Tyler Clary does it again - wins 200y back at NCAAs and breaks Ryan Lochte's NCAA record

Event 16  Men 200 Yard Backstroke
=========================================================================
     NCAA: N 1:37.68  3/25/2006 Ryan Lochte, Florida
NCAA Meet: M 1:37.68  3/25/2006 Ryan Lochte, Florida
American: A 1:36.81  12/1/2007 Ryan Lochte, Daytona Beach
US Open: O 1:36.81  12/1/2007 Ryan Lochte, Daytona Beach
Name                 Year School            Prelims     Finals Points
=========================================================================
                            === A - Final ===                            

1 Clary, Tyler              MICH              1:38.17    1:37.58N  20
  23.27        47.70 (24.43)
1:12.54 (24.84)     1:37.58 (25.04)
2 Tapp, Jake                ARIZ              1:39.13    1:38.67   17
  22.94        47.85 (24.91)
1:13.21 (25.36)     1:38.67 (25.46)
3 Pinzon, Omar              FLOR              1:39.96    1:39.50   16
  22.81        47.90 (25.09)
1:13.78 (25.88)     1:39.50 (25.72)

The announcers on ESPN360 said Tyler's best time in this event a
year ago was 1:42, which means he took more than 4 seconds off his
time in one year.  That take hard work and dedication.

Congrats also to Jake Tapp and Omar Pinzon for their 2nd and
3rd place finishes.  Rex Tullius of Florida finished first in the
consolation final and had a great time that was the 6th fastest overall.

Aaron Peirsol handed out the awards, which is very cool.

I'll add the video when it becomes available.

Great meet for Tyler Clary!!  He has to be feeling very confident
going into the summer.

ETA:  Big congratulations to Shaune Fraser of Florida who took first
in the 200y free and 200y fly.  He broke the NCAA record in the
200y fly.  Fraser also broke the Florida school records in both
events, which were previously held by Ryan Lochte.

A lot of Ryan's records were broken during this meet....NCAA records, meet records,
school records.  He still has three American records - 200y IM, 200y back and
100y back.  He has one NCAA record in the 100y back.

Like I said before, I doubt if Ryan cares too much about his NCAA records
being broken.  There's nothing he can do about them given that he's done
with school and I'm sure he's excited about the new competition.  Tyler
Clary is going to be great racing competition this summer in all of Ryan's
best events.  That has to get the competitive juices flowing.

Floswimming.com Interviews with/about Tyler Clary at the NCAA Championships

I could not get these videos to embed, but they are well worth watching. Lots of really good questions and interesting answers.

http://www.floswimming.org/videos/coverage/view_video/234819-mens-division-i-ncaa-championships/164923-first-ncaa-final-tyler-clary-um

Floswimming.com interview with Tyler Clary after he broke the American record in the 400y IM. He seemed surprised that he broke the record, but it certainly was his goal. He said it a couple of times before today, including in the video just below this one. Tyler said Michael Phelps congratulated him by text after the race and wished him luck for the rest of the meet. That must have been a thrill.

www.floswimming.org/videos/coverage/view_video/234819-mens-division-i-ncaa-championships/164923-first-ncaa-final-tyler-clary-um

Flowswimming.com interview with Tyler Clary after he came in 2nd in the 200y IM. The questions are great and Tyler is really articulate.

http://www.floswimming.org/videos/coverage/view_video/234819-mens-division-i-ncaa-championships/164923-first-ncaa-final-tyler-clary-um

Flowswimming.com interview with Jon Urbanchek, Tyler Clary's coach at Michigan and also a U.S. National team coach. He believes Tyler can qualify for Worlds in the 400 IM this summer (he said MP is done with the event and alluded that Ryan may be done with it too). I hope Ryan will swim it one last time and qualify along with Tyler. I do not know if Laci Cseh is going to swim the 400 IM any longer. It's a wide open event.

NCAA Championships - 400y IM - Tyler Clary sets new American record - 3:35.98!!! Video added

When Tyler Clary said he was hoping to break Michael Phelp's American record in the 400y IM, I thought he could do it, but never thought he would break 3:36. He did and it was amazing. 3:35.98! That's fast.

Ryan's fastest time in this event, which happened after he finished college, is 3:37.88 (2007). Micheal Phelps' best time is 3:36.26 (2006). I'd love to see the three of them swim this event together. It probably will not happen, because MP may not swim it again and Ryan seems to have also given it up (at least in SCY). Still, it would be great for swimming if they did.

Congratulations Tyler! I'll add the video once it becomes available.

Congratulations also to Gal Nevo and Bradley Ally who took 2nd and 3rd with great times as well.

