With the World Cup starting up again in Asia, several of the world’s best swimmers were back in action in the pool. But the major headlines concerned rewards for top American swimmers and a new chapter for the head honcho at U.S. Masters Swimming. We’re covering those headlines and more on this edition of The Week That Was.
The Week That was is supported by AgonSwim.com
The Week That Was #5: College swim meets showcase exciting matchups
Photo Courtesy: Andy Ringgold
Though it was only an intrasquad meet, the competition between the White and Orange teams on the University of Texas men’s squad had people buzzing. In particular, the 100 fly between reigning NCAA champion Joe Schooling and runner-up Jack Conger had fans wondering who would win on this day? It was Conger who took the win, 45.43 to 45.67, to set up another great season for the two.
Several other teams held intrasquad meets to test out some racing skills. Bob Bowman served in his first meet as Arizona State head coach, getting details on the performances. One of the highlights was a battle in the butterfly leg of the men’s 200 medley relay, where Tadas Duskinas outsplit Andrew Porter 20.90 to 21.47. Those would be very competitive splits in the postseason, which could mean good things for the Sun Devils in a few months at the Pac 12 meet.
Other teams get in some official races, including the Stanford women’s team as they took down Washington State. Janet Hu and Nicole Stafford each won two events, while reigning 100 breast NCAA champ Sarah Haase won that event.
Visit Swimming World’s college news channel for recaps from last weekend’s competitions.
The Week That Was #4: Margo Geer among three aquatic sports athletes named finalists for NCAA Woman of the Year
Photo Courtesy: David Farr
In about three weeks, the NCAA will crown another Woman of the Year. Two swimmers and a diver are among the nine finalists, and could make it seven aquatic sport athletes who have won in the 24-year history of the award. Division I NCAA champion swimmer Margo Geer of Arizona is a finalist, as is Division II stalwart Supriya Davis from Swarthmore College. Diver Kristin Day is another finalist, also from the Division II ranks. The winner will be announced October 18 in Indianapolis. If Geer wins, she’ll be the fourth Arizona swimmer to take the trophy in nine years.
The Week That Was #3: FINA World Cup continues in Hong Kong
Photo Courtesy: R-Sport / MIA Rossiya Segodnya
Some great races took place in Hong Kong last week as the FINA World Cup tour resumed after a month break. Missy Franklin was the top American swimmer, taking home $2,500 in race earnings. She didn’t win any events, falling to Katinka Hosszu in the 200 back and 200 free, and Emily Seebohm in the 100 back. As for Hosszu, she’s still well in front of the women’s point scoring with five meets remaining. Cameron Van Der Burgh is also comfortably in front in the men’s race, despite winning money in only two events in the past three meets. If he attends the meets in Beijing and Tokyo, he’ll win another $50,000 in bonus money for the most points in the Asian meet cluster. If fellow South African Chad Le Clos, the defending men’s World Cup champion, decides to return to the circuit, he could give Van der Burgh a push with a bigger race schedule.
The meets in this year’s World Cup are being held in long course to give athletes more racing preparation for the Olympics. No world records have been set in the World Cup meets this year, despite nearly a dozen falling each year for the past three years.
The Week That Was #2: USA Swimming announces Golden Goggles Award nominees
Photo Courtesy: Maria Dobysheva
This morning, USA Swimming unveiled its nominees for this year’s Golden Goggles ceremony through Twitter posts. To no one’s surprise, Katie Ledecky has the most nominations with four. That includes three in the Female Race of the year category for her wins in the 200, 800 and 1500 freestyles at the world championships. (Haley Anderson’s world championship title in the 5K is the other nominee in the category.) Ledecky is nominated for Female Athlete of the Year with Anderson and Missy Franklin.
The Golden Goggles typically focus its nominees on one meet each year, but that had to be altered when Michael Phelps swam three world-leading times at the U.S. nationals. Phelps has been nominated each year at the Golden Goggles, with the exception of 2013 when he briefly retired, and he has three more nominations this year. Like Ledecky, he’ll compete against himself with two nominations in the Male Race of the Year category for his 100 fly and 200 fly swims at nationals. Phelps will go up against longtime rival Ryan Lochte for Male Athlete of the Year, with 10K open water world champion Jordan Wilimovsky also in the hunt.
The event also has a category for coaches, and ASCA Coach of the Year Bruce Gemmell is up against Bob Bowman, Dave Kelsheimer, David Marsh and Catherine Vogt.
The awards will be presented on November 22.
The Week That Was #1: Rob Butcher stepping down as USMS executive director to run Swim Across America
Photo Courtesy: U.S. Masters Swimming
In a shocking announcement, Rob Butcher announced that he was stepping down as executive director of U.S. Masters Swimming to be the CEO of Swim Across America. Butcher had been doing great work at USMS, building the membership through marketing campaigns and introducing a nationwide learn-to-swim program for adults that garnered mainstream national media attention. Butcher will remain with USMS until December 31, when he’ll replace Janel Jorgensen at Swim Across America to help the organization grow in its efforts to put on swimming events to raise money for cancer research.
Jorgensen wants to spend more time with her family, but said in a letter that she will stay with the organization in a different capacity.