By Taylor Brien.
Indianapolis will play host to the 2017 USA Swimming Nationals this week for five days of fast swimming. While many of those vying for spots on the World Championships roster are veterans of Team USA, there are many young up and coming swimmers as well.
With a large number of young athletes competing against veterans, the questions rises as to how many National Age Group (NAG) records are in jeopardy during the next week of swimming?
After taking a close look at the psych sheet and the nation’s young swimmers slated to swim, the Swimming World staff presents five NAG records that could potentially fall in Indianapolis.
1. Boys 17-18 100 Breast
For several years, swim fans in the United States has had the opportunity to watch breaststroke aces Michael Andrew and Reece Whitley duel over titles and NAG records. At 18, Andrew is on his way to aging out of NAG record eligibility, but not before some final go-arounds with Whitley.
The two enter the men’s 100 breast seeded fourth (59.82) and tenth (1:00.95) respectively. Andrew’s seed time of 59.82 is the current NAG record, which he set last summer at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha. While Whitley will need to scrape a minimum of 1.13 seconds off his 1:00.95 to edge past Andrew’s NAG, the 6’5″ Pennsylvanian could very well do that.
Whitley threw down a monstrous 51.84 to seize the National Independent High School Record in February, just missing the 100 breast SCY NAG of 51.76. Whitley’s SCY best of 51.84 converts roughly to a 51.96, putting him in good range of the NAG.
2. Girls 15-16 100 Breast
Zoe Bartel of Fort Collins sits poised and ready to challenge the 15-16 100 back NAG record in Indianapolis.
The 16-year-old enters the meet with a seed time of 1:07.82, while the NAG record sits at a 1:07.05, set in 2000 by Megan Quann. If Bartel topples the NAG she will have knocked down one of the oldest 15-16 girls NAG records.
Bartel’s seed time has her entering the meet ranked eighth behind Olympians and NCAA greats, whom she will likely chase to the finish.
3. Girls 15-16 100 Back
Regan Smith of Riptide Swim Team is no stranger to NAG records, having set them across both SCY and LCM and in a multitude of events.
The 15-year-old enters the 100 back as one of six swimmers beneath the one-minute mark, sitting sixth with a 59.74. Smith’s 59.74 was set this past April at the Indianapolis Speedo Sectionals and sits second all-time for 15-16 year olds.
The only time ahead of Smith’s is Olympian Missy Franklin’s 59.18 from 2011, which doubles as the NAG record. Smith has been on an upward trajectory for quite some time now, owning both the 100 SCY and LCM 100 back for the 13-14 age group, and Indianapolis could be where she moves into the 15-16 age group.
4. Girls 15-16 200 Breast
While Bartel is likely to rattle and potentially down the 100 breast NAG, it seems unlikely that she won’t break the 200 breast NAG in Indianapolis.
Bartel enters the 200 breast seeded sixth with a sizzling time of 2:25.46, giving her a competitive edge and a shot at finals. But while her chance at duking it out with some of the nation’s top breaststrokers isn’t enough, the 16-year-old sits a shy .11 seconds away from the NAG.
The girls 200 breast NAG record is the only record in the 15-16 books that still exists from the 1990’s and was set in 1992 by Anita Nall of Maryland.
5. Girls 15-16 50 Free
The 50 free at U.S. Nationals could very well see multiple records go down: American, LC Nationals, and 15-16 NAG. While Olympic gold medalist Simone Manuel (24.09) will likely take down the meet record of 24.25 and could threaten Dara Torres’ American record of 24.07, Anya Goeders will be aiming for a NAG record.
The 16-year-old enters the meet seeded sixth with a time of 24.85, a slim .05 seconds off Manuel’s own NAG of 24.80.
All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.
It is worthy of note that the two 15-16 girls breaststroke records listed here as at risk were internationally special when set. In the 100 Breast, Quann’s time won her the Gold Medal in Sydney 2000 and in the 200 Nall’s mark won the 1992 US Olympic Trials and was a World Record.