By Karl Ortegon on SwimSwam

Fitter and Faster Swim Clinics is the proud sponsor of SwimSwam’s College Recruiting Channel and all commitment news. For many, swimming in college is a lifelong dream that is pursued with dedication and determination. Fitter and Faster is proud to honor these athletes and those who supported them on their journey.

#5 Ashley Strouse of the Scottsdale Aquatic Club has sent her verbal commitment to Northwestern University. A junior at Chapparal High School in Arizona, Strouse is the second-fastest 200 and 500 freestyler in the entire high school class of 2021 right now. She kicks off NU’s recruiting push for the class of 2025.

I am extremely humbled and excited to announce my verbal commitment to Northwestern University!! Thank you to my family, friends, and Scottsdale Aquatic Club for being with me since the beginning. Time to buy a jacket!! Go ‘Cats

By Robert Gibbs on SwimSwam

Auburn vs. Louisiana State

• Saturday, October 19th, 2019
• James E. Martin Aquatics Center, Auburn, AL
• Dual meet format
• SCY
• Full Results
• Scores
  • Women: Auburn 185, LSU 108
  • Men: Auburn 187, LSU 111

Women’s Meet

Auburn took the top two spots in the 200 medley relay to start the meet off, with Claire Fisch‘s 22.03 anchor propelling the Tigers’ ‘A’ team to a 1:41.40 victory. Fisch had a relatively light schedule, only swimming the 50 free individually, which she won in 22.65, and then splitting 48.92 on Auburn’s 400 free relay.

Sophomore Emily Hetzer currently has the 2nd-fastest time in the nation in the 500 free, and while she wasn’t able to match her times from the SMU Invite (where teams were suited up), she still pulled off the distance double for the Tigers, first winning the 1000 free in 9:51.76, then touching first with a 4:49.36 in the 500 free.

Auburn Senior Sonnele Oeztuerk also doubled up; she narrowly won the 100 back over LSU’s Cassie Kalisz, 55.02 to 55.13, then again beat Kalisz in the 200 back, 1:57.27 to 1:58.48.

Carly Cummings also got a sweep for Auburn, going 1:01.50/2:14.15 in the breaststroke events.

LSU only touched first in two events. Helen Grossman just touched out Auburn’s Jewels Harris in the 100 fly, 55.06 to 55.10, and freshman Niamh Robinson won the 200 IM in 2:04.55.

Auburn exhibitioned the 400 free relay, but touched first in 3:22.00, LSU officially won in 3:24.97, with Katarina Milutinovich leading off with 50.70, faster than any of the other three splits on her team.

Men

The Auburn men defeated the LSU men by almost the same score as the women, but the big story was Auburn senior Santiago Grassi‘s 50 free. He won the event by six-tenths of a second over LSU’s Matthew Klotz, touching in 19.86. That’s the fastest time in the NCAA so far this season, surpassing last year NCAA champion Ryan Hoffer’s 19.88 from two weeks ago.

Grassi also split 20.85 on Auburn’s victorious 200 medley relay, won the 100 fly in 47.67, and led off an Auburn 400 free relay in 44.70.

Spencer Rowe got two wins for Auburn, sweeping the breaststrokes events with times of 56.38/2:03.02. Freshman Jack Armstrong won the 100 free with a 44.68, and led off Auburn’s ‘A’ 400 free in 44.98. That relay won in 2:59.20, with all four men splitting 44s, and that didn’t even include Grassi.

Auburn also got a double from Aryan Makhija, who swept the distance events with  a 9:22.88 in the 1000 and then a 4:32.84 in the 500 free.

Karl Luht was the only LSU swimmer with two victories, going 48.05/1:47.70 in the backstrokes. Freshman David Boylan won the 200 fly with a 1:50.15.

Auburn Release

AUBURN, Ala. – In the first home meet of the season, the Auburn swimming and diving teams combined to win 26 of the 32 events as both the men and women earned convincing victories over LSU at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center on Saturday.

“I’m really excited about both programs,” Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. “Anytime you come out of your first meet of the season 1-0 on both sides, you’ve got to be excited. I’m really proud of the energy that I saw from both teams today. They competed hard. They were loud and raucous on deck, and that started from the first relay performer to the final relay performer.”

The No. 13 Auburn women opened the meet by taking first and second place in the 200 medley relay and then won the next 10 swimming events en route to a 185-108 victory. The trio of Emily Hetzer (500 free, 1000 free), Sonnele Oeztuerk (100 back, 200 back) and Carly Cummings (100 breast, 200 breast) all won two individual races apiece.

It was more of the same on the men’s side as No. 25 Auburn beat LSU, 187-111, in their first competition of the 2019-20 season. The home Tigers started and finished the meet with relay wins and closed with 11 total wins in the swimming events.

Senior Santiago Grassi finished the 50 free in 19.86 to claim first place, and he also won the 100 butterfly with a time of 47.67. Junior Spencer Rowe (100 breast, 200 breast) and sophomore Aryan Makhija (500 free, 1000 free) also earned a pair of first-place finishes for Auburn on the men’s side.

For both the men and the women, it was a big day for the freshmen. Combined, five different Auburn freshmen won races. Averee Preble (200 butterfly), Abbey Webb (100 free) and Jack Armstrong (100 free) all won individual races while Ella Miller and Annie O’Dare both swam a leg for the winning women’s 200 medley relay team.

“I thought our freshman really competed well both on the men’s and women’s sides,” Taylor said. “For their first time out, having the opportunity to wear that AU for most them, they represented really well, and the future looks bright.”

DIVING RECAP 

Auburn won all four of the diving events in Saturday’s meet. Senior Alison Maillard won the 1-meter (326.55) and 3-meter (323.78) competitions on the women’s side, and her score in the 1-meter event was nine points off the Auburn record.

On the men’s side, sophomore Conner Pruitt also finished first in the 1-meter (349.65) and 3-meter (388.43) events to begin his 2019-20 season the right way.

“I was really pleased,” head diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. “I think starting the season with a very competitive LSU squad – obviously coached by my brother so there’s a little bit of competitiveness between us – we were fortunate to come out on top and winning all four events. I’m very pleased with Allison and Conner’s leadership. They definitely showed their experience and stepped up.”

Auburn had three freshmen divers make their debut Saturday, and among them, Gretchen Wensuc earned a zone qualifying score (289.20) in the women’s 3-meter competition.

WHAT’S NEXT

The Auburn women will be back in action next Saturday, Oct. 26 when they travel to Arkansas to face the Razorbacks at 11 a.m. CT. The men won’t make that trip, but they will be back in the pool Saturday, Nov. 2 for a men’s only meet on the road at Navy.

Both teams will return home for another dual meet against Alabama on Dec. 5.

LSU Release

AUBURN, ALA.– The LSU Swimming and Diving Team dropped their first SEC dual meet of the season on the road against the Auburn Tigers. The men fell by a final score of 187-111 and the women fell 185-108.

IN THE POOL

Karl Luht led the way for the men as the senior won the 100 and 200-Yard Backstroke with times of 48.05 and 1:47.70, respectively. David Boylan brought home a victory after swimming a 1:50.15 in the 200-Yard Butterfly. The freshman also took the silver in the 200-Yard IM by swimming a 1:51.34.

