Eddie Reese and the Texas longhorns descend (ascend?) upon Minneapolis to try to win the programs 16th national title. The meet begins in Wednesday march 22nd with an evening, relay-only session. Three more days of morning prelims and evening finals follow.
Texas finished second last year to Cal in the team race. Winning was a distinct possibility until a series of DQ’s by swimmers and bad dives on the boards sunk Texas on day 3.
Texas is not the favorite this year but certainly have a path to victory should they be able to out the pieces together. Texas lost 2021 Olympian and 2022 World Champion Drew Kibler as well as several other key cogs to last years success. They do return several other world champions and participants including Carson Foster and Caspar Corbeau.
I usually post the following at the start of each championship week for the swimming curious but not obsessed.
The 2023 NCAA championships are now upon us and the Texas team looks strong, again, although not dominant. Cal is back to defend their title and that seems like the most likely outcome. Texas, ASU and Florida look like they will have a lively battle for second. Texas is lacking in several key areas, most notably sprint free. We are strong in the 200-1650 free and also the IM's.
I wanted to kick start the week with a swimming primer for those of you that want a little chlorine with your coffee this morning, or maybe with your whiskey tonight.
Swimming and the NCAA meet.
Swimmers swim prelims of their events and can qualify for A-Finals or B-Finals during prelims in the morning. These are called Up/Downs.. “A” finals (Ups) are scored as follows (1st-8th place) 20-17-16-15-14-13-12-11 and B-finals (downs) score 9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. You want to be up, of course.
So, in the morning prelims if you make it into A-finals you are guaranteed 11 points no matter how fast anyone in the B-finals swim UNLESS you DQ. Likewise, a person in the B-final could set an American or US Open record (there are no world records in swim meets conducted in a 25 yard pool) and still score no more than 9 points. That’s why getting into A finals is crucial. Winning is rewarded with not just the most points, but a nice 3-point bump over 2nd. That’s why a team with a couple of dominant swimmers can contend to win a meet by winning all their events and placing high in the relays. See Indiana in 2018 who damn near stole the thing despite having only 5 guys that even scored in A finals.
Relays score double the points (40-34-32......) of individual events. In a normal year, a team like Texas is virtually assured of making the finals in relays so it would be especially crucial they don't leave early on the relay exchanges in the prelims/finals. You'd hate to lose a guaranteed 30-40 points because you were overzealous. This year, and maybe permanently, they are going to swim all relays as timed finals which means the relays get swum once instead of having a qualifying round in the morning. Fastest teams swim last with 4 teams per heat.
Winning is not always the most important thing in an individual race. In a team race it is often more about beating whichever swimmer(s) are in the event from your fiercest rival for the team title. For example, Texas’ Caspar Corbeau might win the 100 breast (he’s not my favorite though). However, Cal is the main competition for the team title (AGAIN) and they have two guys that will likely be in that A final. I can handle Caspar finishing third as long as he beats those three Cal swimmers. Cal might still score more points in the event but an outcome where Caspar finishes 3rd and beats both Cal guys might leave Texas with 16 points vs 29 Cal points. But if Caspar finishes 4th and gets beat by 2 Cal swimmers that a loss of 2 points for Texas but Cal would gain of 4 points for Cal. 6 point swing. BEAT CAL. That’s the goal every time you hit the water. Easier said than done.
So about the events you can swim.
Events: A swimmer can enter up to seven total events, but no more than 3 can be individual events. Most swimmers do 3 individuals if they meet the time standards. I won’t get into the dirty details of qualifying other than to say there are universal automatic time standards that if you meet/swim faster than the time you are automatically in the event, then provisional times that are slower that can get you in depending on if you have an automatic time in another event and/or also how many other swimmers in that event are faster than you. Teams are limited to how many total combined divers/swimmers they can bring. The total number of athletes that you can bring is 18. BUT, Divers count as half a swimmer (they only have 3 events, no relays) so you can actually bring 16 SWIMMERS and 4 DIVERS, (or 17/2). Texas is one of the few top schools that brings divers instead of swimmers. You would do this when your divers stand a good chance of scoring and your last few qualifying swimmer(s) would really just be going for experience but not expected to score.
