Florida Senior Championships - Friday and Saturday Results

On Friday, Ryan swam in the finals of the 200y free and finished first with a time of 1:35.88. He also finished first in the 100y fly with a time of 47.52. The fly must have been a very exciting race because Ryan beat Shaune Frasier by only .16.

On Saturday, Ryan swam in the finals of the 200y IM and the 500y free. He placed first in the 200y IM with a time of 1:44.88, and his breaststroke leg was where he really pulled away. In the 500y free, Ryan got beat by his training partner Peter Vanderkaay and finished second with a time of 4:21.77. Peter's time was 4:20.

Saturday's finals were live on ustream thanks to Swimmer Joe, http://twitter.com/SwimmerJoe
A recording can be found here: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/12963527. The 200y IM is at the 50 minute mark and the 500y free is at the 2:01 mark.

Media Center - 2010 Short Course National Championships - Men's 200yd IM A Final - Swimnetwork.com

Media Center - 2010 Short Course National Championships - Men's 200yd IM A Final - Swimnetwork.com

Day1 Finals - US Short Course Nationals - Ryan places 1st in 200y IM and 8th in 50y free

200y IM time: 1:42.6
50y free time: 19.78 (1st place Nathan Adrian - 19.0)

Here is an Associated Press article about the meet: http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/24-sports-news/article272468.ece

Here's what theswimmercircle blog had to say: http://theswimmerscircle.com/blog/featured/mens-50-free-showdown-usc-relays-shine-on-day-1-at-att-short-course-national-championships/

Men’s 200 IM

We got our first glimpse at the newly-crowned USA-Swimming Male Swimmer of the Year in the 200 IM, when Ryan Lochte won another National Championship in 1:42.60. He trailed Austria’s Markus Rogan headed into the final 50, but finished in 24.91 to wrench away the victory. Rogan’s final mark was 1:42.94. These two will square off again in Dubai, where Rogan could have an advantage on a meters course.

Men’s 50 free

The most anticipated race of the night, and maybe the whole meet, was the men’s 50 free. It was the first short course yards rematch between Josh Schneider and Nathan Adrian, since Schneider pulled the upset victory at NCAA’s last year. Add to that Matt Grevers, the biggest man in swimming today, Vlad Morozov, the young Russian who holds the National High School record, Simon Burnett, the British sprint king, and even an appearance from Ryan Lochte (though the 50 isn’t one of his better events).

In the end, Adrian defended his long course title and touched in 19.00. William Copeland, a post-grad who trains with Cal, surprised the field to finish second in 19.21, supporting the notion that sprinters tend to get better with age. Grevers, the top overall qualifier for finals, was third in 19.30, followed by Schneider (19.32) and Morozov (19.33).

Though the Adrian-Schneider dual wasn’t the ultimate battle at this meet (and in fact nobody really challenged Adrian), the two will get to show off again in Dubai, where they will be joined by a full-force French sprint group and Brazilian Cesar Cielo–Adrian’s other, bigger rival.

U.S. Short Course Nationals - Day 1 Prelims

Ryan swam the 200y IM and 50y free today. He finished second in the 200y IM with a time of 1:44.89. Ryan finished eighth in the 50y free with a time of 19.78. Here is how tonight's finals shape up:

200y IM

1 *Rogan, Markus 1:44.58
2 Lochte, Ryan 1:44.89
3 Margalis, Robert 1:44.91
4 Burckle, Christ 1:45.18
5 Farra, Justin 1:45.30
6 Tullius, Rexford 1:46.31
7 *Liivamagi, Mar 1:46.36
8 Brown, Jack 1:46.55
9 Lendrum, James 1:46.79
10 Whitaker, Kyle 1:46.80

These times are really fast for prelims. Ryan holds the American record at 1:40.08. Will he go under 1:40 in tonight's finals?