Two other men found themselves with multiple top-three finishes Saturday morning. Brooks Curry finished in second place in the 200-Yard Freestyle with a time of 1:38.29. He then finished in third place in the 100-Yard Freestyle after swimming a 44.94. Luca Pfyffer had three top-three finishes on the day. Pfyffer brought home the silver in the 200-Yard Breaststroke with a time of 2:03.51 and had two third place finishes in the 100-Yard Breaststroke and the 200-Yard IM with times of 57.39 and 1:52.76.

“For the men’s first dual meet, I felt we came out a little tight,” said LSU head swim coach Dave Geyer. “Some of the details we emphasized in training were a little off. However, as the meet wore on, we improved in those areas and got to see what our lineup looks like. We came into the meet a little short on depth and that showed by having to move some people around. With that being said, we did have solid swims during the meet.”

For the women, Helen Grossman led the way as the New Jersey native won the 100-Yard Butterfly after touching the wall in 55.06. Grossman then finished in second place in the 200-Yard Butterfly with a time of 2:01.44. Niamh Robinson also earned a victory for the Lady Tigers as the freshman won the 200-Yard IM with a time of 2:04.55. Along with that victory, Robinson earned the bronze in the 100-Yard Breaststroke with a time of 1:03.87.

Three other Lady Tigers earned multiple top-three finishes. Katarina Milutinovich came in third place in both the 100 and 200-Yard Freestyle with times of 50.71 and 1:48.79. Cassie Kalisz earned the silver in both backstroke events. The junior swam the 100-Yard Backstroke in 55.13 and the 200-Yard Backstroke in 1:58.48. Summer Stanfield also had two top-three finishes as she came in second place in the 500-Yard Freestyle and third place in the 200-Yard IM with a time of 2:05.61.

To close out the meet, the team of Milutinovich, Olivia Taylor, Kit Hanley and Grossman won the 400-Yard Freestyle Relay with a time of 3:24.97.

“We had some really tight races across the meet on the women’s side today,” said Geyer. “If we could have had a couple of those races go in our favor I think you’re looking at a much closer meet.”

ON THE BOARDS

For the men, Manny Vazquez Bas finished the meet with two second place finishes on the springboard events. The freshman dove to a score of 355.28 on the three-meter and a 281.85 on the one-meter. Dakota Hurbis had two third place finishes after diving to scores of 328.43 and 267.00 on the three and one-meter, respectively. In his first collegiate meet, Cayden Petrak finished in fourth place on the one-meter with a score of 264.00 and fifth on the three-meter with a score of 290.18.

For the women, Aimee Wilson led the way as the sophomore came in second place on both springboard events. Wilson dove to a score of 292.80 on the one-meter and 300.00 on the three-meter. Hayley Montague took the bronze on both events after diving to scores of 250.50 and 239.18 on the one and three-meter springboards.

“Coming into this meet, I felt Auburn would be strong on the boards,” said LSU head diving coach Doug Shaffer. “It’s their own pool and they have more experience. For three of our Tiger Divers it was their first SEC road dual meet experience. With that being said, it was a great learning experience for us. We did some really positive things which we’ve been working on and that’s exactly what I want to see right now.”

MORE INFORMATION

For more information and updates on LSU Swimming and Diving please visit LSUsports.net, ‘like’ us on Facebook at LSU Swimming and Diving or follow us on Twitter and Instagram @LSUSwimDive.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Grassi Swims Nation-Leading 19.86; Auburn Tigers Defeat Louisiana State Tigers

“Swimmers helping swimming” – that’s the tagline that president of Maryla...

By Retta Race on SwimSwam

The nation of Sweden finished in 5th place in the overall medal standings at the 2017 edition of the European Short Course Championships. However, for this year’s competition set for December 4th-8th in Glasgow, Scotland, look for Sweden to drop down the list, as several key swimmers will be opting out of the 2019 meet.

Per SVT Sport, Swedish Olympic champion Sarah Sjostrom is forgoing the 2019 European Short Course Championships to instead represent Team Energy Standard on the International Swimming League (ISL) circuit.

The Energy Standard squad is set to compete in its ISL Derby Meet November 23rd and 24th in London, England and, if the team is ultimately successful, the championship meet December 20th-21st in Las Vegas.

Michelle Coleman will also be skipping this year’s European Short Course Championships. Although not a member of an ISL squad, Coleman has decided to focus on training. She told the news outlet, “Since I have competed all Autumn, I have given up my stamina a bit and focused on speed and strength.

“After the last cluster of the FINA World Cup in November, we will go to Thailand and put in a slightly larger block of training for the Olympic season.”

Erik Persson, Simon Sjodin and Robin Hanson are among those Swedes who will be making the trip to Glasgow to represent Sweden.

Sjostrom reaped gold in the women’s 50m free and 100m fly individual events, while also snagging 100m IM and 100m free silver in Copenhagen back in 2017. Both she and Coleman were integral contributors to the relays as well.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Sjostrom & Coleman Not Competing For Sweden At European SC C’ships

By Retta Race on SwimSwam

Swim England has announced the first 26 members of its inaugural Hall of Fame class. Comprised of athletes, coaches, officials, and volunteers, the members were celebrated earlier this month as part of Swim England’s 150th-anniversary festivities.

21 inductees are being honored posthumously, while the remaining 5 include swimmers Sharron Davies, Duncan Goodhew, Steve Parry, as well as synchronized swimmer Jenny Gray and volunteer Alan Donland.

Jane Nickerson, Swim England CEO said: “In our 150th anniversary year, we’re delighted to reveal the names of the first people to be inducted into our Hall of Fame.

“There were many wonderful nominations submitted and it was extremely hard to narrow it down to those who we’ve included so far.

“Although many of those honoured this time are sadly no longer with us, the pioneering role they played in helping to develop our sports or the success they had as coaches and athletes should never be forgotten.

“We applaud them for their dedication to swimming, diving, synchronised swimming and water polo and hope they act as an inspiration to others.

“We look forward to building on these initial entrants into the Hall of Fame over the years to come.”

A full list of inductees with associated biographical information can be found here.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Swim England Inducts First Hall Of Fame Class

By Braden Keith on SwimSwam

HOW STANDINGS WORK

At each of the 6 regular season meets, teams will score points based on their relative finish order, as follows:

• 1st place – 4 points
• 2nd place – 3 points
• 3rd place – 2 points
• 4th place – 1 point

There are no ‘style’ points – whether the margins of each meet are 1 point or 100 points, the table above is how much is earned.

At the end of the 6 regular seasons meets (2 Group A, 2 Group B, 1 ‘derby’ meet with all US teams, and 1 ‘derby’ meet with all European teams), the teams will be ranked by continent (not “Group”). All 4 American teams will be ranked, and all 4 European teams will be ranked, and the top 2 American teams will go to the final, as will the top 2 European teams.

In theory, a team could win its ‘continent’ table without winning a single meet, because most of the meets are not grouped by ‘continent’ (see last weekend in Indy, which had 2 European and 2 American teams).

