Swimming

Dual Meets Are Cool Again After Spectacular Day of Racing

January 21, 2023

The phrase “wait until March” is a common refrain among college swimming fans. Over the last several years, the idea that times don’t matter until NCAAs has become more and more popular. People argue about how tapered swimmers are for midseason or conference meets, arguing that unless it happens tapered and suited, a win or a time is less impressive.

It’s one of the reasons why some fans write off dual meets — well, that and the fact that they’re often impossible to watch live. And January dual meets, where swimmers are in a big block of training as they push towards season? Forget about that. Swimmers won’t be fast, and the times are irrelevant.

ASU coaches Bob Bowman and Herbie Behm are among those who have been trying to dispel that narrative. Unlike most college teams, who wait until invites and season to put tech suits on, ASU suits up for every dual meet.

Removing suits lowers specificity by changing demands of the race. Task specificity should be considered in all exercises.

Also, using meets as a “set-up” for future meets lowers cognitive specificity by shifting focus from “the now” to a later date. https://t.co/bpyQw9s9Hg

— Herbie Behm (@SirHerb_the3rd) December 27, 2022

There’s people on the pro scene embracing this ideology as well, with Justin Ress talking at U.S. Nationals about how he’s realizing that swimming doesn’t have to be “we only swim fast twice a year.”

All season long, the UVA women and ASU men have been pushing against our expectations for in-season times and that came to a head on January 20th, 2023, as the Cavaliers faced off against UNC and NC State while ASU took on Stanford. In one day of dual meets, we saw five new nation-leading times.

Across the country and in a span of about two hours, we saw some of the fastest times we’ve seen in college swimming all year. Sophomore Gretchen Walsh got things started, leading off UVA’s 400 medley relay with a 50.07 100 backstroke. It’s the fastest time in the NCAA this season, overtaking Claire Curzan‘s 50.12 from the NC State Invite. Unlike the ASU men, Walsh was unsuited; however, that hasn’t been a deterrent for her at all this season. In the fall, she posted the fastest unsuited 100 fly ever in 50.53.

ASU’s sprint medley relay was notable as well: the squad of Jack Dolan (21.04 back), Leon Marchand (23.10 breast), Max McCusker (19.70 fly), and Grant House (18.76 free) ripped 1:22.60. That takes over as the top time in the NCAA from Florida, who posted 1:22.82 at their midseason invitational. Before this swim, ASU was sitting third in the country in 1:22.97. That relay did not include Marchand, who outsplit John Heaphy‘s 23.73. McCusker was also faster than his midseason fly split by a tenth, blazing 19.70.

Marchand and House are responsible for ASU’s other three NCAA-leading times of the day. Marchand had a simply incredible afternoon, backing up his 23.10 50 breast split with 51.15 in the 100 breast and 1:49.16 in the 200 breast. While his 100 breast time falls .01 seconds short of tying Reid Mikuta‘s nation-leading time, that 200 breast is the new fastest time by over a second. In fact, no other swimmer has cracked the 1:50 barrier this season, with Matt Fallon now in second in 1:50.28. To put his swim in context, Marchand won 2022 NCAAs with a 1:48.20 — he was less than a second off that at this dual meet.

His second individual nation-leading time came in his final event of the day, the 200 IM. It had gotten dark and the wind was whistling through Mona Plummer Aquatic Center, but that didn’t stop Marchand from ripping 1:38.96 in the event. That beats out his 1:39.28 from midseason for the fastest time in the NCAA. He’s separated himself even further from his competitors; the next fastest swimmer is Destin Lasco at 1:41.52, 2.56 seconds back from Marchand.

For his part, House clocked 1:31.51 to win the 200 free, which takes over as the fastest time from Alabama’s Charlie Hawke, who swam 1:31.89 leading off the 800 free relay at the Art Adamson Invite. It’s a season best and a notable improvement on this point last season for House — he wasn’t faster than 1:31.73 until 2022 PAC-12s.

The common thread across all of these nation leading times is that they overtake times posted at midseason invitationals. And there could still be more fireworks this weekend, as UVA competes in day two of their tri-meet and ASU takes on Cal in a highly anticipated dual meet.

So, what’s the takeaway from this spectacular day of racing? It’s always cool to swim fast — the best doesn’t always have to wait until March.

SwimSwam: Dual Meets Are Cool Again After Spectacular Day of Racing