NCAA Division I Champ. Meet 3/27/2009 - 19:26PM
NCAA Men's D1 Championships - 3/26/2009 to 3/28/2009

Event 8 Men 400 Yard IM
=========================================================================
NCAA: N 3:38.03 2/27/2009 Tyler Clary, MICH
NCAA Meet: M 3:38.15 3/24/2006 Ryan Lochte, Florida
American: A 3:36.26 3/2/2006 Michael Phelps, Club Wolverine
US Open: O 3:36.26 3/2/2006 Michael Phelps, Club Wolverine
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
=========================================================================
=== A - Final ===

1 Clary, Tyler MICH 3:38.16 3:35.98A 20
r:+0.68 22.49 48.58 (26.09)
1:15.55 (26.97) 1:41.54 (25.99)
2:12.51 (30.97) 2:44.02 (31.51)
3:10.29 (26.27) 3:35.98 (25.69)

2 Nevo, Gal GTCH 3:41.00 3:38.00N 17
r:+0.70 22.70 49.00 (26.30)
1:17.54 (28.54) 1:45.73 (28.19)
2:15.66 (29.93) 2:46.48 (30.82)
3:12.92 (26.44) 3:38.00 (25.08)

3 Ally, Bradley FLOR 3:40.58 3:38.20 16
r:+0.70 22.79 49.06 (26.27)
1:16.27 (27.21) 1:43.06 (26.79)
2:14.13 (31.07) 2:45.57 (31.44)
3:12.18 (26.61) 3:38.20 (26.02)

NCAA Meet - 400y IM Prelim Results - Tyler Clary 3:38.16!

Tyler came within .01 of of Ryan's NCAA meet record - in the prelims. The finals are going to be amazing. Tyler told swimmingworldmagazine.com that he's going after MP's American record. I think he can do it - he just needs to go a little faster in the breaststroke. Bradley Ally had a great swim in the prelims too.

NCAA Division I Champ. Meet 3/27/2009 - 12:45PM
NCAA Men's D1 Championships - 3/26/2009 to 3/28/2009

Event 8 Men 400 Yard IM
==================================================================
NCAA: N 3:38.03 2/27/2009 Tyler Clary, MICH
NCAA Meet: M 3:38.15 3/24/2006 Ryan Lochte, Florida
American: A 3:36.26 3/2/2006 Michael Phelps, Club Wolverine
US Open: O 3:36.26 3/2/2006 Michael Phelps, Club Wolverine
Name Year School Seed Prelims
==================================================================
=== Preliminaries ===

1 Clary, Tyler MICH 3:38.03 3:38.16
r:+0.69 22.51 48.32 (25.81)
1:14.92 (26.60) 1:40.55 (25.63)
2:12.30 (31.75) 2:45.36 (33.06)
3:12.22 (26.86) 3:38.16 (25.94)

2 Ally, Bradley FLOR 3:41.35 3:40.58
r:+0.74 23.16 50.15 (26.99)
1:17.83 (27.68) 1:45.63 (27.80)
2:16.24 (30.61) 2:47.55 (31.31)
3:14.73 (27.18) 3:40.58 (25.85)

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.

Men's NCAA Div 1 Swimming Championships start today 3/26

Finally, the start of the NCAA Men's championships will arrive today. I feel like it's been forever since the conference meets and I'm really looking forward to several races, specifically the 200 IM, 200 back and 400 IM. (Go Tyler Clary!) I wonder if any of Ryan's NCAA records will be broken. I'll post results once received.

There are so many topics floating around in my head that I want to post about but work has been crazy and I don't have time to write. Hopefully there will be time to update more this weekend.

Here are videos of the 4 x 200m Free Relay from the 2005 World Championships. Ryan swam the second leg just as he did at the 2004 Olympics, the 2007 Worlds and the 2008 Olympics. It's fun to watch. Thanks to somexseptember at Daily Reezy for bringing these videos to our attention.

Video of Ryan in finals for 200m Back at Speedo South Sectionals (3/22)

Lisa (lenaorgana), the very nice person who runs the Daily Reezy, posted this video of Ryan swimming in the finals of the 200m back yesterday at the Speedo South Sectionals. Thanks to Lisa for bringing it to our attention and thanks also to the person who recorded the video and posted it on youtube.

Ryan's swim begins at about 3:28:



(I finally learned how to embed a video on blogger.)

The best part about the video? Ryan can go faster. He was swimming hard, and his underwaters were great, but he seemed to slow down before the turns and take them easy.

This video shows how much Ryan won by (almost 12 seconds), which is not to take away from the other swimmers. He is the world record holder in this event after all.

Speedo South Sectionals - Finals 3/22

200m Back

Ryan swam only one final today, his best event the 200m back. His time was 1:57.99, which was .26 slower than he swam in the Missouri Grand Prix, but nevertheless the 7th fastest time in the world in 2009.

Ryan won the event by nearly 12 seconds so he did not have anyone pushing him at all. I think it's a good result.