Note: ISL uses ‘points’ to describe many different scoring systems: meet points, MVP points, standings points, and prize money points. We’ll try to differentiate between those points as best we can in our coverage.

Current Standings After Meet 1

Europe:

The classes of Europe are clearly Energy Standard and the London Roar. Those two teams have combined to win all 3 ISL meets so far this season. The odd-team out on the continent right now appears to be Iron Swim, which, at full strength, could make a claim at being one of the top 4 teams in the league.

Aqua Centurions are all-but-eliminated from contention from the final at this point. Mathematically they could tie for the 2nd-place spot, but that would require a series of events that won’t happen. Energy Standard, likewise, is not yet locked in to the final, but another 3rd-place finish from Iron in Budapest this week would mean that the worst Energy Standard could do in the group would be tie for 2nd. We don’t know what the tie-breakers are in the team table yet, but we assume that it’s points scored at meets.

America:

While the American table looks a little murkier on paper, the Cali Condors and LA Current have emerged as the two leaders in the group. While the DC Trident will be within striking distances for their hosted derby, they’d probably need an unlikely win there to sneak into the American top 2.

While the Breakers are not mathematically eliminated after 1 meet, theyw ould need a far-better performance in Budapest than they had in Lewisville to make the top 2. They were 123.5 points short of 3rd place, so that’s a really tall mountain to climb, but there are opportunities for the Breakers to at least close that gap.

2019 ISL Season Schedule:

Read the full story on SwimSwam: International Swimming League Standings Update after 3 Weeks

By Karl Ortegon on SwimSwam

Brent Hayden, 2012 Olympic bronze medalist in the 100 freestyle and Canadian record-holder in the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, and 200 freestyle, has announced his return to the sport competitively. He will be training with High Performance Centre-Vancouver.

Hayden has taken seven years off from the sport, but he’s back to training with his sights set on the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. His last big race came in 2012 when he won his bronze medal in the 100 free at the London Olympics in 2012. During his career, Hayden earned 22 medals between various Olympics, World Championships, Pan Pacific Championships, and Commonwealth Games.

“I didn’t like the way I retired,” said Hayden in a press release from Swimming Canada. “I retired because I hated the sport because of how things were playing out in my life. I realized I have a chance to fall in love with the sport again.”

Hayden, nearly 36, hopes to make it to Tokyo in the 50 free and perhaps the 100 free, according to the release.

“I think the 50-m is the most realistic,” said Hayden. “Historically, if you look at sprinters, 50-m freestylers have a longer life span. You can keep developing your power and aerobics a lot longer than your endurance that the 100-m requires.”

There’s certainly evidence to support that sprinters can have success later in their careers (as well as between bouts of time off). American Anthony Ervin made the 2000 Olympic team at age 19, then took periods of time off only to return to make the 2012 Olympic team, and then finally win gold in the 50 free at the 2016 Olympics at age 35. American Dara Torres won three silver medals at the 2008 Olympics after taking years off earlier in her carer; she was 41 in Beijing. Swede Therese Alshammar made her sixth-straight Olympic team at age 38 in 2016.

Hayden spent three months in Lebanon with his wife, Nadina Zarifeh, and her family, this summer. There, he began swimming in an outdoor pool, where he says he felt good in the water.

“Things that I thought would have been gone were still there,” he said. “My technique felt amazing. Little quirks in my body that were always kind of annoying weren’t there anymore. I actually felt fresher.”

“When Brent contacted Swimming Canada about his return to competitive swimming we discussed his plans and ambitions, then we fully agreed and supported his return,” said John Atkinson, High Performance Director, Swimming Canada. “I am happy to say our High Performance Centre in Vancouver based at the University of British Columbia will be working with Brent to support his return. He is an accomplished athlete at the highest level, and we welcome him back to the sport.”

“I see nothing really standing in his way of being able to do it,” said HPC-Vancouver coach Tom Johnson. “You can never underestimate him, because when he puts his mind to something, he is singularly focused and able to do it. He’s also a lot more mature. There’s a sense purpose about what he’s doing.”

The 2020 Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Trials will be held next spring in Toronto, roughly five months away.

At his absolute best, Hayden is most lethal in the 100 free, with his best time of 47.27 good enough to have won bronze at the 2019 World Championships.

While the Candian national team has seen a spike in performance and achievement, much of the recent success has come from the women’s side with juggernauts on the world stage like Kylie Masse, Taylor Ruck, Penny Oleksiak, and Maggie Macneil. Their men have some impressive age group talent right now alongside a few older standouts like sprinters Yuri Kisil and Markus Thormeyer.

“It’s exciting,” Hayden said. “Before, I never experience life without swimming. You just kind of fall into a routine. A lot of days it’s like walking into a job. It’s a chore.”

“This time I’ve made the choice to come back. Every day I come here it’s a blessing. Even when I’m in the middle of a really hard set, and I feel like I just want to vomit, I can’t help but smile and be so thankful I’m here right now.”

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Read the full story on SwimSwam: Canadian Record-Holder Brent Hayden Comes Out of Retirement, Targets Tokyo

By Braden Keith on SwimSwam

Editor’s Note: SwimSwam is not on the voting panel for the CSCAA Dual Meet Rankings, but the rankings are posted as a courtesy to the CSCAA. See our most recent women’s Power Rankings here and men’s Power Rankings here.

The first regular-season CSCAA dual-meet poll of the 2019-2020 NCAA Division I swimming & diving season has been released and both the men’s and women’s rankings have seen significant changes.

On the men’s side, while the top 3 of Cal, Texas, and NC State remain the same, with the first big shakeup coming from a rapid rise by the Missouri Tigers. That program, under the leadership this year of new head coach Andy Grevers, has been the topic of a lot of discussion as a result of their decision to suit up for every meet in the 2019-2020 NCAA season. But they also turned heads with a 190.5-109.5 trouncing of the Florida men in their first dual meet of the season. The loss slid Florida from 7th to 9th in the rankings.

Other big men’s movers to the positive are Texas A&M, who moved from 11 to 7 after sliding past the then-#5 Ohio State men; and the Tennessee men, who jumped from #16 to #10 after a 32-point victory over then#4 Virginia. That loss dropped Virgini all the way to #13.

Kentucky (#17) and Minnesota (#25) both moved into the men’s rankings for the first time this season.

On the women’s side of the pool, there’s a new #1 as the Florida Gators have faulted ahead of the defending NCAA Champion Stanford Cardinal after a few convincing early-season wins. The 5-0 Gators took victories over both then-#18 Minnesota (202-97) and then-#6 Missouri (176-124) since the last polls were released. In total, the Florida women have outscored their first 5 opponents by a combined 995.5-491.5. Things don’t get any easier for the Gators moving forward: their next two dual meets are against #12 Georgia and #20 Florida State.

Tennessee also jumped in the rankings, from 15 to 3 after beating Virginia; so too did Auburn from 13 to 6. Auburn hasn’t had any really significant dual meets yet, but did place 2nd at the elite SMU Classic meet.

