These times are amazing:
Kyle van Niekerk - 13 year old!
His results were as follows:
100m Free: Gold in a winning time of 53.89 – New African and South African AG Record
50m Free: Gold in a winning time of 24.69 – a New African and South African AG Record and the fastest recorded time in the world for 13- year- olds during 2011.
Yes these are long course meters. Puts it all in perspective for us geezers :cane:
The high school order of events is pretty standard and the 500 free is the longest race. I've never heard of any high school meet deviating from the standard order of events and the order is the same for dual meets and championship meets. You are correct that it used to be the 400. I'm not sure what year the changeover occurred.
The high school order of events is pretty standard and the 500 free is the longest race. I've never heard of any high school meet deviating from the standard order of events and the order is the same for dual meets and championship meets. You are correct that it used to be the 400. I'm not sure what year the changeover occurred.
The changeover occurred in the 1973/1974 school year. The 1000 Free was never swam as a HS event and the 400/500 Free has always been the longest. In 1970, John Kinsella broke the National HS Record of 3:38.0 that was set by Mark Spitz and went the incredible time of 3:31.05 and that time converted is a 4:24 -4:25 range for the 500 Free. He would have won NCAA's by 8 seconds. I always go back and forth between this swim and the 4:16.39 swim as the greatest distance HS record ever. Kostoff's record has lasted longer, but Kinsella's swim was more dominate against all competition including NCAA and AAU competition. Tim Shaw swam a 3:33.1 in 1973 and he came the closest to the record until the event was retired.
The other High School change came with the addition of the 400 Free Relay in 1966 replacing the 200 Free Relay and that event was reinstated in 1989 and from then on there were two Free Relays. There has never been a 400 Medley Relay or an 800 Free Relay at the HS level Championships and the 200 Medley Relay is the only Medley Relay offered.
The 1000 is in the usual college dual meet order of events. It's the first event after the medley relay. The 1650 is swum less often, but always at the championship meets (and the 1000 is NOT swum at championships). At least that's how it's done in Division I. Not positive about the others.
Got you! But they don't swim the 1000 ever in high school, at least here in Pennsylvania, and I am not sure they do it in any other high schools nationally.
If that's true, this might help explain the nearly 30-year high school record for Jeffrey Kostoff.
Am I the only one who remembers swimming the 400 freestyle in high school? I could have sworn that's what the standard distance was circa 1969-1970.
Might it have been the case that the 400 in dual meets, and the 400 and 1000 in championship meets, were once the norm in high school meets?
Or am I misremebering?
Skip, I thought you told me once that Phil Dodson and some of his teammates made the cover of Swimming World when their high school 800 free relay time was the fastest in the nation, or something like that. Were they just swimming it in an AAU meet?
PS Congratulations on a sensational hour swim! I was looking forward to aging up, but it never seems to get any easier. Are you fellows juicing?
The Hinsdale High School Relay was on the cover of the February 1969 issue of Swimming World. In those days before the internet, they used to post the fastest times in the nation for HS events. John Kinsella and Mark Lambert had already gone low 1:44 in the 200 Free that season and they were ranked 1-2 at that point. With Gary Ferraro and Phil Dodson, there times added up to 7:10 and the comment was that would be a good 800 Free time for that time of the year of a Division I College Program.
They did not have an 800 Free Relay but those 4 swimmers went 3:09.9 in the 400 Free Relay to be 1st in the nation in 1970. Taper and rested I believe they would have been close to under 7 minutes they way they swam the individual event 200 Free with these four swimmers in 1970. In 1969, Mark Lambert and Phil Dodson were sophomores and Gary Ferraro and John Kinsella were juniors. The article said they can only get faster in the future and they did. Don Watson was the HS coach and he had one of the best if not the best HS team in the nation along with Santa Clara HS.
Interesting is the time they did at 3:09.9 in the 400 Free was 3 seconds from the High School National Record of 3:06.8 by Santa Clara HS in 1967 and that relay team had Jamison, Eagleston, Haywood, and Spitz. All those guys were All American sprinters except Spitz who was All American in everything except the 100 ***. That relay at the time was considered by many including myself to be the greatest HS Free Relay ever. That time broke the NCAA Record and American Record of 3:07.2 by Yale that was set in 1965. They didn't have the record long because Stanford went a 3:04.9 at the 1967 NCAA Championships. The Santa Clara relay would have been 4th that year behind Yale at 2nd, and USC at 3rd. I don't believe there has ever been a HS relay that has placed that high since. The Hindsdale Relay was probably better at the 800 distance and its to bad they didn't swim this the same time they swam the 3:09.9.
The Hour Swim was an improvement this year from last year and two years ago I went 125 more but I wore the B70 and so I think this swim was better. I juice every once in a while especially with carrots and if I had a diet with more vegetable juicing I would be lighter and faster. As you know your old college teammate, Larry Day does not need to do these things because he is naturally fast.
Frank, we have to download your mind contents into some sort of Historical Swimming Database.
You are the most knowledgeable swimming historian on Earth, I am certain of it!
Perhaps you could see if Laura Hammel at Swimmer would pay you to write a Now and Then column about some of the great masters swimmers who were great in the day, too. I am sure it would be extremely popular!
I met Phil Dodson at a LCM meet in Maryland a few summers ago. He is such a nice and unassuming guy. His times that summer were incredibly good--example:
1 Phil L Dodson 55 IM Illinois 2:09.25
But unless you told me about his high school days, I'd never have known what a celebrity he was (and, in our world, still is.)
There's got to be a ton of fascinating stories out there, and I suspect you know them all.
One of the most impressive age group records is
Jesse Vassalo's 15:31.03 13-14 boys 1500 LCM FR from 1976
National age group records
LCM.
SCY
The only 10 and under girls time I have beaten so far this season is the 100 yard free, and only by a couple tenths!
Chelsea Nauta FL 55.23
Thanks, Ande, for keeping things in perspective for me!
As for the 11-12 year old girls, well, Missy Franklin's 100 free 50.27 and Kylie Stewart's 200 free 1:49.64, to say nothing of Chloe Sutton's 1650 16:34.13 do not look to be in the cards for this 59 year and over boy!
The changeover occurred in the 1973/1974 school year. The 1000 Free was never swam as a HS event and the 400/500 Free has always been the longest. In 1970, John Kinsella broke the National HS Record of 3:38.0 that was set by Mark Spitz and went the incredible time of 3:31.05 and that time converted is a 4:24 -4:25 range for the 500 Free. He would have won NCAA's by 8 seconds. I always go back and forth between this swim and the 4:16.39 swim as the greatest distance HS record ever. Kostoff's record has lasted longer, but Kinsella's swim was more dominate against all competition including NCAA and AAU competition. Tim Shaw swam a 3:33.1 in 1973 and he came the closest to the record until the event was retired.
The other High School change came with the addition of the 400 Free Relay in 1966 replacing the 200 Free Relay and that event was reinstated in 1989 and from then on there were two Free Relays. There has never been a 400 Medley Relay or an 800 Free Relay at the HS level Championships and the 200 Medley Relay is the only Medley Relay offered.
Skip, I thought you told me once that Phil Dodson and some of his teammates made the cover of Swimming World when their high school 800 free relay time was the fastest in the nation, or something like that. Were they just swimming it in an AAU meet?
PS Congratulations on a sensational hour swim! I was looking forward to aging up, but it never seems to get any easier. Are you fellows juicing?