50y Free
1 Grevers, Matthew 19.23
2 Copeland, William 19.42
3 *Burnett, Simon 19.44
4 Adrian, Nathan 19.45
5 *Morozov, Vladi 19.46
6 Schneider, Josh 19.66
7 Savulich, Rober 19.77
8 Lochte, Ryan 19.78
9 *Murphy, Barry 19.90
10 Schnur, Jason 19.99

Lots of big names in this race and a very close field. The final should be really exciting. Nathan Adrian holds the American record at 18.71.

The * next to a name means that person is not a U.S. citizen. I'm not sure what impact that has, if any, on the final standings. Will try to find out.

Minnesota Grand Prix - Sunday Finals (UPDATED)

Sunday finals begin at 5 pm CST, one hour earlier than Friday & Saturday's finals.

I assume Ryan qualified for finals in the 200y IM and 200y back, but the results have not been posted yet, less than one hour before finals.

I heard that Ryan did not swim the 100y free in prelims.

Watch finals tonight at 5 pm on www.swimnetwork.com

Edited to add results: Ryan won both the 200y IM and the 200y back and was high point leader for the males. His times were: 1:45.35 in the 200y IM and 1:40.44 in the 200y back.

Can't wait to see how Ryan does at U.S. Short Course Nationals, which take place on Dec. 2-4 in Columbus, Ohio.

Minnesota Grand Prix - Saturday Finals Results & Sunday Prelims

Saturday Finals

Ryan placed 1st in the 100y back with a time of 46.42 and 3rd in the 50y free with a time of 19.94. Here's what swimmingworldmagazine.com had to say about the races:

http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/25678.asp?q=USA-Swimming-Grand-Prix,-Minneapolis:-Missy-Franklin-Up-to-Four-Wins;-Ous-Mellouli-on-Fire

Men's 100 Back
Ryan Lochte exploded on the third 25 to overtake Minnetonka's David Plummer, this year's long course national champion. Lochte, swimming unattached for Gator Swim Club, posted a time of 46.42 to earn his first win of the weekend. His time fell well short of his 2006 American record of 44.60. Plummer, meanwhile, posted a 46.72, a few hundredths shy of his lifetime best of 46.65. Longhorn's Ricky Berens' streak of wins at this meet came to an end, but he used a strong final length to pull away from the pack and earn third in 47.34.

Men's 50 Free
Tucson Ford's Simon Burnett showed off outstanding speed in the men's splash-and-dash, winning in a fast time of 19.52. Burnett jumped in front early in the race and held off charges from Club Wolverine's Bobby Savulich and superstar Ryan Lochte. Savulich took second in 19.85, edging Lochte's third-place time of 19.94.


Sunday Prelims

Ryan is competing in the following events on Sunday:

Event 25 - 200y IM
Event 27 - 200y back
Event 29 - 100y free

Don't be surprised if one of these events is scratched. Looking forward to seeing the races. Watch live in www.swimnetwork.com. Hopefully they will figure out a way to broadcast both the men's and the women's prelims even if they both take place at the same time in adjoining pools.

Ryan's Short Course World Records - 100 & 200 IM

The 2010 swimming season has officially begun, with SC meets currently being held in Australia, South Africa and England/Canada.

Ryan holds Short WRs in the 100m IM & 200m IM. Both WRs were set at the 2008 SC World Championships in Manchester, England. Ryan's WR time in the 100m IM is 51.15 and his WR time in the 200m IM is 1:51.56. It's cool that he currently holds both the SC and LC meters WRs in the 200 IM and also the American Record SCY in the 200y IM. Not bad.

It will be interesting to see if any of Ryan's SCM WRs will be broken during these meets. So far nobody has come close, but in the age of the crazy suits, no record is safe. It of course must be noted that both of Ryan's WRs were set in the Speedo LZR, which is technically (no pun intended) one of the crazy suits, albeit an outdated one.