Meanwhile, the Indiana women had the biggest drop, falling from #9 to #18 in the latest polls. They opened their season by losing to Kentucky 161-39 and beating Notre Dame 172-128. The Hoosier women now sit one spot ahead of poll newcomers Akron. The Zips’ only intercollegiate dual meet so far this season was a 186-114 win over Miami University, but some strong swims at the Akron Zips Classic last weekend (including a 53.06 in the 100 fly, 1:57.55 in the 200 fly, and 22.84 in the 50 free from Paulina Nogaj) was enough to impress the voters.

The Northwestern women also made their poll debut for the season, jumping all the way to 15th. While they don’t have any big dual meet wins yet, they were 3rd at the SMU Classic behind only Louisville and Auburn. Between a nation-leading 400 IM time from Calypso Sheridan and a handful of school records (including from Sheridan in the 200 back in 1:56.57), the Wildcats did enough to impress voters.

Note that these CSCAA dual meet polls are intended to be reactive to team’s dual meet results, rather than a predictor of end-of-season rankings at the NCAA Championships.

See Also:

• Preseason poll

October 23rd Polls

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Cal Men Hold Steady; Florida Women Leap to #1

By Aglaia Pezzato on SwimSwam

 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE: BUDAPEST

• Gruppo B, Match 2
• Sabato 26 Ottobre – Domenica 27 Ottobre 2019
• Ore 18:00/20:00 ora locale
• Duna Arena, Budapest.
• Vasca Corta 25 metri
• Squadre: LA Current, New York Breakers, Iron, London Roar
• Diretta Streaming
• Info tecniche
• Programma gare

In vista della seconda tappa del girone B di International Swimming League, che si terrà a Budapest Il 26 e il 27 Ottobre la squadra di New York rivoluziona il suo settore maschile del dorso.

Jacob Pebley e Christopher Reid che hanno difeso i colori dei Breakers a Dallas, lasciano il posto a Grigory Tarasevich.

Fatta eccezione per il terzo posto ottenuto da Pebley nei 200 metri, il dorso della squadra newyorkese si è rivelato un anello debole. I due atleti hanno infatti raccolto solo 14,5 punti sommando le diverse distanze. Nei 50 metri Reid non ha raggiunto il minimo richiesto per l’assegnazione del punto all’ottavo classificato.

Gregory Tarasevich affiancherà Markus Thormeyer, unico altro dorsista in squadra schierato fino ad ora solamente in staffetta e probabilmente Michael Andrew nella gara veloce.

Tarasevich, ha vinto recentemente sotto la bandiera russa l’oro nei 100 dorso alle Universiadi di Napoli e vanta ottimi primati personali su tutte e 3 le distanze 23.64/50.54/1:50.48.

L’aggiunta di Tarasevich alla squadra risulta interessante anche in merito alla storia dell’atleta, graziato dalla USADA per aver assunto una sostanza pochi giorni prima che questa diventasse proibita.

ROSTER COMPLETO NY BREAKERS A BUDAPEST

• MICHAEL ANDREW

• HALEY BLACK

• MARCELO CHIERIGHINI

• MACK DARRAGH

• JOAO DE LUCCA

• ALI DELOOF

• CATIE DELOOF

• GABBY DELOOF

• EMILY ESCOBEDO

• REVA FOOS

• JONATHAN GOMEZ

• LARA GRANGEON

• MARCO KOCH

• MARIUS KUSCH

• BREEJA LARSON

• CLYDE LEWIS

• JACK MCLOUGHLIN

• LIA NEAL

• EMILY OVERHOLT

• BRAD TANDY

• ALYS THOMAS

• MARKUS THORMEYER

• MADISON WILSON

• BLUME PERNILLE

• ARKIN ABBEY

• TARASEVICH GRIGORY

• LOVEMORE TAYLA

APPROFONDIMENTI GRUPPO B

• SwimSwam Italia Preview
• Day 1  start lists
• RISULTATI PRIMA SESSIONE
• Day 1 RISULTATI COMPLETI
• RECAP DAY1
• Recap_live Dallas Day2
• London Roar guidano la classifica del Gruppo B
• leggi_qui l’approfondimento su LA Current
• qui l’approfondimento su NY Breakers
• leggi qui l’approfondimento su Iron
• qui l’approfondimento sui London Roar

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Tarasevich Per I NY Breakers Nella ISL Di Budapest, Fuori Pebley E Reid

By Jared Anderson on SwimSwam

2019 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE: BUDAPEST

• Group B, Match 2
• Saturday, October 26 – Saturday, October 27, 2019
• 6:00-8:00 PM Local Time – UTC+2 (12:00-2:00 PM, U.S. Eastern Time)
• Duna Arena, Budapest, Hungary
• Short Course Meters (SCM) format
• ESPN3 Live Stream Links:
  • Day 1
  • Day 2
• Group B: Iron, LA Current, London Roar, New York Breakers

As we did with Group A, we’ll go team-by-team in Group B, projecting areas each team could move up from last week’s opening match. Some roster additions and subtractions have an intense battle brewing for second place.

London Roar

• Full roster

The rich get richer. London adds three stars after winning last week by 27.5. Here’s where they could improve:

Move from ‘great’ to ‘dominant’ in men’s breaststrokes: London already outscored all other teams in the men’s breaststrokes with 35 points. (LA had 34). But that was without Adam Peaty in the mix. Peaty should be the heavy favorite to win both the 50 and 100, though it’s worth noting his turns and pullouts are not his strength, and he’s not as unbeatable a target in short course as he is in long course. Peaty has also been sneaky-good in the 200 over his career when he’s focused on it. He may need to be great there, replacing Matthew Wilson, who won the 200 in Lewisville.

Fix the men’s fly races with James Guy: London was downright bad in the men’s butterflys, going 7-8 in the 50, 5-8 in the 100, and 5-8 again in the 200. James Guy should be an excellent addition there – at the very least, he’s a better entrant than backstroker Christian Diener in the 100 and freestyler Elijah Winnington in the 200. Maybe the biggest impact is the men’s medley relay, where Cameron McEvoy split 53.0 in a spot-start fly leg. Guy’s lifetime-best in short course is 50.6, which would move London up considerably.

Figure out where to use Mireia Belmonte: The Spanish star is the world record-holder in the short course 200 fly and 400 IM (and 800/1500 free, but those don’t really matter in the ISL format). She’s had some health issues in recent years, but has always been an absolute workhorse in terms of tough event combos and busy meet sessions. Two areas she could be a key addition: the 200 IM (where breaststroker Taylor McKeown filled in last week but missed the benchmark time badly and scored no points) and 200 fly (where London went 7-8 with Marie Wattel missing the benchmark time).

LA Current

• Full roster

Fix the women’s breaststrokes: this was a major depth issue last week. LA had to use backstroker Kathleen Baker as its second entrant in the 50 and IMer Bailey Andison in the 100/200, yielding three 7th-place finishes. Annie Lazor was good (1st in the 200, 3rd in the 100) in her primary events, but just doesn’t have the speed to contend in the 50, where she was 6th. Enter Jhennifer Conceicao, a Brazilian speedster who should be much better in the 50 and 100. She’s also likely an improvement to the medley relays (the B team lost to London’s B by a second) and should allow Andison to focus on the IMs in relief of the absent Ella Eastin.