Speedo South Sectionals - Prelims 3/22

200m Fly
3 Lochte, Ryan S 24 Daytona Beach Sw 1:43.18Y 2:06.99 qSUJU
26.84 58.86 (32.02) 1:32.32 (33.46) 2:06.99 (34.67)

I included Ryan's split times to show that he went out fast in this event and then "died." I know this was only the prelims, but I wonder if he'll amend that strategy a bit in the finals.

200m Back
1 Lochte, Ryan S - 2:09.20

I can't wait to see the time Ryan swims in the finals in this event.

Michael Phelps had a press conference yesterday at the U.S. National Team training camp. He indicated again that he will be adding backstroke to his event schedule....I'm wondering if he will swim both the 100m and 200m back or just one of those events. Either way, the competition for U.S. swimmers to qualify for Rome in either of the backstroke events will be sick.

Australian Nationals Results

100m Back
1 DELANEY, ASHLEY - 53.28
2 STOECKEL, HAYDEN - 53.98

The 2nd and 4th fastest times in the world so far in 2009 (Fastest was Liam Tancock's 53.20
in the British Nationals and 3rd was Ryan Lochte yesterday at the Speedo Sectionals)

200m IM
1 BRODIE, LEITH - 1:59.73
2 D'ORSOGNA, TOMM - 2:01.43

I'm really happy for Leith Brodie.

Speedo South Sectionals - Finals 3/21

I would have LOVED to watch Ryan swim in today's finals. Not only did he place 1st in both his events (by a lot), his times were incredible.

100m Back
53.95 - 3rd fastest time in the world in 2009. His time is right up there with guys who were swimming in their national championships, whereas Ryan was swimming in a sectional meet during hard training. Ryan won by more than 4 seconds. Incredible.

200m IM
1:59.96 - 4th fastest time in the world in 2009. Eric Shanteau was faster at the Austin Grand Prix (1:59.31). Still, very impressive swim for Ryan and he won by more than 8 seconds.

Speedo South Sectionals - Prelims 3/21

100m Back
1 Lochte, Ryan S - 57.45

200m IM
1 Lochte, Ryan S - 2:11.54

Ryan did not swim in the prelims for the 400m Free.

Finals start in less than 1 hour!

The prelim times were pretty slow (especially the 200m IM), but Ryan came in 1st in both and may have just been taking it easy because it was the prelims.

British Nationals Results - 400m IM

400m IM
1. Thomas Haffield - 4:12.39
2. Lewis Smith - 4:14.06

These swims were really fast. Thomas Haffield's time was the best in the world so far in 2009 and Lewis Smith's time was 3rd best. The 3rd place finisher was James Goddard with a time of 4:16.05, the 5th fastest time in the world this year. Only Haffield qualifies for Rome so far. Smith and Goddard will have to battle it out at Scottish Nationals to see who will become the 2nd qualifier.

Speedo South Spring Sectionals - Finals Results 3/20/09

200m Free
Ryan came in 1st with a time of 1:48.17.

This time is really good given that both the British and Australian Nationals were won with times of 1:46 and I assume those swimmers were at least partially rested, shaved, wearing a fast suit, etc. whereas Ryan was not.

100m Breast
Ryan came in 2nd with a time of 1:03.24. Vlad Polyakov came in first with a time of 1:02.66.

Even though 100 breast is not Ryan's event, I have to think he was not happy to come in 2nd.

http://www.flaswim.com/realtime/2009springscs/

Speedo South Spring Sectionals - Prelim Results 3/20/09

Results can be found here: http://www.flaswim.com/realtime/2009springscs/

200m Free

Ryan placed 1st in the prelims with a time of 1:52.38.

100m Breast

Ryan placed 3rd in the prelims with a time of 1:07.58

Ryan did not swim in the 100m Fly.

The finals for the 200m Free will begin at approximately 5:10 p.m. EDT today and finals for the 100m Breast will begin at approximately 5:27 p.m. That's not a lot of time in between events.

British & Australian Nationals Results

British Nationals
Yesterday I updated the British Nationals results. Tonight is the finals for the 400m IM. As of the prelims, nobody had a time fast enough to meet the minimum qualifying time for Worlds. I will post the results once they are available.

As for the British team selection process for Worlds, I finally found that rule that sets out how it works. http://www.sportcentric.com/vsite/vfile/page/fileurl/0,,5157-1-1-147242-0-file,00.pdf

Two swimmers can qualify for each individual event. The 1st place finisher at the current meet("Trials") automatically makes the team. The 2nd qualifier for each individual event is the person with the next fastest time, which can be achieved either at Trials or at the the Scottish Nationals ("SN") in June.

Any swimmer who did not place 1st at Trials will likely swim at the SN. If a swimmer places 1st at the SN, and the time is faster than the 2nd place time at Trials, then the SN winner will go to Rome. It's nice for swimmers to have a second chance meet, but it must be stressful for those who finished 2nd at Trials.

