2007 NCAA Division I 50 freestyle SCY

Here is a video of the Men's 50 Freestyle from NCAAs for those of you that haven't seen it: www.youtube.com/watch

Gary was the second. Gary finished behindJoe Bottom at the 1977 NCAA champs. They were both under 20 but Joe got to the wall first. okay, only for acuracy sake: Joe went under 20 in prelims and finals, Gary went a 20.02 prelims and then went under 20 himself in finals. So even if Gary had won the event, he would have been the 2nd guy under 20. Gary also went a 22.4 in the 50 M LC in 1980 at the meet that the boycotting nations attended. This was the fastest time in history at that point. But it wasn't a recognized event, and the race was not officially recognized (the official results show Gary going 23 something, because there were starter problems. Gary went 22.4 in the unoffical redo).

LOL! Really Old School swimmers are still doing the windmill, from which I switched to grab/track (haven't chosen one yet) only two years ago. Thanks for pointing this out because I was wondering why the grab start is called the grab start. What confused me is that You "grab" in the track start , too. Now I see the grab start name was to differentiate it from the windmill start where you didn't actually grab the block.

The track start that my college coaches have taught me, I am not 100% sure its more efficient for me in terms of power and distance off the start, but my reaction time is better. But, the start they have tried to teach is very shaky, and all your weight is on that front foot, so it's a real tough balancing act... I tend to use the track start for the 50-200free events, and grab starts for the 100fly and ims...idk why, but thats what I've just done for a couple of years now and now it's mostly out of habit. It's interesting how you use a different start for the different events. I have heard, read and been told by coaches that the grab start is slower on reaction off the blocks but a more powerful start, The track start is a quicker start for the short sprints. My son (he's 14) learned the track start a few years ago but this past year he went back to the grab start for all his events. He's a sprinter (fly/free) and IM'er. He likes it because he says he's more stable on the blocks and hasn't had a false start since changing back to the grab.

That may be true, but what ultimately matters is whether it gets you to the 15 meter mark faster than the grab start. It seems to me the two-foot "grab" start allows more power from the legs, so you're probably sacrificing a little on the reaction speed side, but gaining some on the initial horizontal velocity side. Maybe for people that have the track start really dialed in this isn't true. I totally agree! I use the grab start. My strength is in my legs so it is the better start for me. I've tried the track start and it just doesn't work for me.

The track start that my college coaches have taught me, I am not 100% sure its more efficient for me in terms of power and distance off the start, but my reaction time is better. But, the start they have tried to teach is very shaky, and all your weight is on that front foot, so it's a real tough balancing act... I tend to use the track start for the 50-200free events, and grab starts for the 100fly and ims...idk why, but thats what I've just done for a couple of years now and now it's mostly out of habit.

okay, only for acuracy sake: Joe went under 20 in prelims and finals, Gary went a 20.02 prelims and then went under 20 himself in finals. So even if Gary had won the event, he would have been the 2nd guy under 20. Gary also went a 22.4 in the 50 M LC in 1980 at the meet that the boycotting nations attended. This was the fastest time in history at that point. But it wasn't a recognized event, and the race was not officially recognized (the official results show Gary going 23 something, because there were starter problems. Gary went 22.4 in the unoffical redo). Lefty: I remember that meet real well. It was the Hawaii Invitational and it was held in Honolulu in August of 1980 and was a farewell for the 1980 Olympic team members and others as a last meet in there careers. One of the others was Gary Schatz, who got 6th place in the 100 Free at the 1980 Olympic Trials and would have made the Olympic team, but like 1976 there was no Men's 400 Free Relay so he did not make the team. He missed making the 1976 Olympic team by .03 in the 100 Free and there was no 50 Free back in those days, so he never made the Olympic team. He was also the second man to go under 20 seconds, but never got the record because Joe Bottom did it first. The 50 Free was a new event internationally and he was one of the first great 50 swimmers of that era. When Bruce Stahl set the WR in the prelims at the 1980 Nationals with a :22.83 time, he was beaten in the finals by both Gary Schatz and Rowdy Gaines. Schatz won with a time of :22.86, just missing the record by .03 and Rowdy Gaines did a :22.91 and Bruce Stahl did a :22.92 and it was Gary's first National title. At the Hawaii Invitational, Joe Bottom did a :22.83 to tie the record in the prelims. In the finals he did a :22.71 for the new record. There was a lot of controversey about the final. When the starter's horn when off, Gary Schatz was left on the blocks standing. A lot of people that saw the race thought it was a fast if not false start and the field should have been called back. Schatz was just coming down when everyone hit the water. He nearly made up this disadvantage and passed swimmers like Chris Cavanaugh and Kris Kischner but ending up taking 3rd and almost caught Scott Findorff who was second with a time of :22.99 and Schatz's time was :23.02. Because of the contoversial start, a special 50 Free time trial was set up to see if Gary could break Bottom's record at the conclusion of the meet. This would be the final swim of his career. During this time trial, Gary had a good start and blasted a :22.47 to literally shatter the record. However the controversy continues. Gary Schatz's time however was not submitted for official recognition for the record or for the world rankings because it was not timed by fully automatically, meaning that the starter's electonic horn was not used but instead a hand held gun was used as the starting device. Ray Essick, who was the USA Swimming Director at the time would not permit Colorado Timing System personal to move the automatic timing equipment to the other end of the pool, so the race was hand started with a gun but electonically timed. Essick explained later why the race would not be timed fully automatically, saying that Schatz had had his chance in the individual 50 Free race itself and it wouldn't be fair to let him have a second chance at the record, particularly when Bottom was not swimming the race. So Gary Schatz's last race of his career that everyone had thought was a World Record was nothing but an exibition swim that did not count for anything. Years ago I talked to Jim Montgomery about this and he saw the final race and confirmed that it was a very rocky start to say the least and that from what he saw there is nothing that could not convince him that Gary Schatz did not go that :22.47 judging from the finals race and the time trial swim. So that is the story about the controversy about starter problems.

I hope to someday start from off the blocks to find out......will let you know.:)

I teach the kids on my team both starts and then evaluate from there. Some of them are really slow and give up too much power by doing the track start, so they do the other. Others are just so quick that the grab start doesn't make sense for them. I think it just depends on the person.