Swimmers can swim 7 total events including relays. It’s pretty rare for a swimmer to swim on more than a couple of relays since the back/breast guys are pretty stroke specific and there are only two relays that involve the non-free strokes. As for the free sprinters, they can get on the 4x100 and 4x50 free relays but the 4x50 guys don’t usually cross over to the 4x200 free and only the best free sprinter is usually on the two medley relays. There have been a few guys that could swim all 5 relays but they are rare. If it happened then they could only swim 2 individual events.
Shave and Taper. Swimmers shave their bodies for their biggest meets of the year. Hair does absorb water and potentially slow you down (albeit by fractions of fractions of seconds). It’s also a psychological tool as you feel very fast in the water when you dive in with a full shave. Sort of like a football player wearing black cleats and thinking they can run faster, hit harder, etc.. Like with runners, the taper is much more important. A swimmer may swim anywhere from 5,000-10,000 yards a day in addition to weights and dryland training. It’s hell on your body as you break it down, train it hard and you just don’t swim very fast during training. A few weeks before your biggest meet you start to back off your yardage (taper it down gradually) in practice and let your body start to recover. The last few days you may barely hit the water, maybe just working on starts, turns and technique/strategy. It’s a fine line though. Taper too soon and you actually get out of shape before the meet and swim too slow. Taper too late and your body is still beat up and not quite ready for prime time. It’s more of an art than a science. Not every swimmer tapers the same or needs the same amount of taper. When you hear that a swimmer or team “didn’t hit their taper”, this is what we are talking about. One swimmer being off could be the swimmer not training properly, or maybe getting sick or injured. A whole team misses taper? That’s on the coach. Eddie is legend for being able to time the taper.
The schedule:
Day 1 (Wednesday night)
200 Medley Relay and 800 Free Relay. No prelims, the only race of the day
Day 2:
500 Free
200 IM
50 Free
1 meter Diving
200 Free Relay
Day 3
400 IM
100 Fly
200 Free
100 Breast
100 Back
3-meter diving
400 Medley Relay
Day 4:
1650 Free
200 Back
100 Free
200 Breast
200 Fly
Platform (10 meter) Diving
400 Free Relay
Let's roll. My event preview will follow this post. I don't suggest you use them to place bets.
Texas finished second last year to Cal in the team race. Winning was a distinct possibility until a series of DQ’s by swimmers and bad dives on the boards sunk Texas on day 3.
Texas is not the favorite this year but certainly have a path to victory should they be able to out the pieces together. Texas lost 2021 Olympian and 2022 World Champion Drew Kibler as well as several other key cogs to last years success. They do return several other world champions and participants including Carson Foster and Caspar Corbeau.
I usually post the following at the start of each championship week for the swimming curious but not obsessed.
The 2023 NCAA championships are now upon us and the Texas team looks strong, again, although not dominant. Cal is back to defend their title and that seems like the most likely outcome. Texas, ASU and Florida look like they will have a lively battle for second. Texas is lacking in several key areas, most notably sprint free. We are strong in the 200-1650 free and also the IM's.
I wanted to kick start the week with a swimming primer for those of you that want a little chlorine with your coffee this morning, or maybe with your whiskey tonight.
Swimming and the NCAA meet.
Swimmers swim prelims of their events and can qualify for A-Finals or B-Finals during prelims in the morning. These are called Up/Downs.. “A” finals (Ups) are scored as follows (1st-8th place) 20-17-16-15-14-13-12-11 and B-finals (downs) score 9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. You want to be up, of course.
So, in the morning prelims if you make it into A-finals you are guaranteed 11 points no matter how fast anyone in the B-finals swim UNLESS you DQ. Likewise, a person in the B-final could set an American or US Open record (there are no world records in swim meets conducted in a 25 yard pool) and still score no more than 9 points. That’s why getting into A finals is crucial. Winning is rewarded with not just the most points, but a nice 3-point bump over 2nd. That’s why a team with a couple of dominant swimmers can contend to win a meet by winning all their events and placing high in the relays. See Indiana in 2018 who damn near stole the thing despite having only 5 guys that even scored in A finals.