Australian Nationals
100m Free
1 SULLIVAN, EAMON - 48.34
2 TARGETT, MATTHEW - 48.63
(Leith Brodie finished 14th in the semi-finals and thus did not make it to the finals and will not be on the 4 x 100m free relay)

400m IM
1 PARKES, STEPHEN - 4:18.64
2 FRASER-HOLMES, HUNTER - 4:22.07
(The minimum qualifying time for Worlds is 4:18.40, which is .24 seconds faster than Stephen Parkes' time - ouch. I don't know if this means he could go to Worlds if he swims faster than 4:18.40 another time before the meet starts or if this means he does not qualify.)

2009 World Championships in Rome - Tentative Schedule

The swimming portion of the 2009 Worlds in Rome starts on July 26 and ends on August 2. A draft schedule of events has been issued, and it is not favorable to Ryan.

Here are the events Ryan may qualify for and the dates they will take place:

Sunday, July 26
4 x 100m Free Relay
prelims and finals

Monday, July 27
200m Free
100m Back
prelims and semi-finals

Tuesday, July 28
200m Free
100m Back
finals

Wednesday, July 29
100m Free
200m IM
prelims and semi-finals

Thursday, July 30
200m Back
prelims and semi-finals
100m Free finals
200m IM
finals

Friday, July 31
4 x 200m Free Relay
prelims and finals
200m Back
finals

Saturday, August 1
nothing

Sunday, August 2
400m IM
prelims and finals
4 x 100m Medley Relay
prelims and finals

I really doubt Ryan will qualify to swim the 100m Free as an individual event. Thus, the doubles he may face are:

200m free and 100m back - prelims & semis on 7/27 (4 races!) and finals on 7/28. This is essentially the same dilema Ryan faced in the 2008 Olympic trials and he chose to concentrate on the 100m back and not the 200m free. It will be interesting to see if he chooses one over the other this time, if he makes the same choice, or if he elects to swim both events.

200m back and 200m IM - prelims & semis in the 200m back and finals in the 200m IM on 7/30 (3 races). It's not the same as having two finals on the same day, but it's a lot of races nonetheless.

4 x 200m free relay and 200m back - prelims & finals in the relay and finals in the 200m back on 7/31. Ryan probably wouldn't swim in the prelims of the relay, but there's a good chance he'd swim in the finals of both the relay and 200m back. Two finals in one day is tough, even if one is a relay.

400m IM prelims and finals and 400m medley relay prelims and finals on 8/2. Ryan likely would swim in either the prelims or the finals of the relay (and not both) but it's probably too much to swim two 400m IM races and one relay in the same day.

This schedule blows. To me, it suggests that Ryan should forego the 100m back and concentrate on the 200m free as an individual event. If he can qualify for the 4 x 100m free relay, then he may be able to swim 4 individual events (200m free, 200m back, 200m IM and 400m IM) and 2 relays (4 x 100 free and 4 x 200 free).

Alternatively, he could forego both the 200m free and 400m IM as individual events and try to qualify for the 100m back. Under this scenario, he could potentially qualify for 3 individual events (100m back, 200m back, 200m IM) and all 3 relays. Either way, it looks like the schedule will allow him to swim 6 events at most.

Finals 200m Back - British National Championships

The results are in for the 200m Back finals at the British National championships and Marco Loughran came in 3rd. :( Congrats to Chris Walker-Hebborn and James Goddard.

1. Chris Walker-Hebborn - 1:57.95
2. James Goddard - 1:58.34
3. Marco Loughran - 1:58.58

Marco must be disappointed. Hopefully he will have another opportunity to qualify for Worlds at the Scottish championships. I don't know if he is precluded from trying to qualify there given that he swam in this meet, but I hope not.

British & Australian National Results

Here are recent results for the British and Australian National Championships in the events Ryan may swim at the U.S. Nationals (and hopefully in Rome).

British National Results

200m IM
1. James Goddard- 1:57.99
2. Lewis Smith - 2:01.05

200m Free
1. Ross Davenport - 1:46.50
2. Andrew Hunter - 1:47.14

Great time for James Goddard in the 200m IM - best time in 2009 by about 2 seconds. He certainly will be a force to contend with at the 2009 Worlds.

The finals in the 200m Back are tonight and Marco Loughran, who trains with Ryan at UF, is seeded first. I really hope he wins.

Australian National Results

200m Back
1 DELANEY, ASHLEY 1:55.82
2 STOECKEL, HAYDEN 1:57.38

Wow, what a great time by Ashley Delaney! A new Australian record and his personal best by quite a bit. Second fastest time in the World so far in 2009.

Ryan entered in Speedo Southern Zone Championships March 19-22, 2009 and Megan Jendrick news

Ryan is not at the USA National Team training camp in California. Rather, he will be competing in the Speedo Southern Zone Championship this weekend. This is a long course event in Fort Lauderdale.

Several Olympic and U.S. National Team athletes will competing at this meet, including Fred Bousquet, Sebastien Rouault, Vlad Polyakov, Elizabeth Beisel, Caroline Burckle and J.P. Arnold.