Find a better balance between the relays & the skins: the main balance we’re talking about here is between the mixed free relay and the skins race, which happen pretty close to one another on the final day. LA took the strategy of rest and relying on depth: they held out all four of their skins entrants from the mixed relay to keep them fresh for the triple-point skins race. On the men’s side, that was the right call: Nathan Adrian made the skins final and the sprint depth was still great on the relays. For the women, though, LA went 4-5 in the skins and left off two 52-second legs from their mixed relays. Granted, one relay was DQ’d anyways, but if LA can keep that relay legal in Budapest, they’re probably better off seeing the loaded women’s skins field (Kromowidjojo and both London entrants are almost locks for the top 4) and putting all their rest on Geer, using Beryl Gastaldello on the mixed relay or maybe trying Aly Tetzloff in the skins.

Press the backstroke advantage: For a team with Ryan Murphy, Matt Grevers, Kathleen Baker and Amy Bilquist, coming out of Lewisville with just one backstroke win was a major whiff. Yeah, Murphy and Grevers were solid with 2-3 finishes in both the 50 and 100, but losing those races to London’s Guilherme Guido was a major factor in losing last week by 27.5. Baker is gone this week, so they’ll need to lean on Bilquist more in the women’s races, where Minna Atherton swept for London. Murphy’s got to find a way to beat Guido somewhere, and LA needs to find a second 200 back entrant – Tom Shields was carrying this team with seven swims including all three relays, but a 6th-place 200 back seemed like a poor use of his energy, especially with the men’s medley relay shortly thereafter.

Iron

• Full roster

Use Katinka Hosszu more: the Iron captain and effective namesake of the team is known worldwide for her ability to dominate in multi-swim sessions – it’s how she made a small fortune on the World Cup and suits her extremely well for the ISL format. Perhaps testing the waters early, Iron used Hosszu in exactly one swim per session. She won three events with ease: the 400 IM by three seconds, the 200 IM by one and the 200 fly by one-and-a-half. Meanwhile her third-place 200 back was three seconds ahead of fourth. That suggests Iron could try to increase Hosszu’s workload. A few strong possibilities:

• Women’s free relay: it’s a brutal double with the 400 IM, though the whole men’s 400 IM sits in between. But Hosszu has to be an improvement for relays that went 6-8 and had three 55s in the mix. Hosszu’s career-best is 52.1, though she really hasn’t swum the event much.
• 100 free: if Hosszu could even be within a second of her best, she’d be a big upgrade. Her career-best would have gotten 3rd; Iron took 8th with Kim Busch.
• 100 back or mixed free relay: these two are back-to-back in the same session as the 200 IM, so both are probably not an option. Hosszu’s lifetime-best 55.0 would have won the 100 back. She’s probably not going to be that fast late in the meet, but with Kathleen Baker out, Hosszu has a chance to be top-4, which took 58.0 in Lewisville. Iron took 8th in that event and almost missed the benchmark time. The mixed free relay is basically the same concept as the women’s free relay: Hosszu has to be comparable to or faster than a bunch of 54s and 55s, and Iron took 6th and 7th only due to a DQ to LA.

Dominate distance: Iron is set up to be outstanding in the distance races. That’s an undervalued discipline in the ISL format, so Iron really has to have a huge degree of dominance for it to overcome their sprint depth weakness. Henrik Christiansen could be a key there. His career-best 400 (3:36.6) from last December should make him a challenger to Winnington, and Iron could have two of the top three. David Verraszto is another chief addition – he could win the 400 IM, where Iron went 2-3 last time but lost 13-14 to LA.

Get a third swimmer into round 2 of skins: Things went about as well as they could have at the top in the skins, with Iron winning both men’s and women’s titles. But for a program struggling for sprinters, Iron was surprisingly close to having a third swimmer in the semis, where the points double. Kim Busch was 24.37 in the individual 50. A day later, she was 24.54 in the skins. It only took 24.22 to take fourth in the opening round and move on. If anyone tries to ‘game’ the format a little and hold back some energy in the first round, Busch could sneak in and up her point total from 2 (for 7th) to 10 (for 4th). For the men, they could hope that Pieter Timmers can get back towards the 21.30 he put up in 2017 – it took 21.31 to make top four in Lewisville.

New York Breakers

• Full roster

Pick Michael Andrew‘s spots more carefully: admittedly, this is almost the exact opposite of the route we just laid out for Hosszu, so maybe she finds that adding an event brings down all of her swims, or Andrew drops one event only to feel underused. Still, you couldn’t help but feel like the meet started to go pear-shaped for New York in the first two events, when Andrew faded to 4th in the 100 fly and came right back in a brutal double to fall to 7th in the 50 breast, an event he had a shot to win based on his career-best. The fatigue seemed to snowball for Andrew, who then took 4th in the 50 free before being relegated to the B medley relay. Maybe the secret is to let Andrew get some momentum and confidence going early before amping up his events. He could be extremely valuable in the ISL swimming straight 50s, and only crossing over into the 100s where the matchups make it worthwhile.

Cut down on the benchmark penalties: by our count, New York lost 8 points to benchmark penalties in Lewisville. That wasn’t exactly the 123.5-point difference between them and Iron, but it’ll make a difference down the road if things ever get close, here or at the American derby. Some of that is trying to enter swimmers more in primary events (rather than using versatile types to fill out lineups), but some is the team showing up much more prepared to swim in Budapest.

Figure out the relay lineups: there was some feeling out during the first meet of exactly how fast everyone would be in the ISL format. A few of New York’s relays looked ‘split,’ though it’s hard to say if that was intentional, or more a product of some big names swimming slower than expected. The women’s medley would have been 2nd overall, had they used Lia Neal (53.6 leadoff) or Ali Deloof (53.1 split) on the A instead of Gabby Deloof (54.0 split). They also have to find another backstroker for the women’s medleys: Tayla Lovemore was four seconds slower than most of the field, and she’s not really a backstroker. Maybe Catie Deloof is the answer (she’s 52.7 in yards) after New York unsuccessfully tried both of her sisters in various backstroke races. (Ali was pretty good in the 50/100, but a disaster in the 200; Gabby wasn’t very effective in the 100 or 200 and it seemed to set her back in the 200 free, too).

Projected Finish Order

1. London Roar
2. Iron
3. LA Current
4. New York Breakers

The Roar just look too good to lose. They might actually be primed to give Energy Standard a good run for its money – the European derby is going to be a blast.

The Aqua Centurions were much, much better in their home nation than they were in the U.S. in week 1. It’ll be worth watching to see whether Iron gets the same type of ‘home pool’ advantage that the Centurions got. For what it’s worth, several Iron swimmers mentioned how engaged the Hungarian fans are expected to be this week. ‘Home pool’ is a little less concrete than what’s really driving our projections: the addition of the three key swimmers for Iron (Verraszto, Christiansen, Ugolkova) and the loss of four major ones for LA (Baker, Eastin, Licon, Josa).