Results from the current SC meets can be found here:

South Africa:
http://swimsa.sportza.co.za/wfr/Telkom+SA+Short+Course+2009/2277

Australia:
http://www.clubsonline.com.au/uploads/swimresults/National/2009SC/index.htm

England/Canada:
http://www.swimmingresults.org/liveevent/index.htm

Ryan sets the WR in the 100m IM (SCM)


Ryan sets the WR in the 200m IM (SCM)

Ryan wins 200 IM, sets new World Record

I'll post more about it when I get home from work. So happy!! Laci Cseh second, Eric Shanteau 3rd.

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Splashdown 2009 replay

The entire event was recorded and can be replayed here:

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1449250

It was cool. I'm not going to spoil it by saying who won.  No way is Charlie Lydecker 45 years old!

Update on the time of the Splashdown 2009 swim

According to the Daily Reezy twitter, the 200 IM showdown between Ryan and Charlie Lydecker will take place at 8:30 p.m. EDT. I'll be watching the live stream here:

http://media.www.dscinmotion.com/media/storage/paper1037/news/2009/04/01/Sports/Splashdown.2009-3729428.shtml

Splashdown 2009 - Thursday, April 30 - Watch Ryan compete in the 200 IM

http://www.daytonastate.edu/marketing/pr/splash_down.html

Splashdown 2009 will take place tomorrow (Thursday, April 30) at Daytona State College. In this event, Ryan will race Charlie Lydecker in the 200 IM. The purpose is to raise money for the college, where Ryan's father coaches the swim team.

The good news for those of us who live far, far away from Florida, is the event will be streamed live at this web site: http://media.www.dscinmotion.com/media/storage/paper1037/news/2009/04/01/Sports/Splashdown.2009-3729428.shtml

Tune in from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. EDT tomorrow.

Charlie Lydecker is 45 years old and crazy a very brave man. Hope they raise a lot of money.

NCAA Championships - 200y IM - Ryan's NCAA record goes down (but his American record remains standing)

The top 3 swimmers in the 200y IM finished in the same order as they qualified in the prelims. Bradley Ally came in first and broke Ryan's NCAA record of 1:40.55, making him the 2nd fastest of all time in this event. Ryan's American record of 1:40.08 still stands. Tyler Clary came in second with a time of 1:41.92. Race video from swimmingworldmagazine.com is found below.

1 Ally, Bradley FLOR 1:41.80 1:40.49N 20
r:+0.70 21.46 45.88 (24.42)
1:15.74 (29.86) 1:40.49 (24.75)
2 Clary, Tyler MICH 1:41.92 1:41.67 17
r:+0.68 22.04 46.92 (24.88)
1:17.00 (30.08) 1:41.67 (24.67)
3 Berens, Ricky TEX 1:41.98 1:41.92 16
r:+0.80 21.88 47.19 (25.31)
1:17.68 (30.49) 1:41.92 (24.24)


The video begins with the consolation final. The championship final (the swimming part) starts at about 5:25. Ally was in 1st place the entire race and his turns made the difference. I thought his time would be below 1:40.

In the post-race interview, Ally acknowledged that swimming against Ryan in practice helped him do so well. I can't imagine how unbelieveably fast Tyler Clary could be if his turns improved.

NCAA Men's Division 1 Swimming Championships - Tyler Clary

The official list of swimmers invited to participate in the NCAA Men's Division 1 Swimming Championships was released today and can be found at: http://www.ncaaswim.com/pdf/m09_off_ps.pdf . The meet will take place on March 26-28, 2009.

Tyler Clary will be swimming in the 200y IM (in which he is ranked 2nd after Bradley Ally of Florida), 400y IM (in which he is ranked 1st), 200y Back (in which he is ranked 1st) and probably a relay or two. (Sorry, I just can't get excited about college relays.)

Tyler's best events are the same as Ryan's. This summer's national championships will be very interesting. I hope Tyler does well at the NCAAs and that he really pushes Ryan this summer.

