How many guys from other countries does it take to win a National Championship?
Good thing they all attended classes on campus the entire year..... :-)
Makes everyone feel proud to see the American Record holder on the 4th place podium.
On a slightly different note...
One thing that I find interesting about this discussion is that the role of college swimming in determining the composition of the US Olympic team is less than it has been in a long time.
Twenty years ago, if you looked at the US finalists at the most recent NCAA championships, you were pretty certain that you would find most of them in the finals of Olympic Trials, vying for spots on the team (especially the men).
That is no longer the case. In this age of the significant post-collegiate swimming career, it was not at all unusual to find events at the last Olympic Trials in which recent NCAA champions were dark horses to make the team, and would barely even make the finals.
It may not even be a stretch to say that the role of collegiate swimming in the training of US Olympians is about what the role of HS training programs used to be, twenty years ago.
On a slightly different note...
One thing that I find interesting about this discussion is that the role of college swimming in determining the composition of the US Olympic team is less than it has been in a long time.
Twenty years ago, if you looked at the US finalists at the most recent NCAA championships, you were pretty certain that you would find most of them in the finals of Olympic Trials, vying for spots on the team (especially the men).
That is no longer the case. In this age of the significant post-collegiate swimming career, it was not at all unusual to find events at the last Olympic Trials in which recent NCAA champions were dark horses to make the team, and would barely even make the finals.
It may not even be a stretch to say that the role of collegiate swimming in the training of US Olympians is about what the role of HS training programs used to be, twenty years ago.
