Sample Sets: A Look at the Work Of NAG Record-Breaker Luka Mijatovic and Rising Talent Tim Wu
From the Archive: With Luka Mijatovic breaking the 15-16 NAG record of Larsen Jensen in the 400-meter freestyle at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships, Swimming World offers this look at Mijatovic’s training, including specific sets.
College coaches are in the thick of the recruiting season. Two names you won’t see this year in the Swimcloud rankings are Pleasanton Seahawk swimmers Luka Mijatovic (14) and Tim Wu (15). No matter, they have already served notice that they are players on the national age group stage.
At the end of the summer, Mijatovic had amassed seven NAG records. That included besting Jesse Vassallo’s 47-year-old 1500 meter free time of 15:31.03, the longest standing 13-14 NAG mark. His three SCY free standards are first on USA Swimming’s all-time Top 100 SCY list. Those times are: 500 (4:22.50), 1000 (8:59.29) and 1650 (15:00.95). He is also third in the 200 free (1:38.21), 10th in the 200 IM (1:49.93) and 17th in the 400 IM (3:55.73).
At last summer’s long course Speedo Junior Nationals, he added four NAG 13-14 standards by posting record freestyle times in the 200 (1:50.40), 400 (3:52.01), 800 (7:59.64, youngest swimmer to clear 8:00) and 1500 (15:27.38). Other LC top 100 placings have him ninth in the 400 IM (4:30.79), 11th in the 200 IM (2:06.73), 46th in the 100 fly (56.90) and 83rd in the 200 back (2:08.78).
With the advent of fall, Mijatovic continued to excel. In early November at the Pleasanton Seahawks Short Course Senior Open, he posted scintillating times. For starters, he won the 500 yard free in 4:17.07—five seconds clear of his March NAG record of 4:22.50—a time that would rank him seventh all-time in the 15-16 age group. His 1000-yard 8:55.41 was also an NAG mark. Other PBs were in the 200 free (1:37.57), 200 back (1:48.74), 200 fly (1:49.25) and 200 IM (1:49.08).
And although he didn’t record any personal bests in December’s U.S. Open in Greensboro, N.C., Mijatovic—as the youngest of 63 competitors—did log a 3:53.37 LC 400 free that was good for fourth.
Training partner Wu has SCY top 100 13-14 listings that include third in the 100 fly (47.56) and 200 IM (1:47.93), fourth in the 200 fly (1:47.56) and 15th in the 400 IM (3:55.04). Long course, he stands sixth in the 100 fly (55.53) and 13th in the 200 IM (2:06.89).
Wu has had an impressive fall as well. Through the Pleasanton meet, he has now achieved new best times in the 100 yard free (44.94 from 46.17), 200 free (1:38.78 from 1:39.71), 500 free (4:24.09 from 4:35.10) and the 100 fly (47.50 from 47.56). At the long-course U.S. Open in Greensboro, he swam the 100 fly and recorded a best time in the 400 free (4:00.92), where he was one of two 15-year-old competitors.
FUN FOR EVERYONE
“Luka is a fun young man who moved into my group—along with a great friend and training partner, Tim Wu—in September 2022,” says Pleasanton head coach, Steve Morsilli. “Both were in the 13-14 age group at that time. He and Tim have fun virtually every practice, and they enjoy racing each other whenever possible. They both maintain very good attendance: 96-97% cumulative for the year. No one is perfect, and Luka is no exception. He has plenty of technical points he can improve to keep dropping times.
“Luka is very high-energy in practice. He is rarely sitting still on the wall between sets and even between repeats. He is very popular with his lane mates, group mates and teammates. Apparently, he is also very active online and has friends everywhere. He is a very positive influence in practice. When we talk about goals, he is pretty fearless. He will get a time in his head and ask what he needs to do to accomplish it,” says Morsilli.
