Last weekend, most of the American focus nationally was on the Fran Crippen Memorial Swim Meet of Champions in Mission Viejo; most of the big names training on the west coast were at that meet (and that’s a huge chunk of our country’s pro swimmers).
But around the country, there were long course kickoff meets where swimmers of all ages and abilities began their long course seasons. One of those meets was on the campus of the University of Texas, and the Longhorn Aquatics post-grad group made appearances at the meet.
This meet was made predominantly of swimmers from Nitro, Longhorn Aquatics, and Alamo Area Aquatics in San Antonio. Some of the other big teams in Austin were actually in College Station at Texas A&M for their kick-off meet.
The most buzz-worthy swim was Kathleen Hersey in the women’s 400 free, where she swam a 4:40.91.
Psych! No, Hersey didn’t actually swim a 4:40 in the front crawl; though the event was the 400 free, she did it butterfly. The swim overall was an impressive display of training-level; after a 1:05.69 (which was as fast as most of her competition started their freestyle), she held straight 1:11’s throughout the swim. That’s where she, and her Longhorn teammates, are at in their training – very much a full-yardage, building endurance position.
Karlee Bispo, who at least up until the hiring of Carol Capitani last week was training with Eddie Reese and his men, had a fairly strong 100 free with a 57.48. That’s not close to her best, but for a swimmer who’s generally not very fast in-season, the mark is relatively a very promising one. Bispo has an outside chance at a relay spot in London after her performance at last year’s World University Games.
In the 100 long course breaststroke, Brendan Hansen had a great swim of 1:01.19. At this point of his career, he’s probably not doing as much yardage as some of his Longhorn teammates (he doesn’t need the same base-work as they do), but that still is huge for this point of the season. It would have won the 100 at the SMOC over Eric Shanteau, who is one of his big competitors in Omaha.
Swimming right next to him was another, more under-the-radar comeback breaststroker Christian Schurr. He’s another former Longhorn that’s back in the pool; though he’s only 27 and basically took over as breaststroker-1 for Reese after Hansen’s graduation. He swam a 1:01.98 in this race, which is better than he ever was in his first go-around. We’ve mentioned him once or twice before, but I think that with that time, he really gets serious consideration now for at least an Olympic final. Schurr has dual Mexican and American citizenship, and he’s planning on swimming for the Mexican Team at the 2012 Olympics. Mexican Nationals come up very shortly.
Jimmy Feigen and Dax Hill put up some decent freestyle times. Feigen’s times were 22.73/50.01; not enough to make himself a favorite for an Olympic spot yet, but definitely enough to show that he’s been focusing on long course even through the yards season. Hill went 23.89/51.80; that’s a good 100 time, though he’s become more of a 100/200 guy so don’t read too much into the 50. Garrett Weber-Gale also swam the 50, posting a 23.13.
Also in those sprints, in the younger age divisions, Texas freshman (sophomore-to-be) Ben Anderson had good times of 22.73/52.50. He didn’t make a huge impact in his first year in Austin, but those swims say that he’s due for a breakout next year.
Full Results from the meet are available here (we’ll try and update the link when South Texas Swimming makes a permanant one).
I hear Kaia Simmons swam a 4:45 400 fly today at the Stanford Invite.
Christian Schurr’s mother is a Mexican Citizen, his father is American, he has dual citizenship. He’s swimming very well & should make the 2012 Mexican Olympic team for the 100 & 200 breastroke.
ande – thanks for the info. I knew one of his parents was Mexican, had no idea he was training for the Mexican team. Will update!
Ok but for someone who wants to make the american olympic team (in USA under 49 for the 4X100 free relay and under 1.47 for the 4X200 free relay) I continue to think 51.80 is a very bad time. It’s a junior time. I don’t know him very much. He has a potential but until now his best races are just in yards. Perhaps he swims very slowly in a big training period. I’m waiting for the results when it will count.
For Jimmy Feigen it’s different. 22.73 and 50.01 are very good times for him. It’s a very good sign and it shows he’s much better in long course than past year. I see him in 21.80 and… Read more »
Uhm, have you heard of a… Josh Schneider in the 50??
Good swim for Brendan Hansen. I see him easily under 1.00 this summer. Under 59 seconds is another story but why not?
Braden, how can you write that 51.80 is a good 100 time for Dax Hill? It’s bad, it’s slow but it’s not good.
And about the story of Kathleen Hersey I can say something. When I was a little boy at school I have swum a 400 breaststroke and I had to swim it under 20 minutes to have my swimming certificate. I did it. I officially could swim.
bobo – I think it’s a good, not great, swim for Hill for this time of year. He’s never been faster than that before June. This 100 is not where he’s going to make the Olympic Team if he does at all, so I think it’s a pretty good time for him. Probably should have been closer to a 51.3 or 51.4, you’re right, though.
Is that Ben Anderson from Madison, WI?
Peter – nope think it’s a different guy. That Ben Anderson is still in HS I believe, this one just finished up freshman year at Texas. Both happen to be sprinters.
They both happen to be great sprinters – and the younger one from Wisconsin is an outstanding athlete – could have a great future. Haven’t seen him sign anywhere though, have you?