disrespect? are you serious? you’re asserting that the coaches at Cal don’t let their swimmers train elsewhere in the summer. That’s ludicrous.
Data point: Cal’s Cindy Tran is training with GWSC this summer.
Jordan Mattern was surprise too! I bet no one picked her top 4 to make the relay!
I don’t think Manuel or BJ Johnson were a surprise. BJ won US Open last summer in 2:11 I think. Nic Fink was 7th.
I’m not surprised by Godsoe’s success at World Trials. I chatted with him briefly this morning after practice, and I didn’t get the feeling that he was surprised either. I watched him train this past year with a small elite group of Stanford grads (including Bobby Bollier, Chad LaTourette, and BJ Johnson, and others) under coach Tony Batis (and Scott Armstrong). Their workouts were tough and spirited, and they were expecting success.
It wouldn’t surprise me to see EG go under 0:51.0 next month. We’ll find out on August 3rd!
Also, Ross Gerry (former Stanford Women’s coach under Richard Quick in the 90s, and husband to SwimSwam reporter Katrina Radke) used to say that having a strong background in backstroke… Read more »
Popov started as a backstroker as well. Interesting observation!
It IS a very interesting observation that made my day. It validates what I am doing with our son. I noticed some time ago that improvements in his backstroke improved all around strokes and technique, especially balance, so important for all strokes especially two long axis ones. Last 6 months we are pushing backstroke hard – half of each practice are backstroke drills, the rest other strokes. Just basic balance drills with “T manipulation”, sailboat drill (so good for core and kicking), cup drill, and all other drills. I also found out if I combine drills in a “composite drill” he is more challenged and having more fun.
Here is our favorite composite backstroke drill that I “invented” that… Read more »
Phelps’s first stroke was the backstroke.
I’m more surpised by Godsoe than the others. Fink has been right up there with the best for a couple seasons now, though under the radar.
Also, don’t forget about BJ Johnson in the 200 Breast. He didn’t even go to NCAAs most years at Stanford.
That’s a talented set of roommates in Godsoe, BJ, and his girlfriend Julia Smit.