As for Tim, Morsilli says, “He is much quieter than Luka and has a dry sense of humor. When Luka is going crazy with non-stop talking, Tim will make one comment—usually very funny—and bring him back down to earth. Tim has great underwaters, and I constantly challenge Luka to stay with him as much as possible.”
PRACTICE SCHEDULE
“We practice Monday through Friday afternoon plus Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings. Our afternoons are always short course yards and 98% of our mornings are long course meters. We average 6,500 yards in the afternoon and 5,000 meters in the mornings. Saturday mornings we go a bit less since this will usually be a long rest dive set practice. We use Jon Urbanchek’s color charts to help determine training speeds. We also began using the TritonWear devices in the spring last season. I try to key in on mid-distance freestyle and IM training. Everyone will swim all strokes routinely, and they are all required to swim every event each season in meets.”
MIJATOVIC/WU SAMPLE SETS
(with performances that impressed Coach Morsilli)
Jan. 11, 2023 (SCY)
- 11 x 250 @ 3:30, 150 at 1650 pace plus 100 EZ (Mijatovic averaged 1:20 for the 150; Wu 1:23)
Jan. 20, 2023 (SCY)
3x:
- 1 x 100 @ 1:05
- 1 x 200 @ 2:00 (Mijatovic 1:51, 1:51, 1:52; Wu 1:55, 1:55, 1:56)
- 1 x 300 @ 2:55 (Mijatovic 2:50, 2:48, 2:45; Wu 2:55, 2:55, 2:56)
- 2 x 50 EZ @ :40
1-minute rest
Feb. 22, 2023 (SCY)
Coach Morsilli: “I got (the following workout) from Ed Spencer, and I try to get them to keep the descend tight. I encourage swimmers to guess how fast #13 will be, then start #1 12-15 seconds closer than that.”
- 13 x 300 @ 4:00
Descend 1-4, #5 moderate (Mijatovic 3:03, 2:58, 2:57, 2:55; Wu 3:04, 3:03, 3:01, 2:57)
Descend 6-8, #9 moderate (Mijatovic 2:52, 2:50, 2:48; Wu 2:55, 2:54, 2:52)
Descend 10-11, #12 moderate (Mijatovic 2:45, 2:43; Wu 2:51, 2:47)
Blast #13 (Mijatovic 2:41; Wu 2:43)
June 14, 2023 (SCY)
Same as previous set
- 13 x 300 @ 4:00
Descend 1-4, #5 moderate (Mijatovic 2:59, 2:55, 2:54, 2:53; Wu 3:00, 2:56, 2:56, 2:54)
Descend 6-8, #9 moderate (Mijatovic 2:50, 2:49, 2:46; Wu 2:52, 2:52, 2:49)
Descend 10-11, #12 moderate (Mijatovic 2:43, 2:42; Wu 2:48, 2:45)
Blast #13 (Mijatovic 2:40; Wu 2:42)
May 23, 2023 (SCY)
3x:
- 12 x 50 @ :50, moderate, mixing strokes, good form
- 3 x 100 @ 1:00, minimum 500 speed/400 speed if LC
(Mijatovic 50.5, 51.5, 51.8; 50.8, 51.2, 52.5; 51.2, 51.0, 50.0)
(Wu was not at practice)
June 6, 2023 (LC)
Same as previous set
3x:
- 12 x 50 @ :50
- 3 x 100 @ 1:10
(Mijatovic 59.0, 1:00, 1:01; Wu 1:03, 1:04, 1:04)
(Mijatovic 58.0, 59.0, 1:00; Wu: 1:02, 1:03, 1:02)
(Mijatovic: 58.0, 59.0, 59.0; Wu: 1:00, 1:02, 1:01)
Michael J. Stott is an ASCA Level 5 coach, golf and swimming writer. His critically acclaimed coming-of-age golf novel, “Too Much Loft,” is in its third printing, and is available from store.Bookbaby.com, Amazon, B&N and book distributors worldwide.
Thanks for a great article!