This past weekend, Kate Ziegler took a major step to being one of the premium distance swimmers in the World. She broke the Janet Evans American Record of 4:34.39 in the 500 Free which was set back in 1990 at the Women's NCAA meet. She broke Janet Evans National HS record of 4:37.30 by almost 4 seconds. Last year Kate Ziegler went 4:37.67 in the 500 Free, so the HS record really wasn't a suprise. I believe the American Record was and this is a major breakthru swim for Kate Ziegler.
She also tied the 200 Free National HS Record at 1:45.49 which was almost as impressive as the 500 Free. Sippy Woodhead went 1:44.10 in the 200 Free in the 10th grade, but did not do that time in a HS meet. In HS she went 1:45.98, which was the record until a couple of years ago.
You hardly ever see swimmers in HS break American Records. I remember when Mark Spitz in 1967/1968 had 3 American Records and tied another. His :49.1 in the 100 Yard Fly was his most impressive and that HS record stood for 12 years. Some other impressive HS was Jeff Kostoff, 1983, 500 Free record which is still on the HS books at 4:16.39 and he broke the American Record by .01 which was held by Brian Goodell.
Another impressive HS record was one performed by Andy Coan in 1975, going :43.99 and breaking the HS of Joe Bottom of :45.00 and that was also an American Record. Another impressive HS record was one performed by John Kinsella in 1970. In those days HS swimmers swam the 400 Yard Free and not the 500 Free and I believe the HS federation switched in 1974/1975 to the 500 Free. He broke the HS record of 3:38.00 by Mark Spitz and took it down to 3:31.05 in 1970. What's impressive about that is that the NCAA Champion that year went a 4:33 in the 500 and his time converted to a 500 would have been in the 4:24 to 4:25 range. He set the American Record at 4:27 and won the AAU Nationals in 1970 as a senior in HS.
Could this be the start of Janet Evans 18 year old records being broken? It will be interesting to see if the 4:03, the 8:16, and the 15:52 World Records get broken at some international meets in the next year.
www.washingtonpost.com/.../AR2006022501879.htmlwww.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../10929.asp
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Former Member
She beat the boy's champion pretty handily, too, at this meet.
Her HS coach has a deal worked out with her "real" coach to where he acts as a virtual coach and all-around supporter. I've swum masters with her HS coach, too, and it's good to see a coach with such a flexible and beneficial attitude for the sport.
In my heyday it was AAU or HS, never both, under a certain prominent coach. The no-compromise approach was broken with a subsequent coach and, I think, did both venues a lot of good. And boy was it a lot of fun, too, with all of the social dynamics that accompanied.
But now she's faster than I ever was (or ever will be again), so there's a funny feeling there, too.
Hope she's the next Big Thing, wouldn't that be fun to watch - Go Kate!
DV
She beat the boy's champion pretty handily, too, at this meet.
Her HS coach has a deal worked out with her "real" coach to where he acts as a virtual coach and all-around supporter. I've swum masters with her HS coach, too, and it's good to see a coach with such a flexible and beneficial attitude for the sport.
In my heyday it was AAU or HS, never both, under a certain prominent coach. The no-compromise approach was broken with a subsequent coach and, I think, did both venues a lot of good. And boy was it a lot of fun, too, with all of the social dynamics that accompanied.
But now she's faster than I ever was (or ever will be again), so there's a funny feeling there, too.
Hope she's the next Big Thing, wouldn't that be fun to watch - Go Kate!
DV