Event results will be available at http://www.flaswim.com/

Ryan is entered in 9 events (psych sheet can be found at http://www.flaswim.com/pdf/meets/2009-03-19%20SCS/2009-03-19%20Psych%20Sheet.pdf)

Event 8 - 200m Free (Friday 3/20)
Seeded 1st

Event 10 - 100m Breast (Friday 3/20)
Seeded 2nd (Vlad Polyakov is seeded 1st)

Event 12 - 100m Fly (Friday 3/20)
Seeded 1st

Event 18 - 100m Back (Saturday 3/21)
Seeded 1st

Event 20 - 200m IM (Saturday 3/21)
Seeded 1st

Event 24 - 400m Free (Saturday 3/21)
Seeded 2nd (Sebastien Rouault is seeded 1st and J.P. Arnold is seeded 3rd)

Event 28 - 200m Fly (Sunday 3/22)
Seeded 49th (Fred Castro is seeded 1st)
Ryan doesn't have a LC meters time so his entry seed is based on a SCY time

Event 30 - 100m Free (Sunday 3/22)
Seeded 2nd (Fred Bousquet is seeded 1st)

Event 34 - 200m Back (Sunday 3/22)
Seeded 1st


Megan Jendrick News
In other swimming news, Megan Jendrick broke her leg at the U.S. national training camp in Chula Vista. The swimmers were training with the Navy Seals, and Megan slipped and fell on the obstacle course fracturing her fibula. This is definitely an unfortunate setback for her, but she has a positive attitude and plans to continue training for Worlds while she her leg is healing.
http://megan-jendrick.com/?p=76

British & Australian National Results & US National Team Training Camp

Australian National Championships - 200m Free
1 MURPHY, PATRICK - 1:46.85
2 MONK, KENRICK - 1:47.27
(Leith Brodie came in 11th in the prelims and didn't swim in the finals)

British National Championships - 100m Back
1. Liam Tancock - 53.20
2. Marco Loughran - 54.51

53.20 is a really good time. Congrats to Liam Tancock.

I'm not sure if Marco qualified for the 2009 World Championships by placing second. Generally each team is allowed to send the top two swimmers in each event to an international competition; however, I believe Britain has one other qualifying meet - the Scottish Championships. My understanding is Liam Tancock qualified for Rome by finishing first in this meet, but if someone else swims a faster time in the 100m back than Marco in the Scottish meet, then I believe the other person would go to Rome.

I don't know if this means that all British swimmers other than Liam Tancock have a second chance to qualify for Worlds in the 100m back. For instance, is the Scottish meet only open to swimmers who did not compete at the British National Championships or is it open to all British swimmers who did not qualify for Worlds at this meet? If the Scottish Championships are open to everyone, then Marco will need to swim the event again and hope to win or hope that nobody else goes faster than 54.51.

U.S. National Team training camp
The U.S. National Team is participating in a 2-week training camp at the USOC in Chula Vista, CA. Michael Phelps and Garrett Weber-Gale are there, but I don't know who else is participating. I hope Ryan is there, but no word yet.

Tyler Clary's NCAA record in the 400IM and NCAA Championships

The Big 10 Network recently aired a 2-hour highlights show for the Big 10 championships and I finally was able to see Tyler Clary's NCAA record-breaking swim in the 400IM. Well, sort of. It was the only race at the meet where an NCAA record was broken, yet the Big 10 Network elected to show only part of it...all of the fly, part of one lap of back and the last lap of free...about 150 yards of the 400 yard race.

I couldn't really see Tyler's walls and underwaters, because less than a full lap of back and free were shown. Nevertheless, I watched Tyler win the 200y back, and his turns/walls looked great, especially the last turn. He stayed under water for a long time and it looked like he had a lot left at the finish. I could tell he has really worked on that aspect of racing.

Tyler wasn't shaved or completely tapered (just a little rested). I can't wait to watch him swim fully rested at the NCAA's.

The NCAA Div. 1 Men's meet takes place on March 26-28. Swimming World Magazine is going to show the NCAA events at its website. Here is the address for video of the men's meet: http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/specialevents/MensNCAA2009/

Tyler's individual events are 200IM, 400IM and 200 back, which works out nicely because he has one event per day. 200IM is on Thursday, 400IM is on Friday and 200 back is on Saturday.

Now the best part...Swimming World interviewed Tyler on March 12. The video can be found by clicking on Tyler's picture at http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/20679.asp (Can I say now how much I hate the Swimming World website? It has good content, but is not user friendly.)

Tyler's goal at the NCAA's is to break the American record in the 400y IM, held by none other than Michael Phelps. It is 3:36.26, which is almost 2 seconds faster than Tyler's 3:38.03 NCAA record. He just might be able to do it. Given how much Tyler seemed to have left at the end of his 200 back win at the Big 10 championships (1:39.59), Ryan's NCAA record in that event (1:37.68) may be in jeopardy as well.