Relays score double the points (40-34-32......) of individual events. In a normal year, a team like Texas is virtually assured of making the finals in relays so it would be especially crucial they don't leave early on the relay exchanges in the prelims/finals. You'd hate to lose a guaranteed 30-40 points because you were overzealous. This year, and maybe permanently, they are going to swim all relays as timed finals which means the relays get swum once instead of having a qualifying round in the morning. Fastest teams swim last with 4 teams per heat.
Winning is not always the most important thing in an individual race. In a team race it is often more about beating whichever swimmer(s) are in the event from your fiercest rival for the team title. For example, Texas’ Caspar Corbeau might win the 100 breast (he’s not my favorite though). However, Cal is the main competition for the team title (AGAIN) and they have two guys that will likely be in that A final. I can handle Caspar finishing third as long as he beats those three Cal swimmers. Cal might still score more points in the event but an outcome where Caspar finishes 3rd and beats both Cal guys might leave Texas with 16 points vs 29 Cal points. But if Caspar finishes 4th and gets beat by 2 Cal swimmers that a loss of 2 points for Texas but Cal would gain of 4 points for Cal. 6 point swing. BEAT CAL. That’s the goal every time you hit the water. Easier said than done.
So about the events you can swim.
Events: A swimmer can enter up to seven total events, but no more than 3 can be individual events. Most swimmers do 3 individuals if they meet the time standards. I won’t get into the dirty details of qualifying other than to say there are universal automatic time standards that if you meet/swim faster than the time you are automatically in the event, then provisional times that are slower that can get you in depending on if you have an automatic time in another event and/or also how many other swimmers in that event are faster than you. Teams are limited to how many total combined divers/swimmers they can bring. The total number of athletes that you can bring is 18. BUT, Divers count as half a swimmer (they only have 3 events, no relays) so you can actually bring 16 SWIMMERS and 4 DIVERS, (or 17/2). Texas is one of the few top schools that brings divers instead of swimmers. You would do this when your divers stand a good chance of scoring and your last few qualifying swimmer(s) would really just be going for experience but not expected to score.
Swimmers can swim 7 total events including relays. It’s pretty rare for a swimmer to swim on more than a couple of relays since the back/breast guys are pretty stroke specific and there are only two relays that involve the non-free strokes. As for the free sprinters, they can get on the 4x100 and 4x50 free relays but the 4x50 guys don’t usually cross over to the 4x200 free and only the best free sprinter is usually on the two medley relays. There have been a few guys that could swim all 5 relays but they are rare. If it happened then they could only swim 2 individual events.
Shave and Taper. Swimmers shave their bodies for their biggest meets of the year. Hair does absorb water and potentially slow you down (albeit by fractions of fractions of seconds). It’s also a psychological tool as you feel very fast in the water when you dive in with a full shave. Sort of like a football player wearing black cleats and thinking they can run faster, hit harder, etc.. Like with runners, the taper is much more important. A swimmer may swim anywhere from 5,000-10,000 yards a day in addition to weights and dryland training. It’s hell on your body as you break it down, train it hard and you just don’t swim very fast during training. A few weeks before your biggest meet you start to back off your yardage (taper it down gradually) in practice and let your body start to recover. The last few days you may barely hit the water, maybe just working on starts, turns and technique/strategy. It’s a fine line though. Taper too soon and you actually get out of shape before the meet and swim too slow. Taper too late and your body is still beat up and not quite ready for prime time. It’s more of an art than a science. Not every swimmer tapers the same or needs the same amount of taper. When you hear that a swimmer or team “didn’t hit their taper”, this is what we are talking about. One swimmer being off could be the swimmer not training properly, or maybe getting sick or injured. A whole team misses taper? That’s on the coach. Eddie is legend for being able to time the taper.
The schedule:
Day 1 (Wednesday night)
200 Medley Relay and 800 Free Relay. No prelims, the only race of the day
Day 2:
500 Free
200 IM
50 Free
1 meter Diving
200 Free Relay
Day 3
400 IM
100 Fly
200 Free
100 Breast
100 Back
3-meter diving
400 Medley Relay
Day 4:
1650 Free
200 Back
100 Free
200 Breast
200 Fly
Platform (10 meter) Diving
400 Free Relay
Let's roll. My event preview will follow this post. I don't suggest you use them to place bets.
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