Read the full story on SwimSwam: 2019 ISL Budapest Preview: Change Could Be Brewing For Second Place

By Aglaia Pezzato on SwimSwam

 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE: BUDAPEST

• Gruppo B, Match 2
• Sabato 26 Ottobre – Domenica 27 Ottobre 2019
• Ore 18:00/20:00 ora locale
• Duna Arena, Budapest.
• Vasca Corta 25 metri
• Squadre: LA Current, New York Breakers, Iron, London Roar
• Diretta Streaming
• Info tecniche
• Programma gare

A 7 giorni dalla prima tappa del girone B la ISL si sposta nuovamente nel vecchio continente. Il 26 e il 27 Ottobre le quattro squadre si sfideranno alla Duna Arena di Budapest.

La squadra di casa, Iron Team cercherà di migliorare il 3 posto ottenuto a Dallas e per farlo la franchigia ungherese si affida a 3 nuove entrate nel proprio roster:

• David Verraszto : il mistista ungherese si unirà alla squadra capitanata dalla connazionale Hosszu. Verraszto vanta 3 bronzi ai mondiali di vasca corta in 3 edizioni consecutive, 2012,2014 e 2016.
• Henrik Christiansen:  Norvegese classe 96′ specialista delle distanze più lunghe del nuoto on vasca. E’ stato argento nei 400 ai mondiali di vasca corta 2018. E’ senza dubbio una pedina importante per lo scacchiere di ferro poiché affiancherà Milak che a Dallas è arrivato secondo nei 400.
• Maria Ugolkova: come nel caso di Verraszto anche dal lato femminile della squadra la novità riguarda il settore dei misti. L’atleta svizzera è infatti bronzo di vasca corta agli europei nei 200 misti ma ancor più utile alla causa della squadra sarà la sua versatilità. Per questo non stupirà vederla inserita anche nelle staffette dello stile libero gia da questo sabato.

Unica defezione della squadra rispetto alla formazione presentata ala prima uscita stagionale è quella di Gergely Gyurta. Il mezzofondista ungherese, fratello minore del campione olimpico della rana, sarà sostituito da Verraszto e Christiansen rispettivamente nei misti e nei 400 stile libero.

ROSTER COMPLETO IRON TEAM A BUDAPEST

• Gunnar Bentz

• Richard Bohus

• Henrik Christiansen

• Robert Glinta

• Dominik Kozma

• Kristof Milak

• Vladimir Morozov

• Erik Persson

• Sebastian Sabo

• PJ Stevens

• Adam Telegdy

• Pieter Timmers

• David Verraszto

• Alia Atkinson

• Katalin Burian

• Kim Busch

• Kimberly Buys

• Katinka Hosszu

• Zsuszanna Jakabos

• Ranomi Kromowidjojo

• Jenna Laukkanen

• Fanny Lecluyse

• Mie Nielsen

• Maria Ugolkova

• Jessica Vall Montero

APPROFONDIMENTI GRUPPO B

• SwimSwam Italia Preview
• Day 1  start lists
• RISULTATI PRIMA SESSIONE
• Day 1 RISULTATI COMPLETI
• RECAP DAY1
• Recap_live Dallas Day2
• London Roar guidano la classifica del Gruppo B
• leggi_qui l’approfondimento su LA Current
• qui l’approfondimento su NY Breakers
• leggi qui l’approfondimento su Iron
• qui l’approfondimento sui London Roar

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Christiansen, Verraszto e Ugolkova Si Aggiungono All’Iron Team

By Braden Keith on SwimSwam

Fitter and Faster Swim Clinics is the proud sponsor of SwimSwam’s College Recruiting Channel and all commitment news. For many, swimming in college is a lifelong dream that is pursued with dedication and determination. Fitter and Faster is proud to honor these athletes and those who supported them on their journey.

New UCLA head coach Jordan Wolfrum has begun to wind up her very first recruiting class in charge of the Bruins, with Crystal Murphy from San Francisco announcing her verbal commitment this week. A high school senior, Murphy attends Lowell High School and swims for The Olympic Club.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to continue my athletic and academic career at UCLA. I chose UCLA for its strong academics, stellar athletics, and welcoming team and staff. I can’t wait to be a Bruin!!

For a UCLA team with a lot of holes to fill, Murphy is a perfect piece in that she excels in all 4 strokes and the IM races. She leans toward sprint events, where she has the potential to contribute almost everywhere immediately upon arrival for the Bruins.

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I am thrilled to announce my verbal commitment to continue my academic and swimming career at UCLA! Thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout this process! Go Bruins

By SwimSwam Partner Content on SwimSwam

This week’s BSN Sports Swim Team of the Week is SwimAtlanta. Founded over forty years ago, SwimAtlanta serves the Atlanta area by providing everything from learn-to-swim instruction to specialized training for some of the top club athletes in the nation. Consisting of over 2000 swimmers across seven locations, SwimAtlanta is a USA Swimming gold medal team that last year ranked #3 across the nation in the Club Excellence program.

SwimAtlanta alumni including Olympians like Hans Dersch, Doug Gjertsen, Kathleen Hersey, Eric Shanteau, and Amanda Weir. The team continues to produce swimmers who shine on the national, college and international levels, including 2019 World Junior Championships gold medalist and Georgia Bulldog commit Jake Magahey.

Coach Chris Davis was one of the founders of SwimAtlanta back in 1977, and he still leads the club over 40 years later. BSN Sports Team Ambassador Jessica Hardy spoke with Chris to help readers get a sense of what makes Swim Atlanta special, as well as some of his reflection on over four decades on the pool deck.

Despite being a large, multi-site group, the SwimAtlanta coaches focus on the individual, something that’s reflected in Davis’ explanation of his coaching philosophy.

To make the sport fun for the athlete and to help each individual understand their potential as a swimmer. Additionally to create a road map for them to follow should they choose to realize that potential.

By keeping the focus on the individual, SwimAtlanta’s coaches are able to help swimmers develop both in and out of the pool.

It is my firm belief that in order to help the athlete to become a future leader you have to at all times hold them accountable. Their responsibility to the commitment they have made to themselves their teammates and the team are incredible learning experiences. They have to earn their times their respect from their teammates and the coaching staff. I think it is a gradual process but by enduring the highs and lows of the swimming journey your arrow points more towards being a leader.

At the same time, Davis points to SwimAtlanta’s ability to come together as a team as something that makes its team chemistry special

SwimAtlanta is unique as we train out of seven locations. So in many ways we are like seven different programs sharing ideas, training sets and experiences to the benefit of the whole team. This allows each location to contribute what they can to enhance the final team product. Competitive within the team but cohesive when we go to a meet as a team.

With over 40 years in the sport, Davis has had his share of struggles and successes.

My biggest struggle as a coach is to balance the business side of a SwimAtlanta with the coaching side. We have north of 100 employees 2000 swimmers and close to 20 thousand sets of lessons a year. Obviously with all of that a great deal of my day is spent on the business side of things. I have to physically close my door shut the business side off and change hats to my coaching one. This is when I usually write my workout for the day. This helps get my mind turned around to the coaching side of what I do. Truly the kids do not care what kind of problems I have had to solve before the start of practice. Nor should they. At that point they expect my undivided attention to help them toward whatever goal they have set for that season. So the balance of wearing two hats business and coaching and balancing both is my biggest challenge.

