SwimSwam Pulse: 85% Favor Dressel’s 18.2 Over Weitzeil’s 21.1

SwimSwam Pulse is a recurring feature tracking and analyzing the results of our periodic A3 Performance Polls. You can cast your vote in our newest poll on the SwimSwam homepage, about halfway down the page on the right side, or you can find the poll embedded at the bottom of this post.

Our two most recent polls asked readers to compare the two American 50 free records set in the past month and to predict the winner of the Women’s NCAA Championships:

RESULTS – Poll 1

Which 50 free record was more impressive?

• Abbey Weitzeil – 14.4%
• Caeleb Dressel – 85.6%

Both national 50 free records fell within a 3-week span. First, Florida sophomore Caeleb Dressel went 18.23 to become the fastest man in the short course pool by about three tenths of a second. Then Abbey Weitzeil, the future Cal freshman delaying her enrollment until after the Olympic year, blasted a 21.12 to take almost two tenths off the women’s American record.

Both records were from the height of the super-suit era – Cesar Cielo had set the men’s mark in 2008 and Lara Jackson the women’s in 2009.

Overwhelmingly, voters selected Dressel’s record as the more impressive mark. There’s some statistical basis for that: Dressel broke the American record in both prelims and finals, ultimately lowering it by a larger margin than Weitzeil. His record was older, and has the name recognition attached, with the Olympic champ Cielo still holding the long course world record in the event.

Dressel’s record also came out of the SEC Championships, one of the most-hyped and most-covered meets in all of college swimming. Weitzeil broke her record at the American Short Course Championships, which is a relatively smaller meet in scale, and her record likely lost publicity with the slew of other major meets happening at the time (most notably that week, the Pac-12 men’s championships and the Arena Pro Swim Series at Orlando.

RESULTS – Poll 2

Who will win Women’s DI NCAAs?

• Stanford – 21.1%
• Cal – 14.6%
• UGA – 61.8%
• UVA – 1.8%
• USC – 0.3%

This is more of a bonus poll, with a very short voting period and a small sample size. We posted the poll on the morning of March 18, last Friday. That was the halfway mark of the women’s meet, with team scores still extremely tight.

Clearly, though, Georgia gained a lot more voting traction by that day than they would have two days earlier. The scored out psych sheets had the ‘Dawgs in just 4th place, and Stanford appeared heavily favored heading into the meet, with the defending champs Cal appearing among the top challengers.

At the time the poll was posted, Georgia led Cal by about 30 points, with Stanford all the way back in 6th, still reeling from their 200 free relay DQ a day earlier.

Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Poll, which asks SwimSwam voters to predict who will win the Men’s Division I NCAA title:

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ABOUT A3 PERFORMANCE

A3 Performance was founded in 2004 and is based in Wisconsin. A3 Performance was founded on the ideals that great products could be made and offered at great prices. Innovation and purpose is the focus of all product development. The swimmer is the focus of everything we do.

The A3 Performance Poll is courtesy of A3 Performance, a SwimSwam partner