British & Australian National Championships have begun

Results can be found at:

(British) http://www.swimmingresults.org/liveevent/index.htm

(Australian) http://www.clubsonline.com.au/uploads/swimresults/National/2009AUS/index.htm

Hope Marco Loughran and Leith Brodie both do well.

Australian Swimming Championships and World Championship Trials Begin March 17

The Australian national championships take place from March 17-22. The start list can be found here: http://www.swimming.org.au/

The top 3 swimmers in each of Ryan's best events are:

200m Free (Prelims & Finals 3/18)
1 MURPHY, PATRICK, (AIS) 25 MEV 1:45.95
2 FFROST, NICHOLAS, (AIS) 22 SOUTHPORTOLYMPIC 1:47.47
3 BRODIE, LEITH, (QAS) 22 ALBANY CREEK 1:47.47

100m Free (Prelims & Semis 3/19; Finals 3/20)
1 SULLIVAN, EAMON (NSWIS) 23 SOSC 47.52
2 TARGETT, MATTHEW, (VIS) 23 MEV 47.88
3 LAUTERSTEIN, ANDREW (NSWIS) 21 SOSC 48.99
4 BRODIE, LEITH, (QAS) 22 ALBANY CREEK 49.19

200m Back (Prelims & Finals 3/19)
1 STOECKEL, HAYDEN 24 NWD 1:56.39
2 DELANEY, ASHLEY, (AIS) 22 NUNAWADING 1:57.18
3 HURLEY, ROBERT, (AIS) 20 WIAQ 2:00.39

100m Back (Prelims & Semis 3/20; Finals 3/21)
1 STOECKEL, HAYDEN 24 NWD 52.97
2 DELANEY, ASHLEY, (AIS) 22 NUNAWADING 53.31
3 HURLEY, ROBERT, (AIS) 20 WIAQ 54.67

400m IM (Prelims & Finals 3/20)
1 POTTS, DECLAN 17 NWD 4:23.08
2 PARKES, STEPHEN (QAS) 20 ST PETERS WESTER 4:23.77
3 FRASER-HOLMES, THOMAS, (AIS) 17 HUNT 4:23.82

200m IM (Prelims & Finals 3/21)
1 BRODIE, LEITH, (QAS) 22 ALBANY CREEK 1:59.90
2 PARKES, STEPHEN (QAS) 20 ST PETERS WESTER 2:02.91
3 ASHBY, SAM, (VIS) 20 NUNAWADING 2:02.93

Leith Brodie was Ryan's training partner for several weeks at the end of 2008. It would be nice to see him qualify in a couple events. His best chance is in the 200m IM, and he likely will qualify for both the 400m and 800m free relays, provided he places in the top 6 in the 100 free and 200 free.

Hayden Stoeckle placed 6th in the 200m back and won bronze in the 100m back at the Olympics. He also has the best time in the world thus far in 2009 in the 200m back. Ashley Delaney placed 10th in the 200m back and 5th in the 100m back in Beijing.

The "A" qualifying standard for the 400m IM is 4:18.40 and the "B" standard is 4:20.98. Unless there is some significant improvement in times, it is possible nobody from Australia will qualify to swim in this event in Rome.

British Swimming Championships - World Champ Trials begin March 16

The British National Championships/World Championship Trials begin tomorrow. The start list (psych sheet) can be found here: http://asa.sportcentric.net/db//files/serve.php?id=5036

The top competitors in Ryan's best events are:

100m Back - Event 106 (Prelims & Semis on 3/16; Finals on 3/17)
43. Marco Loughran (89) Guildford Ct 54.40
44. Matthew Clay (82) Chard 53.97
45. Liam Tancock (85) Loughboro Un 53.39
(Ryan's best time = 53.37)

200m IM - Event 205 (Prelims & Semis on 3/17; Finals on 3/18)
35. Joseph Roebuck (85) Loughboro Un 2:01.12
36. Liam Tancock (85) Loughboro Un 1:57.79
37. James Goddard (83) Stockport Mo 1:57.72
(Ryan's best time = 1:55.22)

200m Free - Event 209 (Prelims & Semis on 3/17; Finals on 3/18)
53. Robert Renwick (88) Co Glasgow 1:47.07
54. Ross Davenport (84) Loughboro Un 1:47.03
55. David Carry (81) Stockport Mo 1:46.47
(Ryan's best time = 1:45.61)

200m Back - Event 302 (Prelims and Semis on 3/18; Finals on 3/19)
39. Chris Walker-Hebborn (90) Team Ipswich 1:59.61
40. Marco Loughran (89) Guildford Ct 1:58.16
41. James Goddard (83) Stockport Mo 1:56.82
(Ryan's best time = 1:53.94)

100m Free - Event 401 (Prelims & Semis on 3/19; Finals on 3/20)
51. Adam Brown (89) Hatfield 49.50
52. Ross Davenport (84) Loughboro Un 49.12
53. Simon Burnett (83) Windsor 48.20
(Ryan's best time = 48.65)

400m IM - Event 503 (Prelims and Finals on 3/20)
36. Lewis Smith (88) Warrender Ba 4:19.42
37. Joseph Roebuck (85) Loughboro Un 4:18.04
38. Thomas Haffield (88) Co Cardiff 4:12.59
(Ryan's best time = 4:06.08)

Liam Tancock, James Goddard and Simon Burnett are familiar names from the 2008 Olympics and other international events. Until recently, Simon Burnett held the NCAA and U.S. Open record in the 200y free.