Nevertheless, in my admittedly highly uneducated opinion, Tyler needs to improve his walls and underwater kicking if he's going to compete with Ryan. I haven't had many opportunities to watch Tyler swim, but I recently saw a video of his 400y IM performance at U.S. SC Nationals in December 2008 thanks to swimnetwork.com.

Tyler came in 2nd in that race and could have won except he popped up too quickly after his turns. The guy who ultimately won, Hidemasa Sano, had fantastic underwater kicks. Both had great times but Tyler could have been much faster had he stayed underwater longer. I mean it was obvious even to me and I'm certainly no expert. Tyler's time at SC Nationals was 3:40.96. He swam a 3:38.03 when he broke the NCAA record, which was nearly a 3 second improvement. Maybe Tyler has already improved his walls/underwater kicking and I just have had the opportunity to see it.

This brings up a question I've had for a while about underwater kicking. It looks really hard and like it would take a ton of strength training and practice to perfect. Is this why not everyone does it? It works so well for Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, that it would seem obvious for every swimmer to do it....push hard off the walls on turns, stay under water as long as possible, and dophin kick like crazy. Yet most swimmers don't really do it. Is it something that requires a level of athleticism that only a few swimmers have? I certainly don't know the answer.

NCAA Swimming - Ryan's Records

Ryan Lochte currently holds individual NCAA records in the following events:

200 yard IM - 1:40.55 (Ryan's best time is 1:40.08, which is the American record)
400 yard IM - 3:38.15 (Ryan's best time is 3:37.88. Michael Phelps has the American record at 3:36.26)
100 yard Back - 44.60 (This is still Ryan's best time and is also the American Record)
200 yard Back - 1:37.68 (Ryan's best time is 1:36.81, which is the American record)

The NCAA conference championships have started, and nobody has broken any of Ryan's records.....yet.

200 yard IM

At the Big 10 championships today, Tyler Clary swam a 1:44.34 in the prelims of the 200 yard IM, setting a pool record. It looks like Alex Vanderkaay's Big 10 record (1:43.88) is going down in the finals. Bradley Ally of Florida swam a 1:41.96 in the SEC Championships last weekend and I predict Clary will go faster tonight. Ryan's record of 1:40.55 is probably safe.

400 yard IM

In the 400IM, Clary is the fastest in the NCAA this year with a time of 3:40.96. Ally swam 3:41.35 at the SEC championships, the second fastest time. Ryan's record of 3:38.15 appears safe.

100 yard Back

Eugene Godsoe of Stanford has the fastest time in the NCAA this year with a 45.94. He will be swimming in the Pac 10 championships this weekend, and it will be interesting to see how fast he can go. The second fastest time - 46.04 - is from Pascal Wollach of Auburn at the SEC championships. I've never heard of either of these swimmers before so I'll have to do a little research. Ryan's record of 44.60 appears safe, but you never know.

200 yard Back

Clary has the 4th best time in the NCAA this year with a 1:40.85. Rex Tullius and Omar Pinzon of Florida swam the 1st and 2nd fastest times: 1:39.88 and 1:40.15 at the SEC championships. Godsoe had the third fastest time, 1:40.61. It will be interesting to see if Clary beats those times at the Big 10 championships. Prior to the SEC championships, Clary had the best NCAA time in the nation in this event. Ryan's record of 1:37.68 probably will not be broken.

Prediction: I do not think any of Ryan's NCAA records will be broken this year. However, if I had to pick one, my prediction would be the 400IM. Clary keeps getting faster and faster and there is much room for improvement in a longer race. Clary's best time is 2.81 seconds slower than Ryan's record; however, he has not competed in this event yet in his conference championship or the NCAA championships. Therefore, his time of 3:40.96 presumably was achieved while unrested. I think he can go a lot faster when he is rested.

I doubt if Ryan cares too much if his NCAA records are broken. Unlike with world records, there's nothing Ryan can do about it because his college career ended in 2006 and he can't swim in any more NCAA events.

It's interesting, though, to view Ryan's records as a testiment to how good he was 3 years ago compared to the some of the best swimmers in the world today.