Debating doing College Swimming... Never Swam Competitively
Former Member
Here is the low down guys. I am a Sophomore at a pretty average division 1 university. I am a member of the cross country and indoor/outdoor track teams so i have been competitively racing for almost 6 years. I have never swam on a team before but... I want to! I feel as if I've gone mad. I want to try in college!! Next year, not this year, I need to get my base up i know that. off of 2 swims a week (500yards) i swim 500 yards free in 7:48 as of yesterday (you dont need to tell me how slow that is I already know). I am not afraid of hard work, swimming 2+ hours a day I can do that. I want to try! can anyone tell me what I need to do to see if i can get to around 5 flat in the 500 yard free? or a fast 1000 time it doesn't matter, just good enough to walk on the team. the weird thing is, i think I am a better swimmer than I am a runner. the pool just seems to click for me. can anyone help me out? I am willing to swim every day from now till next swim season to make this dream a reality! ...ps i'm a guy if that matters
Good but not great???? 4:14 would be top 5 at NCAA Div I and the everyone's sub 4:25 were all at the B cuts.Yeah, that seems to be a very strong program.
Though, having said that, the depth in USA and collegiate swimming amazes me.
And, to the bigger question, I'd second swimosaur's comments, but encourage xcrunswimmer to:
Start NOW with a local USMS program with a good coach. See where you can get over the next year by devoting yourself to USMS
The next step up would be a good USAS (age group program), but you'll need to get much faster before you could train with kids you might be comfortable training with.
As a point of reference, if you were to show up on the doorstep of my kids' USAS team (~top 40 age group program in the country), you'd be about the speed of the decent (but not great) 8-9 year olds (e.g., 7:48 ranks about 100th in the country for 8 year old boys)
At the end of the day, though, you actually came to the right place first - US Masters is designed, built and perfect for you.
Good but not great???? 4:14 would be top 5 at NCAA Div I and the everyone's sub 4:25 were all at the B cuts.Yeah, that seems to be a very strong program.
Though, having said that, the depth in USA and collegiate swimming amazes me.
And, to the bigger question, I'd second swimosaur's comments, but encourage xcrunswimmer to:
Start NOW with a local USMS program with a good coach. See where you can get over the next year by devoting yourself to USMS
The next step up would be a good USAS (age group program), but you'll need to get much faster before you could train with kids you might be comfortable training with.
As a point of reference, if you were to show up on the doorstep of my kids' USAS team (~top 40 age group program in the country), you'd be about the speed of the decent (but not great) 8-9 year olds (e.g., 7:48 ranks about 100th in the country for 8 year old boys)
At the end of the day, though, you actually came to the right place first - US Masters is designed, built and perfect for you.