Marco Loughran, who has been training with Ryan at the University of Florida for a few months, is entered in three events: 100 & 200 back and 100 fly. He has the best chance of making the world team in the 200 back.

Ryan's NCAA Championship Individual Results

I'm posting these as a reference in advance of the 2009 NCAA Championships.

2006 - Short Course Yards
1st - 200y IM (1:40.55 - still NCAA record)
1st - 400y IM (3:38.15 - NCAA record at the time)
1st - 200y Back (1:37.68 - still NCAA record)

• Ryan did not swim the 100y Back as an individual event, but broke the NCAA record in the first leg of the 400y medley relay. His time was 44.60, which is still the NCAA record.
• Ryan had the most points and was named NCAA Swimmer of the Year

2005 - Short Course Yards
1st - 200y IM (1:41.71 - NCAA record at the time)
2nd - 100y Back (45.65) Matt Grevers was 1st and, in a precursor to the 2008 Olympic trials, beat Ryan by only .03
1st - 200y Back (1:38.73 - NCAA record at the time)

• Ryan had the most points and was named NCAA Swimmer of the Year

2004 - Short Course Meters
3rd - 200m IM (1:55.62)
1st - 400m IM (4:04.52 - NCAA record)
9th - 200m Fly (1:56.35)

• In April 2008 at the World SC Championships, Ryan set the WR in the 200m IM with a time of 1:51.56. He won the 400m IM with a time of 4:03.51.

2003 - Short Course Yards
4th - 200y IM (1:44.58)
3rd - 400y IM (3:41.45)
8th - 1650y Free (14:59.18)

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.

Laci Cseh training in South Africa for 3 weeks??

http://www.blikk.hu/sport/cseh-elutazott-del-afrikaba-136257.html

According to a very poor translation of this article, it appears that Laci Cseh (I love calling him that) has been training in Durban, South Africa for 3 weeks starting at the end of February.

I have no doubt that Laci will be ready to go next summer in Rome, despite (and possibly because of) his long break after the Olympics.

I could not find results from any races that Laci has entered recently, or any evidence that he has competed since Beijing. It's difficult to figure out what is going on when most articles are written in Hungarian and I cannot read them!

In any event, Laci is looking happy and fit in the photo to the left and he appears to be back in the water training hard.

Laszlo "Laci" Cseh

I was searching for updated information on Laszlo Cseh, wondering if he is training again and if he has entered into any competitions. Given that I cannot understand Hungarian, it was difficult to find out where Cseh is in his training. However, I did learn that his nickname is Laci, which is awesome. Also, I found some interesting videos on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO5-jb4su0k



Here is a video of the 200 IM race at the Beijing Olympics where Michael Phelps won gold, Laci won silver and Ryan won bronze. Laci beat Ryan by only .01. The video is from Hungarian television. What really struck me watching this was how tired Michael looked after the race. The announcers talked about Ryan a lot....wonder what they said.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfSfVODeriQ



Here's a video from Hungarian television of the 400IM race in Beijing. I forgot how great Ryan looked for the first 300 meters. He really went for it in the back and breast and then died at the end. Swimming as fast as possible in the middle 200 was the only chance Ryan had to beat Michael Phelps and win gold. Ryan could have swam a safer race and won silver. Although his race strategy ultimately did not work, it was a super gutsy move by Ryan, who was really sick at the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0qWQgH4eQ4



Here's a video of the medal ceremony for the 200 IM at the Olympics. It starts with Laci receiving his silver medal and continues with Michael receiving his gold. I've always wanted to see this medal ceremony because photos show Michael and Ryan had such a great time. This doesn't show much, but it shows a little bit of the fun.

As soon as I find out when Laci will compete again, I will write about it. He must have some kind of qualifying meet coming up for worlds but I haven't yet figured out how it works, i.e. if Hungary has a separate national meet or if there is a combined European meet that serves as trials for all participating countries.

Upcoming World Championships Qualifying Trials

The U.S. National Championships (and World Championship trials) take place on July 7-11 in Indianapolis. Other countries have their national championships and world trials much sooner, with two taking place in March 2009.

British Championships - March 16-20, 2009 in Sheffield, England. The start list (psych sheet) has not yet been released; however, some information can be found here: http://www.britishswimming.org/

Australian Championships - March 17-22, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. The start list has been released. The start list and additional information can be found at http://www.swimming.org.au/

I will report on the results at these championships along with the NCAA championships that take place at the end of March.

