Junior Nationals' East-West Split Offers Better Glimpse at Rising Talent
Junior Nationals' East-West Split Offers Better Glimpse at Rising Talent
The Winter Junior National Swimming Championships were broken into East and West this time around. See how they match up.
The top junior swimmers in the United States showcased their speed at the Speedo Winter Jr. National Championships in College Station, Texas, and Columbus, Ohio, last week. And for the second straight year, Junior Nationals' split into an East-West format helped provide an improved look at America's up-and-coming swimming talent.
When Junior Nationals was "combined," it was no surprise to see 1,500 athletes swarming the deck, sessions dragging on for hours, and warm-up pools becoming a goulash of broken hands and black eyes that would make any pool capacity sign scream.
Now that the meet was back to an East-West split once again, the more important question was which side would reign supreme?
It was pretty even actually.
Heading into the event, I was curious to which times among these juniors would be in immediate scoring position at last season's NCAA championships. Comparing their times with last year's 16th-place NCAA results, I found out that the East had 10 female performances make the cut and four male performances. In the West, 12 performances from the women and five from the men made it into NCAA scoring position.
Now, of course, they're not all going to college next year. But I think it's a good barometer of the strength of America's juniors. This, of course, does not include all notable performances from the U.S., just the ones at these two meets.
Note: No monumental conclusion can be made on how effective these swimmers will be in the NCAA. I think I dropped 10 seconds in the 200 back from my senior year in high school to my sophomore year at Wisconsin. This is just an attempt at stacking up East vs. West. Who knows, USA Swimming? It could become a new Junior Duel in the Pool. Perhaps something similar to East vs. West All-Stars. If they do decide to ever do this, they need to make uni's like this year's NBA All-Star Game. And they need to give me shwag from both sides. (Sorry for using "shwag.")
By Adam Mania
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When Junior Nationals was "combined," it was no surprise to see 1,500 athletes swarming the deck, sessions dragging on for hours, and warm-up pools becoming a goulash of broken hands and black eyes that would make any pool capacity sign scream.
Now that the meet was back to an East-West split once again, the more important question was which side would reign supreme?
It was pretty even actually.
Heading into the event, I was curious to which times among these juniors would be in immediate scoring position at last season's NCAA championships. Comparing their times with last year's 16th-place NCAA results, I found out that the East had 10 female performances make the cut and four male performances. In the West, 12 performances from the women and five from the men made it into NCAA scoring position.
Now, of course, they're not all going to college next year. But I think it's a good barometer of the strength of America's juniors. This, of course, does not include all notable performances from the U.S., just the ones at these two meets.
MEN:
And dorm food is going to make these boys even bigger.
WOMEN:
Where are all the female milers?What can we conclude from this? This group of juniors is fast and has a bright future. Regan Smith, who notched three times that could have scored at NCAAs, is still 14. Kate Douglass is only 15. For many of these swimmers, we'll have to wait more than a year to see them compete in college. Also, there were several swimmers who just missed the scoring cuts by hundredths of seconds, but we had to draw the line somewhere.
Note: No monumental conclusion can be made on how effective these swimmers will be in the NCAA. I think I dropped 10 seconds in the 200 back from my senior year in high school to my sophomore year at Wisconsin. This is just an attempt at stacking up East vs. West. Who knows, USA Swimming? It could become a new Junior Duel in the Pool. Perhaps something similar to East vs. West All-Stars. If they do decide to ever do this, they need to make uni's like this year's NBA All-Star Game. And they need to give me shwag from both sides. (Sorry for using "shwag.")
By Adam Mania
--