I watched some of the Sunday ECAC sessions. There was a video/audio stream, Java scoreboard, and online heat sheets. Whoever was running the meet (Osterber?) did a good job! :agree:
Frank Thompson
I was at that meet where the DQ occurred and remember it clearly, but obviously my memory sucks!
Actually your memory is good. I went back looked at the results of the 1971 NCAA Championships and found out that Mark Spitz did indeed jump in the pool after the relay but it was after John Kinsella jumped in and he was the first one to do it and that is what I remember. Both swimmers realized that the third place team had not finished because they were almost a 25 behind at over 12 seconds and even though both swimmers jumped in and jumped out in almost the same instant and did not interfere with the other lanes finishes and no collision to the opposing team did not matter, they were immediately disqualified and USC won the race and set the record. Both teams went 10 seconds faster than the previous record.
USC actually won the race and Frank Heckel held on to the lead that his swimmers got him in the relay and touched out Gary Hall at the finish by the hundredths of a second. The DQ not only lost Indiana 26 points but nullified the 200 Free swim of Gary Hall of 1:38.37 which would have been the fastest split by a second over what anyone had done previous to that point. This swim happened just 15 minutes after he swam the 400 IM and set an NCAA/American record and won by 5 seconds. What else is interesting is that he went out in :46.74 which at that time was an unheard of split and many feel that he even would have gone faster if he had not done the 400 IM earlier.
At that meet and the two years previous, Gary Hall was the greatest swimmer in the world and Mark Spitz did not become the equal of Hall until the summer of 1971 when he became the first swimmer to win four National titles at one meet in Houston. At the meet Hall split the fastest 100 Fly ever in the 400 Medley at :47.70 and Mark Spitz won the 100 Fly at :49.42 in the individual event. Gary Hall won the 200 IM, 400 IM, and 200 Back and set NCAA/American Records in each event.
Doc Counsilmen called Hall's performances the greatest in the history of swimming up to that point in time. He said he watched great swimmers for 3 decades and rates Hall's performance as Number 1. "He was in five events," Counsilman notes, "and in every one of them, he swam faster than anybody ever had before. He was fantasic."
People were starting to point out that we're at the point that you sometimes get more and better information at home than you do at the pool.
Still, when something like this happens, the video stream doesn't quite do it justice. I was half-watching, probably reading something else at the same time, and then had a WTF moment when I looked back at the video and the scoreboard. (Great job by the woman from UNH!)
Event 317 Mixed 200 Yard Butterfly Time Trial
===============================================================================
Name Year School Finals
===============================================================================
1 Robinson, Andrew FR Fairfield 1:58.87
r:+0.67 25.90 55.65 (29.75) 1:26.21 (30.56) 1:58.87 (32.66)
2 Fowler, Mattie JR UNH 2:04.42
r:+0.80 28.23 59.78 (31.55) 1:32.20 (32.42) 2:04.42 (32.22)
3 Miller, Scott FR Loyola 2:04.81
26.46 56.76 (30.30) 1:30.21 (33.45) 2:04.81 (34.60)
www.collegeswimming.com/.../
Actually your memory is good.
Thanks for reposting on that subject, it was a shock for me to hear that I was so totally wrong on a story I thought I had down pretty good. You are the Supreme Swimming FactChecker and it seems the only thing I got wrong was the year -- for some reason I was thinking it was after the '72 Games.
One question, how do you do it?
Actually your memory is good.
Thanks for reposting on that subject, it was a shock for me to hear that I was so totally wrong on a story I thought I had down pretty good. You are the Supreme Swimming FactChecker and it seems the only thing I got wrong was the year -- for some reason I was thinking it was after the '72 Games.
One question, how do you do it?
Actually 1971 was the year I retired from competitive swimming. I only swam half of my first year in college. I pretty much followed the sport of swimming a lot from 1964 to about 1976, and I happen to have a good memory for these kind of things. The 1971 NCAA meet was probably one of the best swam meets of that year and it was a preview to what the 1972 Olympics would be. I went to a talk given by Doc Counsilman in 1989, and I remember he used the 1971 NCAA 800 Free Relay as a way to explain how to turn a negative situation into a positive situation in a Championship meet.
The 800 Free Relay qualified first in the prelims and broke the NCAA/American Record by 2/3 of a second and they were swimming just to get into the finals. Gary Hall did not swim prelims because of the 400 IM and having to do it twice before the 800 Free Relay. USC were the defending NCAA Champions and they qualified about 4 seconds behind Indiana. Earlier in the meet, USC went 1-2-4 in the 200 Free Final with Jim McConica winning the event. John Kinsella got 3rd in the event so this was going to be the Relay to watch at the meet.
Gary Hall swam in the final and had that tremendous split but it was not enough to catch USC. When the relay was DQ for the infraction, John Kinsella felt real bad and took total blame. Cousilmen said "don't worry about it" and "its no big deal because we are up by 74 points instead of 100." He also said tomorrow is another day and you know what to do. John Kinsella responded and swam probably at that time the most dominating 1650 Free ever. He won by 27 seconds and just about lapped everyone in the race. He lowered his American Record by 9 seconds. This was the positive that came after the negative.
The three swimmers on the DQ relay without Hall represented the USA in 1972 at the Olympics and won the gold medal in World Record time. The 3 swimmers were Gary Conelly, John Kinsella, and of course Mark Spitz.
Some clips from the Big 10 Championship prelims.
Build up to first race, 500 Free:
Led Zep "When the Levee Breaks"
YouTube - CLIP0089
500 Free first 100
YouTube - CLIP0091
200 IM
YouTube - CLIP0098
50 Free
YouTube - CLIP0099
50 Free three way swimoff!
YouTube - CLIP0104
Still, when something like this happens, the video stream doesn't quite do it justice.
3 Miller, Scott FR Loyola 2:04.81
26.46 56.76 (30.30) 1:30.21 (33.45) 2:04.81 (34.60)
You mean how bad the piano fell on this guy's back? Ouch! 56.76, 1:08.05 by 100 :)
another link to conference results
OB MENS PAC10 SWIMMING CHAMPS - 3/4/2009 to 3/7/2009
HOST: ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY, Sanction #: 09
BELMONT PLAZA POOL, LONG BEACH CA
is this a new american record in the 100 ***
1 Dugonjic, Damir SO C A L 51.83 51.41
23.90 51.41 (27.51)