Austin Grand Prix Results - Comparison to Ryan's Times

The Austin Grand Prix event took place this weekend, and although Ryan did not participate, here are the best times by Americans in the events I believe Ryan will swim at the 2009 National Championships (and hopefully the 2009 World Champs).

For purposes of comparison, also listed are Ryan's best times in these events in 2009 and his all-time personal bests.

100m Back

54.84 – Ben Hesen - Austin GP
54.92 – Nick Thoman - Austin GP
55.16 - Ryan's best time 2009 - Missouri GP
53.37 - Ryan's all-time best - 2008 Olympic trials

200m Back

1:59.65 - Ian Clark - Austin GP

2:01.47 - Nick Thoman - Austin GP

1:57.73 - Ryan's best time 2009 - Missouri GP

1:53.94 - Ryan's all-time best - 2008 Olympics (World Record)

100m Free

48.88 - Garrett Weber-Gale - Austin GP

49.43 - Dale Rogers - Austin GP

49.80 - Peter Vanderkaay - Austin GP

49.86 - William Copeland - Austin GP

50.58 - Ryan's best time 2009 - Missouri GP

48.65 - Ryan's all-time best - 2008 Olympic trials

200m Free

1:46.87 – Peter Vanderkaay - Austin GP

1:49.63 – Garrett Weber-Gale - Austin GP

1:51.22 - Ryan's best time 2009 - Missouri GP
1:45.61 - Ryan's all-time best - 2008 Olympic trials

200m IM

1:59.31 – Eric Shanteau - Austin GP

2:00.59 - Ryan's best time 2009 - Missouri GP
1:55.22 - Ryan's all-time best - 2008 Olympic trials

400m IM

4:17.97 – Andrew Gemmell - Austin GP

4:19.49 - Ryan's best time 2009 - Missouri GP
4:06.08 - Ryan's all-time best - 2008 Olympic trials

It appears the most difficult individual events for Ryan to qualify in for the World Championships will be the 100m Back, 100m Free and 200m Free. This has nothing new, and has not changed from the 2008 Olympic trials. Ryan is super fast, but is technically not a sprinter, particularly since he continues to train for the 400m IM. Thus, it is probably not realistic for Ryan to qualify in the 100m Free as an individual event. Nevertheless, I believe he will swim it in an attempt to qualify for the 400m Free Relay.

The times at the Austin GP, particularly for the professional swimmers, have been impressive. Ryan will do fine, but he has his work cut out for him in the 100m Back, 100m Free and 200m Free.

Florida Spring Championships - 3/1 Finals; Austin Grand Prix

In Sunday's finals, Ryan came in first in both of his events:

100y Free - 43.73 (splits 20.63, 23.10)
200y Back - 1:41.02 (splits 23.80, 25.43, 25.58, 26.21)

It seems as though Ryan took it kind of easy today, but still won his races, which is always a good thing.

The swimmers participating in the Austin Grand Prix from March 5-7, 2009 have been announced, and Ryan is not one of them. I don't know when Ryan will be swimming next, but the Grand Prix does not have another event until the Charlotte Ultra Swim on May 14-17. It has already been announced that Michael Phelps will return to competition in Charlotte, so I hope Ryan will be there as well.

From what I've heard, this is the time of year when swimmers train the hardest, including high altitude training. It may be a while before Ryan races again.

Here's a link to a video someone put on youtube of Ryan's 100y Back race yesterday at the Florida Senior Spring Championships. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Vmi_Ev6Hp8

Florida Spring Championships - 2/28 Finals; Tyler Clary wins 200y Back at Big 10 Champs

Ryan placed first in both his events Saturday at the Florida Spring Championships.

In the 50y Free, his time was 19.89 and in the 100y Back, his time was 46.20. He's gone faster this year in both events, but if he is in the middle of hard training right now, neither time is bad.

Tyler Clary won his 3rd individual event at the Big 10 championships on Saturday, the 200y Back. His time was 1:39.59, which beat the pool record formerly held by.....Ryan Lochte of all people. He did not beat Ryan's NCAA record, which is nearly 2 seconds faster. Tyler has the fastest time in Div. 1 swimming this year, just ahead of Rex Tullius and Omar Pinzon of Florida. It will be so interesting to see how Tyler does at the NCAA championships in all 3 of his events.

As a graduate of a Big 10 school other than Michigan (and one of Michigan's biggest rivals in football), it pains me a little to cheer for a Michigan athlete. The first college football game I ever went to was against Michigan, and I still remember a bunch of guys singing the x-rated version of the Michigan fight song. In fact, I can't get that song out of my head now.

Nevertheless, Tyler is a very versitile swimmer and he's good at all of the same events as Ryan. I will enjoy watching them swim against each other this summer.