The challenges are worth it, though, as Davis has plenty of great memories to choose from when asked about his favorite one.

Having coached at Swimatlanta for close to 43 years there are so many amazing memories. Probably my three favorite are in no particular order. 1. 1985 when we won our first Junior National Championship. I think it validated us as a viable program. 2. When Hans Dersch made the Olympic Team in 1992. Hans was a home grown swimmer that started in our clinics for summer league swimmers and rose all the way to become an Olympian  3. When Amanda Weir made the Olympic team in 2004 and trumped that with an American record in 2006.

ABOUT BSN SPORTS 

Founded in 1972 as a factory-direct equipment company, today BSN SPORTS is the largest distributor of team sports apparel and equipment in the United States, with over 3,000 employees across 80 regional offices. At BSN SPORTS we believe that sports have the power to change lives. At the heart of what makes sports happen are the coaches, teachers and mentors who work with young and old alike to build meaningful lifelong experiences. That’s why our mission is simple. The more time we save coaches with everything they do off the deck, the more time they can spend changing lives. And that’s the real final score.

Get your swimmers in custom team gear with your team’s logo. My Team shop provides a one-stop-shop solution to custom apparel, suits, footwear, equipment and accessories. It’s simple to setup and the My Team Shop platform can even serve as a fundraising solution to earn dollars for your program. To set one up today email us at swimming@bsnsports.comor call 1-877-217-9027.

To learn more about BSN sports visit us at www.bsnsports.com/ib/swimming.

BSN SPORTS SWIMMING ON Instagram – @bsn_swimming

Read the full story on SwimSwam: BSN Sports Swim Team of the Week: SwimAtlanta

By Jared Anderson on SwimSwam

2019 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE: BUDAPEST

• Group B, Match 2
• Saturday, October 26 – Saturday, October 27, 2019
• 6:00-8:00 PM Local Time – UTC+2 (12:00-2:00 PM, U.S. Eastern Time)
• Duna Arena, Budapest, Hungary
• Short Course Meters (SCM) format
• ESPN3 Live Stream Links:
  • Day 1
  • Day 2
• Group B: Iron, LA Current, London Roar, New York Breakers

As we did with Group A, we’ll go team-by-team in Group B, projecting areas each team could move up from last week’s opening match. Some roster additions and subtractions have an intense battle brewing for second place.

London Roar

• Full roster

The rich get richer. London adds three stars after winning last week by 27.5. Here’s where they could improve:

Move from ‘great’ to ‘dominant’ in men’s breaststrokes: London already outscored all other teams in the men’s breaststrokes with 35 points. (LA had 34). But that was without Adam Peaty in the mix. Peaty should be the heavy favorite to win both the 50 and 100, though it’s worth noting his turns and pullouts are not his strength, and he’s not as unbeatable a target in short course as he is in long course. Peaty has also been sneaky-good in the 200 over his career when he’s focused on it. He may need to be great there, replacing Matthew Wilson, who won the 200 in Lewisville.

Fix the men’s fly races with James Guy: London was downright bad in the men’s butterflys, going 7-8 in the 50, 5-8 in the 100, and 5-8 again in the 200. James Guy should be an excellent addition there – at the very least, he’s a better entrant than backstroker Christian Diener in the 100 and freestyler Elijah Winnington in the 200. Maybe the biggest impact is the men’s medley relay, where Cameron McEvoy split 53.0 in a spot-start fly leg. Guy’s lifetime-best in short course is 50.6, which would move London up considerably.

Figure out where to use Mireia Belmonte: The Spanish star is the world record-holder in the short course 200 fly and 400 IM (and 800/1500 free, but those don’t really matter in the ISL format). She’s had some health issues in recent years, but has always been an absolute workhorse in terms of tough event combos and busy meet sessions. Two areas she could be a key addition: the 200 IM (where breaststroker Taylor McKeown filled in last week but missed the benchmark time badly and scored no points) and 200 fly (where London went 7-8 with Marie Wattel missing the benchmark time).

LA Current

• Full roster

Fix the women’s breaststrokes: this was a major depth issue last week. LA had to use backstroker Kathleen Baker as its second entrant in the 50 and IMer Bailey Andison in the 100/200, yielding three 7th-place finishes. Annie Lazor was good (1st in the 200, 3rd in the 100) in her primary events, but just doesn’t have the speed to contend in the 50, where she was 6th. Enter Jhennifer Conceicao, a Brazilian speedster who should be much better in the 50 and 100. She’s also likely an improvement to the medley relays (the B team lost to London’s B by a second) and should allow Andison to focus on the IMs in relief of the absent Ella Eastin.

Find a better balance between the relays & the skins: the main balance we’re talking about here is between the mixed free relay and the skins race, which happen pretty close to one another on the final day. LA took the strategy of rest and relying on depth: they held out all four of their skins entrants from the mixed relay to keep them fresh for the triple-point skins race. On the men’s side, that was the right call: Nathan Adrian made the skins final and the sprint depth was still great on the relays. For the women, though, LA went 4-5 in the skins and left off two 52-second legs from their mixed relays. Granted, one relay was DQ’d anyways, but if LA can keep that relay legal in Budapest, they’re probably better off seeing the loaded women’s skins field (Kromowidjojo and both London entrants are almost locks for the top 4) and putting all their rest on Geer, using Beryl Gastaldello on the mixed relay or maybe trying Aly Tetzloff in the skins.

Press the backstroke advantage: For a team with Ryan Murphy, Matt Grevers, Kathleen Baker and Amy Bilquist, coming out of Lewisville with just one backstroke win was a major whiff. Yeah, Murphy and Grevers were solid with 2-3 finishes in both the 50 and 100, but losing those races to London’s Guilherme Guido was a major factor in losing last week by 27.5. Baker is gone this week, so they’ll need to lean on Bilquist more in the women’s races, where Minna Atherton swept for London. Murphy’s got to find a way to beat Guido somewhere, and LA needs to find a second 200 back entrant – Tom Shields was carrying this team with seven swims including all three relays, but a 6th-place 200 back seemed like a poor use of his energy, especially with the men’s medley relay shortly thereafter.

