Sample Sets: A Look At the Training Of Fast-Rising Sprint Star Anna Moesch
Greater Somerset County YMCA stalwart Anna Moesch has been checking boxes for quite a while. Her coach Mary Korey gives the University of Virginia recruit high marks in a variety of categories. Consider the following areas in which Moesch stand out:
Personality Traits
- Humble
- Driven
- Loyal
- Ambitious
- Grateful
- Resilient
- Kind
- Easy going
- Self-disciplined
Training Habits
- Hard worker
- Well balanced between leading and follower roles. Excellent at knowing when to be the main character or when she is best as a supporting character role for a bit of theater analogy.
- Goal oriented
- Great overall knowledge and feel for the water
- Technique driven, pays attention to the details, and enjoys it
The resulting performances from those attributes have the six-foot, 16-year-old Watchung (N.J.) Regional High School junior ranked first in the Garden State and tied for sixth nationally by Collegeswimming.com. in the class of 2024.
For Moesch it’s been a whirlwind last 12 months. At Junior Pan Pacs, a tired Moesch finished second in the 50-meter free (25.32), ninth in the 100 freestyle (54.93) and was part of two meet-record relays. In the women’s 400 freestyle relay, her second leg of 54.44 combined with Kayla Wilson, Erin Gemmell and Alex Shackell to post a 3:39.73. She then added a 54.10 anchor split to the United States’ winning 400 mixed medley effort.
Two weeks earlier at long course Y Nationals, she finished first in four events: 50 freestyle (24.92); 100 freestyle (54.33); 200 freestyle (1:59.59). She also won the 400 individual medley (4:54.63), and all four wins arrived in meet-record time. Her 2:17.38 200 IM was good for second place behind teammate Emily Thompson. The 50 and 100 times place her fifth on USA Swimming’s all-time LCM top 100 list for 15-16s. For fun, she anchored four winning 200 and 400 medley and free relays and led off the first place 800 free relay, recording the fastest anchor or leadoff splits among all competitors – often by large margins.
In March, at short-course Y Nationals, she swept the 50 (21.97), 100 (47.76) and 200 (1:44.10) freestyles and placed second in the 200 IM (1:59.34). The winning times have her fourth, fourth and tied eighth (Sippy Woodhead) all-time on the USA Swimming 15-16 record chart.
As if that weren’t enough, Moesch was a member of the U.S. World Cup team in Berlin and Budapest last October and contributed to the first place 200 mixed free relay.
Not only does Moesch shine in competition, but in practice as well.
“Anna is highly coachable,” says Korey. “She has no problem working out of her comfort zone in the sprint world. She focuses on making herself the best well-rounded swimmer she can be. Anna’s ability to execute early vertical forearm and pull a lot of water is natural for her. Her sister Marlise (swam at Yale) is the last person I have seen with this same natural talent. And it is impressive since few can do it well. Anna, outside of swimming, still loves to be in and around water and enjoys being at the beach when she can.
“In training, Anna wants to be pushed and is one of the hardest pool workers. She shows up no matter what. Even if there is a conflict, she finds the time and way to get the work done. At GSCY we believe that age group swimmers should be training all strokes and not specializing. Despite being a nationally ranked swimmer Anna does not train a lot of sprint free. We only do it as needed. We try to balance her and keep her nerves down around the 50, 100 and 200 free events by not always focusing on them. We have introduced her to the world of IM which she seems to enjoy and at which she has found success.
“During practice I do not emphasize time. I let the swimmers take responsibility for times. I put the goal numbers and events together with them, but ask them to make sure they are always aware of those numbers in practice. We do not do a lot of recurring sets but vary training to prepare them for uncontrollables they may face on race day. I do some stuff that grabs their attention mentally (like nine ways to do the 400 IM) or ‘finishers’ after sets to push them into fatigue.”
Here is a look at some of the sets tackled by Anna Moesch:
Photo Courtesy:
Nice set!