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.

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.

Time Comparisons

To give Ryan's performance at the 2009 Missouri Grand Prix some perspective, here are some comparisons between Ryan's times in this year's and last year's events, the winning times in the 2009 NSW Open Championships held in Sydney, AUS this past weekend, and Ryan's all-time personal bests.

This comparison shows not only how fast Ryan is swimming right now, but also how good he is compared with some of the best swimmers in the world. Amazing.

100m Free
50.58 - 2009 Missouri GP
51.27 - 2008 Missouri GP
48.99 - Winning Time NSW Open (Sydney, AUS - February 2009)
48.65 - Ryan's All-Time Personal Best

200m Free
1:51.22 - 2009 Missouri GP
1:51.15 - 2008 Missouri GP
1:48.26 - Winning Time NSW Open (Sydney, AUS - February 2009)
1:45.61 - Ryan's All-Time Personal Best

400m Free
4:11.34 - 2009 Missouri GP
3:47.06 - Winning Time NSW Open (Sydney, AUS - February 2009)
3:49.25 - Ryan's All-Time Personal Best

100m Back
55.16 - 2009 Missouri GP
55:44 - 2008 Missouri GP
53.43 - Winning Time NSW Open (Sydney, AUS - February 2009)
53.37 - Ryan's All-Time Personal Best

200m Back
1:57.73 - 2009 Missouri GP
2:03.80 - 2008 Missouri GP
1:57.18 - Winning Time NSW Open (Sydney, AUS - February 2009)
1:53.94 - Ryan's All-Time Personal Best

200m IM
2:00.59 - 2009 Missouri GP
2:03.73 - Winning Time NSW Open (Sydney, AUS - February 2009)
1:55.22 - Ryan's All-Time Personal Best

400m IM
4:19.49 - 2009 Missouri GP
4:22.06 - 2008 Missouri GP
4:25.43 - Winning Time NSW Open (Sydney, AUS - February 2009)
4:06.08 - Ryan's All-Time Personal Best

100m Fly
53.84 - 2009 Missouri GP
54:26 - 2008 Missouri GP
51.81 - Winning Time NSW Open (Sydney, AUS - February 2009)
52.86 - Ryan's All-Time Personal Best

Missouri Grand Prix Results

Ryan performed extremely well at the Missouri Grand Prix this past weekend. I was out of town and could not follow the results closely, not that I would have been able to given swimnetwork.com's big time fail on providing updates. Thanks to the Daily Reezy for providing some real time info about the races.

Ryan won 4 golds and 1 silver, and finished 1st in both "B" finals he swam. Not bad for someone who was in the middle of hard training and wearing an old fashioned Speedo.

Here's how Ryan did in his 8 events:

200m Free: 1:51.22 (1st in "B" final - 5th best time overall)
No video yet

100m Fly: 53.84 (2nd in "A" final)
http://www.swimnetwork.com/videos/v/20090217/2009_missouri_grand_prix_of_swimming___men_s_100_meter_butterfly___a_final-16209.html

400m IM: 4:19.49 (1st in "A" final)
http://www.swimnetwork.com/videos/v/20090217/2009_missouri_grand_prix_of_swimming___mens_400_im___a_final-16208.html

200m IM: 2:00.59 (1st in "A" final)
http://www.swimnetwork.com/videos/v/20090217/2009_missouri_grand_prix_of_swimming___mens_200_im___a_final-16207.html

100m Back: 55.16 (1st in "A" final)
no video yet

400m Free: 4:11.34 (24th place - Prelims only)
no video

200m Back: 1:57.73 (1st in "A" final)
http://www.swimnetwork.com/videos/v/20090217/2009_missouri_grand_prix___men_s_200_meter_backstroke__a_final-16217.html

100m Free - 50.58 (1st in "B" final - 7th best time overall)
http://www.swimnetwork.com/videos/v/20090217/2009_missouri_grand_prix_of_swimming___men_s_100_meter_freestyle___b_final-16223.html

Missouri Grand Prix - Feb. 13-16 - Long Course Meters

**thanks Daily Reezy for the photo

Here are the 8 events Ryan has entered at the Missouri Grand Prix:

Friday, Feb. 13
Event 2 - 200m Free - Ryan is seeded 1st with a qualifying time of 1:45.61

Event 6 - 100m Fly - Ryan is seeded 4th with a qualifying time of 52.86 (Fred Bosquet is seeded 1st at 51.50, Masayuki Kishida is 2nd at 51.86, Matt Grevers is third at 52.10)

Event 8 - 400m IM - Ryan is seeded 1st with a qualifying time of 4:06.08

Saturday, Feb. 14
Event 12 - 200m IM - Ryan is seeded 1st with a qualifying time of 1:55.22

Event 18 - 100m Back - Ryan is seeded 3rd with a qualifying time of 53.37 (Nick Thoman is seeded 1st at 52.91 and Matt Grevers is seeded 2nd at 52.99)

Event 20 - 400m Free - Ryan is seeded 2nd with a qualifying time of 3:49.25 (Sebastien Roualt is seeded 1st at 3:48.70)

Sunday, Feb. 15
Event 26 - 200m Back - Ryan is seeded 1st with a qualifying time of 1:53.94

Event 28 - 100 Free - Ryan is seeded 7th with a qualifying time of 48.65. (Brent Hayden is seeded 1st at 47.56, GWG is 2nd at 47.78, Fred Bosquet is 3rd at 48.52, Matt Grevers is 4th at 48.53, Dominik Meichtry is 5th at 48.55 and Simon Burnett is 6th at 48.57)


http://www.csctigersharks.org/MOGrandPrix2009/MOGPpsychsheet_001.pdf

Long Course vs. Short Course

I read an interesting quote from Darian Townsend about the difference between LC and SC swimming: “Short course swimming is for athletes. Long course swimming is for swimmers."**

Ryan is often referred to as a brilliant SC swimmer. He's had some huge successes in LC, particularly the WR in the 200m back, but not as much success as he's had in SC races, where he's arguably the best in the world. Does this mean Ryan is more of an athlete than a swimmer? Is this something Ryan can change to become more successful in LC? Would he even want to change this?

It seems to me that the most successful LC swimmer, Michael Phelps, is both a gifted swimmer and a great athlete. I don't know anything about the technical aspects of swimming, and have heard that Ryan's strokes are already excellent if not perfect, but am wondering if he concentrated his efforts on improving his swimming technique, then maybe he could surpass Phelps in some LC events. I mean if Ryan is a better athlete than MP, as evidenced by his greater SC success, then couldn't he do better in LC if he improved his swimming technique?

My analysis is probably overly simplistic, and may not apply across the board to all LC events, but I thought it was interesting to think about.

**Source for quote by Darian Townsend, made on 12/21/08 (or 21/12/08 if you're outside the U.S.) at http://www.floswimming.org/blogs/blogger/dtrain/5416-finishing-up-2008-with-a-bang

Darian is from South Africa and swam at Florida and Arizona during his college career. He swims some of the same events as Ryan, i.e. 200 free and 200 IM, but is also a 100 free sprinter.