Video is courtesy of Josh Davis, managing director of the Mutual of Omaha BREAKOUT Swim Clinic.
Video edit – Coleman Hodges
Michael Andrew, in a semi-final race against fellow pro Josh Schneider at the American Energy Swim Club Pro-Am meet on Saturday, swam a 19.24 in the 50 free to break the National Age Group Record. He almost pulled off the victory over National Teamer and former NCAA Champion Schneider, but one stroke too long at the finish cost him victory and a chance at Jimmy Feigen in the final.
Report by Braden Keith
After breaking the 15-16 National Age Group Record in the 100 yard breaststroke for the third time in a week on Friday, Michael Andrew of Indie Swimming has gotten another record at this weekend’s AESC Pro-Am in Oklahoma City: that of the 50 yard free.
Courtesy: Josh Davis
Andrew swam a 19.24 on Saturday evening, which bettered the mark done last year by Ryan Hoffer of 19.38. Hoffer made headlines of his own in Austin last weekend when he obliterated the 17-18 National Age Group Record in the 100 yard free.
Once this record is ratified by USA Swimming, it will become Andrew’s 14th current record in short course yards to go with 10 in long course meters among the recognized age groups. He holds more short course NAG Records, and more combined NAG Records, than anybody else (only Missy Franklin has more in long course).
Andrew’s new 15-16 record ranks as the 3rd-fastest swim ever by any USA Swimming junior (18 & under) swimmer.
Current fastest USA Swimming 15-16’s of all time
- Michael Andrew, 2015, 19.24
- Ryan Hoffer, 2014, 19.38
- Caeleb Dressel, 2012, 19.82
- Dylan Carter*, 2012, 19.94
- Vlad Morozov*, 19.96
- James Jones, 2014, 19.99
* – International
Andrew is faster at the same age than either Hoffer or Caeleb Dressel, who are currently the two fastest 17-18’s of all-time.
Andrew’s previous best time was a 19.76, done in March of 2014 at the NASA Junior National Cup in Florida.
Ande, it’s right. But nobody has forced him to swim the 200 IM before.
Once again, you can’t be competitive on sprint at the best level if you don’t focus only on sprint and if you don’t swim fresh against pure sprint specialists.
That’s his problem in the future.
He will have to choose his events if he wants to win gold medals.
It’s better to be great at 2 or 3 events than being good at 8 events.
Better to win 2 or 3 golds than 2 silvers, 2 bronze and 4 places in finals.
Does he want to become more a 200 IMer or more a 50 free sprinter in the next… Read more »
Also interesting is that Hoffer handed Andrew his butt when it counted. Last week.
why should a junior title count anything for someone like andrew???
Then why was he there? It must mean something or MA would stick to the Senior meet.
Hoffer is remarkable but At JRs he didn’t swim a hard 200 IM before his 50, Andrew did
What’s really interesting about this swim is the stroke rate compared between the two. MA took 22 strokes if I counted correctly and Josh Schneider took 25. I do not understand how someone who is twice as big as MA muscle wise, and has higher turnover can only win by a tenth.
Unlike Hoffer, MA is not underwater dependent. His underwaters are still there, and are still impressive, but he is definitely doing his best work on top of the water.
It’s hard to tell with a grainy video, but it looks to me like MA has higher tempo but takes less strokes because of longer underwaters