Iron

• Full roster

Use Katinka Hosszu more: the Iron captain and effective namesake of the team is known worldwide for her ability to dominate in multi-swim sessions – it’s how she made a small fortune on the World Cup and suits her extremely well for the ISL format. Perhaps testing the waters early, Iron used Hosszu in exactly one swim per session. She won three events with ease: the 400 IM by three seconds, the 200 IM by one and the 200 fly by one-and-a-half. Meanwhile her third-place 200 back was three seconds ahead of fourth. That suggests Iron could try to increase Hosszu’s workload. A few strong possibilities:

• Women’s free relay: it’s a brutal double with the 400 IM, though the whole men’s 400 IM sits in between. But Hosszu has to be an improvement for relays that went 6-8 and had three 55s in the mix. Hosszu’s career-best is 52.1, though she really hasn’t swum the event much.
• 100 free: if Hosszu could even be within a second of her best, she’d be a big upgrade. Her career-best would have gotten 3rd; Iron took 8th with Kim Busch.
• 100 back or mixed free relay: these two are back-to-back in the same session as the 200 IM, so both are probably not an option. Hosszu’s lifetime-best 55.0 would have won the 100 back. She’s probably not going to be that fast late in the meet, but with Kathleen Baker out, Hosszu has a chance to be top-4, which took 58.0 in Lewisville. Iron took 8th in that event and almost missed the benchmark time. The mixed free relay is basically the same concept as the women’s free relay: Hosszu has to be comparable to or faster than a bunch of 54s and 55s, and Iron took 6th and 7th only due to a DQ to LA.

Dominate distance: Iron is set up to be outstanding in the distance races. That’s an undervalued discipline in the ISL format, so Iron really has to have a huge degree of dominance for it to overcome their sprint depth weakness. Henrik Christiansen could be a key there. His career-best 400 (3:36.6) from last December should make him a challenger to Winnington, and Iron could have two of the top three. David Verraszto is another chief addition – he could win the 400 IM, where Iron went 2-3 last time but lost 13-14 to LA.

Get a third swimmer into round 2 of skins: Things went about as well as they could have at the top in the skins, with Iron winning both men’s and women’s titles. But for a program struggling for sprinters, Iron was surprisingly close to having a third swimmer in the semis, where the points double. Kim Busch was 24.37 in the individual 50. A day later, she was 24.54 in the skins. It only took 24.22 to take fourth in the opening round and move on. If anyone tries to ‘game’ the format a little and hold back some energy in the first round, Busch could sneak in and up her point total from 2 (for 7th) to 10 (for 4th). For the men, they could hope that Pieter Timmers can get back towards the 21.30 he put up in 2017 – it took 21.31 to make top four in Lewisville.

New York Breakers

• Full roster

Pick Michael Andrew‘s spots more carefully: admittedly, this is almost the exact opposite of the route we just laid out for Hosszu, so maybe she finds that adding an event brings down all of her swims, or Andrew drops one event only to feel underused. Still, you couldn’t help but feel like the meet started to go pear-shaped for New York in the first two events, when Andrew faded to 4th in the 100 fly and came right back in a brutal double to fall to 7th in the 50 breast, an event he had a shot to win based on his career-best. The fatigue seemed to snowball for Andrew, who then took 4th in the 50 free before being relegated to the B medley relay. Maybe the secret is to let Andrew get some momentum and confidence going early before amping up his events. He could be extremely valuable in the ISL swimming straight 50s, and only crossing over into the 100s where the matchups make it worthwhile.

Cut down on the benchmark penalties: by our count, New York lost 8 points to benchmark penalties in Lewisville. That wasn’t exactly the 123.5-point difference between them and Iron, but it’ll make a difference down the road if things ever get close, here or at the American derby. Some of that is trying to enter swimmers more in primary events (rather than using versatile types to fill out lineups), but some is the team showing up much more prepared to swim in Budapest.

Figure out the relay lineups: there was some feeling out during the first meet of exactly how fast everyone would be in the ISL format. A few of New York’s relays looked ‘split,’ though it’s hard to say if that was intentional, or more a product of some big names swimming slower than expected. The women’s medley would have been 2nd overall, had they used Lia Neal (53.6 leadoff) or Ali Deloof (53.1 split) on the A instead of Gabby Deloof (54.0 split). They also have to find another backstroker for the women’s medleys: Tayla Lovemore was four seconds slower than most of the field, and she’s not really a backstroker. Maybe Catie Deloof is the answer (she’s 52.7 in yards) after New York unsuccessfully tried both of her sisters in various backstroke races. (Ali was pretty good in the 50/100, but a disaster in the 200; Gabby wasn’t very effective in the 100 or 200 and it seemed to set her back in the 200 free, too).

Projected Finish Order

1. London Roar
2. Iron
3. LA Current
4. New York Breakers

The Roar just look too good to lose. They might actually be primed to give Energy Standard a good run for its money – the European derby is going to be a blast.

The Aqua Centurions were much, much better in their home nation than they were in the U.S. in week 1. It’ll be worth watching to see whether Iron gets the same type of ‘home pool’ advantage that the Centurions got. For what it’s worth, several Iron swimmers mentioned how engaged the Hungarian fans are expected to be this week. ‘Home pool’ is a little less concrete than what’s really driving our projections: the addition of the three key swimmers for Iron (Verraszto, Christiansen, Ugolkova) and the loss of four major ones for LA (Baker, Eastin, Licon, Josa).

Read the full story on SwimSwam: 2019 ISL Budapest Preview: Change Could Be Brewing For Second Place

By Wendy Mayer on SwimSwam

Stanford, UCLA and Pacific held down the top three spots for the fourth straight week in the collegiate men’s water polo poll.

The Cardinal had the week off, while UCLA picked up three wins, defeating #3 Pacific (14-10), #20 Cal Baptist (12-6) and RV Whittier (10-8). Jake Cavano and Felix Brozyna-Vilim led the way against the Tigers, each putting in four goals. Brozyna-Vilim tacked on four more scores vs. CBU and a team-high two vs. Whittier.

In addition to their loss to the Bruins, the #3 Tigers managed a 17-16 win over #5 UC Santa Barbara.

UC Santa Barbara and Pepperdine each moved up a spot to #4 and #5.  The Waves posted wins over #12 UC Irvine 14-10 and #4 USC 13-12. Pepperdine got four-goal outings from Balazs Kosa and Marko Asic against UCI and a four-score effort by Mate Toth vs. the Trojans. 

USC dropped two positions from #4 to #6 with the loss to Pepperdine.

Long Beach State, Cal, Harvard and UC San Diego round out the Top 10, with the Crimson and Tritons sharing the #9 spot.

The biggest mover of the week was San Jose State, which climbed from #19 to #13. The Spartans split weekend road contests with Golden Coast Conference foes #7 Long Beach State and #12 UC Irvine. SJSU fell to LBSU 10-6 on Saturday, but rebounded with an 8-3 victory over the Anteaters on Sunday. Finn Pardon and Neil Arnett netted two goals apiece to pace San Jose State in the upset.

UCI in turn dropped two spots from #12 to #14. George Washington also fell two spots, from #15 to #17 after a 2-2 weekend. The Colonels bested MIT 14-9 and #20 St. Francis Brooklyn, but lost a 14-13 decision to #9 Harvard and a 16-10 contest to RV Brown.

Cal Baptist, last week’s #20, and Princeton, which was #18 a week ago, each dropped out of the Top 20, but remain among a list of four teams receiving votes in the poll.

Whittier was among the vote getters for the third straight week, while Navy is back after receiving votes in the first four polls as well as the Oct. 9 poll.

CWPA Poll – Oct. 23, 2019

Read the full story on SwimSwam: San Jose State Jumps 6 Spots to 13 in WP Poll, Stanford Remains #1 After Bye