The latest issue of Swimming World Magazine
is now available for download in the Swimming World Vault!
Non-Subscribers Can Download This Issue Here
Up & Comers: Irvine Novaquatics’ Teagan O’Dell
By Shoshanna Rutemiller
In August 2019, 12-year-old Teagan O’Dell of the Irvine Novaquatics (Calif.) took down Missy Franklin’s 11-12 girls national age group record in the 200 meter IM, clocking 2:18.69 at the Western Zone Age Group Championships to erase Franklin’s 2:19.12 mark set in 2008.
“Teagan has only been swimming for me for a relatively short time,” says her coach, Ken LaMont. “So at a very early stage, we offered up some fast 100s at the end of the workout with a lot of rest between each one. Keep in mind she was only 13 years old at the time, and I was watching her push 51-second 100 yard freestyles in workout.
“Oddly, she doesn’t consider herself a freestyler above other events, which would explain why during the same season, she swam a 1:58.9 200 yard IM at one of our championship meets. This shows her wide range of talent in her swimming ability.”
At the 2020 Speedo Championship Series in Carlsbad, Calif., Feb. 27-March 1, O’Dell, still 13, took first in the 200 yard breaststroke (2:15.06) and 400 IM (4:13.42) despite racing against finalists in her events as old as 18. She also placed second in the 100 back, 100 breast and 200 IM, and third in the 200 back.
“Teagan (now 14) still enjoys one of the hardest things there is to teach—and that is she enjoys racing,” says Coach LaMont. “She is a great girl and very humble regarding her swimming. With that being said, she is also fully aware of her swimming and goals. Whenever I approach her with a goal or future plans, she usually has the same plan in place.”
O’Dell also comes from an athletic family. She is a middle child in a family of four kids. Her three brothers all play football as a quarterback—just like their dad. Both of O’Dell’s parents agree: Their daughter is tough and willing to take on challenges!
SWIMMING WORLD: What is the best thing you do in swimming?
TEAGAN O’DELL: I am probably best at competing. It is also my favorite thing about the sport.
SW: What are some of the toughest workout/sets that you’ve done?
TO: Some of the toughest things in practice are any and all 100% efforts. I race against my very fast teammates, and it gets very tiring…but I love it!
SW: What are you most looking forward to this year?
TO: I am looking forward to going to more swim meets, and I’m very excited to watch the Olympics!
SW: Who is someone you look up to in swimming… and why?
TO: Katinka Hosszu is definitely a swimmer I look up to. She is an Olympic gold medalist and world champion. She also swims every stroke, and I aspire to be like her.
SW: What are your favorite hobbies?
TO: Some of my favorite things to do are watching Netflix and reading.
Click here to download the full May 2021 issue of Swimming World Magazine, available now!
[PHOTO CREDIT: ISHOF ARCHIVE]
Get Swimming World Magazine and Swimming World Biweekly FREE When You
Become A Member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame
New! 30 Day Membership to ISHOF AND Digital Swimming World Subscription for just $10 a month!
Want more? Get a 1 Year ISHOF Family Membership With Swimming World Print AND Digital Subscription Order Now!
Non-Subscribers can click here to download this issue for only $5.94
Swimming World May 2021 Issue
FEATURES
014 WOMEN’S NCAAs: A NEW NO. 1
For the first time in the history of the NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships—since 1982—the University of Virginia finished first. It was also the first time it cracked the top 5 with its previous highest finish sixth in 2019.
- VIRGINIA’S ROAD TO HISTORY
by Dan D’Addona - NC STATE ADDS TO ACC DOMINANCE
by Dan D’Addona - THE TALK OF THE MEET: MAGGIE MacNEIL
by John Lohn
018 MEN’S NCAAs: THE PERFECT RETIREMENT GIFT
Days before their coach, Eddie Reese, officially announced his retirement from coaching after 43 years, the Texas men’s team won their 15th men’s NCAA national team championship.
- THIS ONE’S FOR EDDIE!
by Andy Ross - SCINTILLATING PERFORMANCES: SHAINE CASAS & RYAN HOFFER
by John Lohn - PATIENCE REWARDED: MAX McHUGH & NICK ALBIERO
by Andy Ross
022 NCAA D-II CHAMPS: SOME THINGS NEVER SEEM TO CHANGE
by Andy Ross
A year into the pandemic that has completely changed our world, Queens University of Charlotte brought about some stability to the 2021 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships by sweeping their sixth straight women’s and men’s team titles.
023 NO LIMITS!
by David Rieder
Claire Curzan has been swimming fast since she was a young age grouper and has continued to do so in high school. Last March, she came within 13-hundredths of the American record in the short course 100 fly, and in April, she found herself within 22-hundredths of the long course U.S. best. She’s versatile, she’s coachable, she has international experience, and she’s moved from a fringe Olympic contender to an Olympic favorite. Curzan is only 16, and her promising future couldn’t be brighter.
026 TAKEOFF TO TOKYO: WHEN IRISH EYES WEREN’T SMILING
by John Lohn
Ireland’s Michelle Smith—a four-time Olympic medalist in 1996 who received a four-year ban from the sport in 1998 for tampering with a doping sample—has been defined as being a poster girl for cheating, and by her willingness to cut corners and take advantage of performance-enhancing drug use to make the leap from an athlete of very-good skill to one of elite status.
029 50 SWIMMERS, 6 MEDALS
by Dan D’Addona
The Tokyo Olympics will mark the fourth occasion that open water swimming will be contested on the Olympic level, and even a 10-kilometer marathon race can bring exciting moments and dramatic finishes.
030 JOSH MATHENY: RISING STAR
by Matthew De George
From a middle-schooler newly committed to swimming full-time in 2016, the future looks encouraging for 18-year-old Josh Matheny, who approaches the U.S. Olympic Trials for Tokyo in June as a dark horse to make the team in men’s breaststroke.
032 ISHOF: THE ART OF SWIMMING
by Bruce Wigo
This is the story of Hero and Leander, Lord Byron and the birth of open water swimming.
035 NUTRITION: HYDRATION—BEYOND THIRST!
by Dawn Weatherwax
Hydration truly has a daily importance for all kinds of swimmers from age groupers to Olympians to Masters swimmers, but it tends to get more notoriety when the weather gets warmer.
COACHING
012 THE POWER OF POSITIVE COACHING
by Michael J. Stott
Relationships built upon honesty, trust and communication go a long way toward cementing a bond between coach and athlete. Coupling that with knowledge of the individual first and athlete second produces a positive working relationship that can last for a lifetime.
038 SWIMMING TECHNIQUE CONCEPTS: MAXIMIZING SWIMMING VELOCITY (Part 1)—STROKE RATE vs. STROKE LENGTH
by Rod Havriluk
Swimming velocity is the criterion measure for swimming performance and is the product of stroke length and stroke rate. This article explains how stroke length and stroke rate vary and how stroke time provides insight into maximizing swimming velocity.
042 Q&A WITH COACH STEVE HAUFLER
by Michael J. Stott
044 HOW THEY TRAIN CHARLOTTE SHAMIA
by Michael J. Stott
TRAINING
037 DRYSIDE TRAINING: THE IM DRYLAND CIRCUIT
by J.R. Rosania
JUNIOR SWIMMER
047 UP & COMERS: TEAGAN O’DELL
by Shoshanna Rutemiller
COLUMNS
008 A VOICE FOR THE SPORT
011 DID YOU KNOW: ABOUT THE MOREHOUSE TIGER SHARKS?
046 THE OFFICIAL WORD
048 GUTTERTALK
Swimming World is now partnered with the International Swimming Hall of Fame. To find out more, visit us at ishof.org
