Ultra Swim Swimmer of the Month is a recurring SwimSwam feature shedding light on a U.S.-based swimmer who has proven themselves over the past month. As with any item of recognition, Swimmer of the Month is a subjective exercise meant to highlight one athlete whose work holds noteworthy context – perhaps a swimmer who was visibly outperforming other swimmers over the month, or one whose accomplishments slipped through the cracks among other high-profile swims. If your favorite athlete wasn’t selected, feel free to respectfully recognize them in our comment section.
Even with the coronavirus pandemic restricting training and competition, it was a banner month of July for 16-year-old Sarasota Sharks swimmer Liam Custer.
Custer crushed lifetime-bests in 12 different races at the SYS Summer Social Distance this month. You read that right: a full dozen. The Summer Social Distance meet ran yards events in morning heats, followed by meters events in the evening finals, so Custer ultimately swam six different events, each one in both short course yards and long course meters. Every single swim was a new personal-best, though times swum in July won’t technically count for national-level qualifying under USA Swimming’s current pandemic rules.
Liam Custer Time Drops: July 2020
| Pre-July 2020 | July 2020 | |
| 400y IM | 3:54.10 | 3:48.81 |
| 200y free | 1:43.69 | 1:37.43 |
| 500y free | 4:29.92 | 4:22.59 |
| 200y back | 1:47.75 | 1:45.91 |
| 200y fly | 1:51.09 | 1:49.76 |
| 200y IM | 1:50.54 | 1:49.64 |
| 200m free | 1:57.93 | 1:55.68 |
| 400m free | 4:05.70 | 4:04.44 |
| 200m fly | 2:07.38 | 2:05.17 |
| 200m back | 2:05.43 | 2:03.98 |
Those short course drops in the 400 IM, 200 free and 500 free are probably most impressive. In fact, they should vault Custer – a rising high school junior – towards the top of his recruiting class when we re-rank that group next spring.
When we first ranked this group back in the spring, we had Custer classified mostly as a distance swimmer, and he got crowded out in a deep distance class. But with his huge 400 IM drop, Custer moves towards the top of the class there: the top 400 IMer in the class when we first ranked them was 3:48.84 Zachary Tan, our #1 recruit in the class at the time.
Custer now takes over the top 400 IM in the class, and his 200 back also passes Tan’s best time. If we were to re-rank today, Custer’s swims would almost-certainly put him into the top five. And assuming his mile and 1000 are able to drop in similar fashion over the coming year, Custer is looking like an incredibly fast riser: perhaps going from unranked to #1 overall from our sophomore ranks to junior re-ranks.
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Someone get USADA before he breaks a NAG
This aged well
Insane! Can’t imagine the high he’s feeling right now, and hopefully he keeps that momentum going through the rest of this year and beyond. Congrats Liam!!
What’re they putting in that kid’s water?
Michael Secret Stuff