SO now we have Marchand going into a sort of zone meet and breaking the all time NCAA record, for the 500 free no less!!!! This dude really could swim it all, crushes his 50 breast split on the medley relay that also set an all time record, and then just waltzes through the 500 at record pace, and not shaved or fully tapered!

I dont think even Phelps had this sort of range, and no doubt Leon would crush the 1650 too if he had opportunity and a mind to. I cannot ever recall anyone with range from 50 to the distance events, and virtually in every single stroke. Havent looked, but how cool would it be if he could add the 400 free to his olympic program. I think he could crush it. I mean with a proper shave and taper, he would be like 4;03+ for that 500 free, mind boggling...

Regarding range, the freshman Kharun from ASU is now the first person to break 19 in the 50 and 15:00 in the 1650.

That maybe used to be considered top step range in those events, but that 1650 barley beats Ledecky. Of course he is only a freshman, so certainly time to close that gap for sure. But likely he will have to choose the sprints, because just sub 19 gets you no where these days, certainly not in the top 2 heats at NCAA's.

I think if Marchand did the 1650, he likely would be in the 14;30 +/- a few seconds, but certainly near the old records and quite a bit ahead of Katie..(-;

So did anyone see Dressel in the 50 the other day? He barely made the finals in the outside lane and then proceeded to rip the heat apart. But apparently the timing system was wonky and they did not get results for awhile. He and Alexi were the two that seemed to be in contention for the win, but in the end it was someone else getting 2nd and Dressel taking the win in 21.8. Really stoked for the guy to being going this fast during training blocks, and of course all the bearded guys in the heat are peaking for NCAA's coming up later. Good signs for our free relays that Alexi is backing up his break out year last year too, would be great to have those two making it in the 50 and 100 at Indy this June...

Almsot forgot, Caleb's starting block malfunctioned too, so could be why he was not ahead at the start as usual.. Here is a good work through of the race for those inclined to watch sprinting in slow motion;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khyX1PbLWkQ

I saw it live. I'm lucky that this is my regular pool. I was sitting in stands at the start by lane 8, so I had a good view of Dressel. It was amazing seeing Dressel work his way up. It was so strange when everyone was just waiting for times to popup. I loaded up peacock on my phone to figure out what was going on. I wonder how much variation there is between manual timers. Too bad there's no photo finish camera system like they have for track.

He broke 15 when he was 17, he’s likely sub 14:40 now, plus he’s a butterflyer, not a freestyler….

There’s been some chatter about it taking a 18 to get a second swim at NCAAs, we’ll see. But if not this year, soon, because there were 20 high schoolers who went a 19 this year.

My son swam there for an Illinois, Houston, Indiana tri meet last year. Love that place.

It’s a college level facility. Who pays for it?

It's a non-profit facility with interesting story of how it came together. The name of the pool FMC, stands for For My Community (I've also heard Children). The couple who started project were swim parents and founders of Athletico physical therapy, Kaufmann's. There's a lack of swim facilities in Chicagoland/Illinois that could hold larger competitions (IL masters state competition was sometimes held out of state. I know it's been in muncie in past which is at least 3 hrs away). It was also hard for the kids club swimmers to find a facility. There was huge demand from the surrounding area with highly competitive kids (I've swam next to Leah Hayes). The pool doesn't have a lot of open hours especially at night due to all the club practices. The couple and others worked with the city of Westmont which had a large plot of land donated to the city by Ty Warner founder Beanie Babies. The land was originally made into large community park. The soccer field was converted to the pool facility.

The camera system is VERY expensive to erect/test/operate. It will be in use for Trails and the Olympics, but outside of events of that magnitude is very rarely used. Sometimes the NCAA has a system that's not quite as sophisticated as Omega's and has been used for relay judging disputes. But for a grand prix it's not really all that necessary.

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I wrote this, you should read it:
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...n_Swimming_6700.html

he barely went underwater at all ;-) popped up after a couple of meters, surely would have been significantly faster without that block wobbling..
Caleb came back after the swim and shook the block, thought he was going to tear it off the deck..

good swims from Regan Smith too, I'm excited for Paris..