Into the 18s, NC State’s David Curtiss is Flourishing at NC State
David Curtiss says he let the pressure get to him at Olympic Trials last year. You’d be forgiven for not knowing it given his times.
If he was feeling any pressure at the ACC Championships last week, the NC State freshman didn’t show it. And as Curtiss grows, in his quest to become one of America’s premier sprinters, tackling the mental side of the sprint challenge is a primary focus of his training with coach Braden Holloway.
“My mental game has definitely risen since I’ve gotten here,” Curtiss said last week. “The 50 freestyle is such a mental event. You’re putting all of your energy into 18 seconds, and you can’t mess up or you’re off your time.”
David Curtiss; Photo Courtesy: Kyle Hess/The ACC
Curtiss’ college career is off to a flying start. He set a personal-best time of 18.74 to win the A final of the 50 free at ACCs. Just as important, he said, is that he produced three 18.7s of the first two days of the meet, Curtiss leading off the Wolfpack’s runner-up 200 free relay in 18.79 and throwing down an 18.77 in prelims.
It speaks to how he’s taken to the training of Holloway, one of the nation’s foremost practitioners in the art of sprinting. Curtiss, who attended the Pennington School in New Jersey and trained at the Hamilton Area YMCA under Sue Welsh, had to adjust from distance-focused training to the sprint emphasis in Raleigh. He’s flourished at Holloway’s insistence on the details, all the minute actions that he must assemble, without fail, in 18-plus seconds to separate an average 50 freestyle from an extraordinary one.
“We always say, ‘execute the details,’” Curtiss said. “We do a lot of detail work that focuses on small things which then translate into the 50 freestyle to execute the details, like at ACCs.”
Particularly for a male sprinter, Curtiss is very much on the young side, with plenty of room to grow. One frontier is fleshing out his college meet program. In addition to winning the 50 free at ACCs, he was 16th in the 100 free (his fastest time was 42.88 in prelims) and 29th in the 100 backstroke. More important in the former, he was sixth among Wolfpack sprinters, keeping him out of the 400-yard relays.
His main focus is the 50, with the 100 as the secondary event. Identifying a third event remains a work in progress – he pursued the 100 breaststroke early in the year before settling on the 100 back; the 200 free remains in play for a sprinter with a polished stroke that exceeds just sheer power. That will remain a collaborative process with Holloway, one that both will be plenty patient with.
The 50 remains his bread and butter, though, an event in which he set a national high school record in 2021. He’s continued to improve his 50, thanks in large part to an environment that has “rekindled my relationship with the sport of swimming” after a senior high school season blighted by the pandemic.
David Curtiss; Photo Courtesy: NC State Athletics
So much of that growth is psychological. Curtiss felt the pressure got to him at Olympic Trials, despite finishing sixth in the 50 freestyle with a fastest time of 22.07 seconds in semis. (He’s also been sub-22 in the TYR Pro Swim Series.) That was the only event he swam at Trials, which may have ratcheted up the pressure.
He won’t have to worry about that singularity at NCAAs, with the 50 a certainty, plus the 200 free and medley relays. (The Wolfpack were DQed in the latter at ACCs after Curtiss jumped on the anchor leg.) NC State’s chase of team honors, after the won the ACC title for the seventh time in eight seasons, will also narrow his focus.
Having a team around him, Curtiss hopes, will allow him to stay out of his head and translate the positives he gleaned from Trials into success in his first NCAAs foray.
“I thought I was ready for Olympic Trials, I said I was, and I got there and it was a completely different story,” Curtiss said. “So when it comes to NCAAs, I have not experienced it yet so I’m not sure where I am and where that’s going to fit in in terms of all the other meets I’ve competed in, because every meet is different, all the stress levels are different. So for this first year, I think I’m going to be ready physically but it’s getting my mind in the right place, because that’s a big part of my racing strategy. ….
“Now that I’m at NC State, I’m going to have the resources of the team, the coaches and the athletic staff to prep my mind and my body better for it. The stress levels of Olympic Trials were extremely high, so I’ve definitely experienced that. Hopefully I’m able to carry that strength over, that experience of that stress, over to NCAAs to perform better.”
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Anyone going to correct this article? His home club team was Hamilton Y Aquatic Club under Head Coach Sue Welsh
Hey Coach Pat ;),
This article was pretty interesting. I enjoyed it. I remember watching David at Preps and Easterns with you. I really miss the team and miss you.
Sincerely
“Lil” Jain aka Rojain 😉