Tuesday, December 9, 2008

U.S. Shortcourse Nationals

Ryan entered 6 events in last week's U.S. Shortcourse Nationals. His results were great, given that he only trained 10 times in the four months after the Olympics. His events, times and (best times) are listed below:

200y IM 1:40.89 (1:40.08 on 11/29/07) - 1st place
50y free 19.39 (19.22 on 11/29/07) - 7th place
100y back 45.37 (44.60 on 3/23/06) - 1st place
200y free 1:32.40 (best time) - 1st place
200y back 1:38.49 (1:36.81 on 12/1/07) - 1st place
100y free 41.99 (best time) - 4th place

Ryan swam best times in 200 and 100 free and close to best times in 200IM and 50 free. Ryan's backstroke events were not as close to his best times, but he raced hard and won both.

At this point I'm thinking Ryan will not try to qualify for Worlds in the 50 and 100 free. There's just too much competition, and Michael Phelps may starting swimming the 100 free as an individual event, which adds yet another swimmer to the mix with a better personal best time. At this point I can see Ryan trying to qualify in the 100 and 200 back, 200 free and 200IM. The 400IM is another possibility.

Thanks to swimnetwork.com for the comprehensive coverage of the Shortcourse Nationals. All of the finals were streamed live on the website, complete with announcers! I was able to watch live on Thursday and part of Saturday and was really impressed. The announcers provided information about all of the swimmers and the events. Comprehensive information about the meet (including results, photos and videos) can be found here http://www.swimnetwork.com/event/detail/20081203/2008_usa_short_course_national_championships-2296.html

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