Sub 20 second 50 freestyle

The top end of the 50 free has not improved much over the last 10 years. In 1998 4 guys went 20.51 or faster. This year about the same. The year before it was probably the weakest it had been in a decade. The pool of guys that can go a 19 is probably twice as large now than it was 10 years ago. But all of those guys are swimming D1 or D2.

I have heard rumors that all three sprinters mentioned will be in training over the summer. I don’t have any confirmations about where and how intensive such training will be, but if such rumors prove true, then all three may go below 20 sec. Of course that may depend on how fast the pool is at Nationals. Who knows? perhaps Courage or Whitbeck could do it at the Grove City pool while at their conference meet next February.

My sources tell me that Courage has been looking at training this summer maybe with Salo or Gary Hall. Did he get his trials cut in the 50? If Andrew Rock can make the olympic team for UW-Lax you never know!

I think you have to rank Whitbeck ahead of Courage. First of all, he is the defending champion. Also, didn’t he take some time off from swimming? Maybe he’s just coming back into his own and has more time (.3-.4) to drop. Last, I think the 50 is just too short for Courage. He’s a little slow off the blocks. If he worked his turn I think he would have a shot at it, but that’s probably tough too because he’s so tall. Mitchell, even though he had a monster year, would be my third pick. I don’t doubt that he could do it, but I’m just wondering if he can improve on the scale that he did the year before.

Mitchell 19.88 2008 50 free champion

so per the recruiting post:

Ben Wampler recorded a 20.88 in his high school state meet (Illinois) this weekend. Solid improvement from his 21.46 last year and it makes him one of the top freshmen going into next year.

should be a factor based on the press – freshman excitement new coach?????

could be a surprise???

@swim5599 wrote:

The reason I chose Courage second ahead of Whitbeck is that he surprisingly improved from 20.6 to 20.2 in a year. Pretty good year, I agree still way to slow off the blocks, but you never know.

That’s an improved start… and for the record he has really powerful walls. He can move for a big man.

I think any of those 3 could do it if they really cared and trained for it… I can’t tell you which that will be, if any.

You really think that you can attribute .4 in a 50 to an improved start? Were you watching the same meet as the rest of us? Courage is a great athlete, but it is really hard to get a body moving that fast. My guess would be he’s .8 or .9 on a reaction time, which really is a minimal improvement at most from his freshman year. Also, while he might be powerful off the turn (I don’t doubt it he’s a big guy) he doesn’t get his legs around very fast compared to other sprinters. If he’s breaking 20, he needs to go hard into the turn. See Lochte, Ryan for disambiguation

i think there are probably some guys who have the ability to throw down the 19.9, but it takes a perfect race.. it would definitely be cool to see next year from some of those big gun sprinters, but in my modest opinion some of those sprinters dont have a good enough start to pull it off.

I had forgotten about this thread, but with Gyorfi bringing it back up I couldn’t help but throw this out there – I think all three are going under 20 next year. I can’t pick a winner – they were 20.22, 20.25, and 20.25 best times this year. On the one hand, Mitchell swims for Kenyon, do you really need a better reason to pick him. On the other hand, you have a 20.22 and 20.25 training together, one trying to defend his title and the other trying to move up one spot to first. That’s some pretty good motivation. Will Grove City and Kenyon meet in November again? Will Steen take Mitchell to Northwestern or let him go head to head with Courage and Whitbeck? I don’t think we’ll see the rematch until March, but a November preview would be fun…

One other side note – the pool could determine whether these guys go under 20. If they’re at Minnesota or similar they’re under. If not…… Speaking of which, any new word on where the meet will be?

N Dynamite wrote:

Speaking of which, any new word on where the meet will be?

About a month ago I saw a survey seeking opinions on the impact of combining men and women at national championship on the NCAA site. It also included questions about preference regarding 3 or 4 day format. I didn’t bookmark URL and can’t seem to find it. If I do, I’ll post it. Next committee meeting is mid July. I suspect the poll will be tabulated and something will come out after that meeting

Just came across this – http://www.justswimmac.org/07meets/ultraswim/070607P016.htm – looks like Courage is looking to take the title from Whitbeck. His time converts to a 20.38. If he keeps it up he may be fast enough to break 20 by the end of summer.

The best part is seeing his seed time of 28.90.

On the plus side, this is the first summer Courage has trained.
On the downside, the conversion overstates his progress considering how bad his turns are.

Alex Righi – 24.27 – solidifies himself as the most disappointing swimmer in America today.

It’s too bad that Alex Righi disappoints you because I’m sure he’s not disappointed with his Ivy League education. It kind of usurped that a kid that choose to go to an academic based institution is getting criticized on a DIII Swimming Website.

Stokes, Being a NCAA Div 1 All American is a disappointment? Is 19.5 and 42.7 in the 50 and 100 freestyle at the NCAA Meet last March not good enought for you? I don’t post that much but I hate when people slam kids for chosing academics over swimming. So what if he went 24.27 in a 50 free at a long course. It doesn’t constitute him being a disappointment.

1 Mecklenburg AC-NC ‘A’ 3:37.04 3:32.46 NATS 40
1) Courage, Caleb B 21 2) Knowles, Jeremy D 25
3) White, Jared R 18 4) Higgins, Charles C 18
25.68 52.71 (52.71)
1:18.29 (25.58) 1:46.28 (53.57)
2:11.67 (25.39) 2:39.05 (52.77)
3:04.46 (25.41) 3:32.46 (53.41)

I think that by NCAA conversion standards, a 52.71 LCM would be a 45.49 SCY. Looks like he might still be a little out of shape since he’s only been down there for a few weeks.