How far did you go? High school and stop? Continue to college? Club? Zone, Junior Nations, Nationals, or Olympic trials?If you swam in college how much of ride did you get? None, Partial or Full? What school (if you don’t mind sharing)If you swam in college what were your times like ages 16-18 to get noticed? AAA or AAAA? These are US standards I don’t know if they are international or not
- high school
2-5 N/A
I swam from 6 years old through high school. I don’t think I ever got an AA time, but it was so long ago I am not sure. Got stacks of ribbons and one held the club record for 6&under 25 fly. First kid to make it across without a DQ.
I was never a fast swimmer until I raced against non-swimmers. One of the top Jr Lifeguard swimmers in the state and 25 years later I can easily do a 2.4 miles swim in under an hour.
How far did you go? High school and stop? Continue to college? Club? Zone, Junior Nations, Nationals, or Olympic trials?If you swam in college how much of ride did you get? None, Partial or Full? What school (if you don’t mind sharing)If you swam in college what were your times like ages 16-18 to get noticed? AAA or AAAA? These are US standards I don’t know if they are international or not
- Swam for a club. I was the only member of my HS team and just did sectionals and state. Our state had some law the HS has to offer the sport if someone is interested. No pool was not an excuse to not offer.
- Senior Nats for some events.
- I had a full ride but chose another route soon after HS.
- Doesn’t matter.
- AAAA times except for backstroke. Hated that stroke. Still do. You do not need AAAA times to get noticed by good institutions.
Most NCAA Div I programs that are in the hunt each year for a title will look at their depth in the events to ensure being competitive year in and year out. This plays a huge factor in their recruitments. It’s just like a chess match. Obviously the more events one could swim well the nicer it looks on paper. On the flip side I believe a good education can be had at any level like the Div I-AA, Div II, etc. I had friends with AA times get partials at the I-AA level. Walk-on was pretty easy as well if they had room on the roster.
I had friends with AA times get partials at the I-AA level. Walk-on was pretty easy as well if they had room on the roster.
I wonder if this is something that has changed over time? I’m assuming this was in the past a bit? At the University of Tampa(DII) a kid has to have met a AAA for 16-18’s cut in an event to be considered for a walk on slot.
- university in Canada
- qualified for canadian University champs in my final year. Just missed 3 other years.
- None. At the time no canadian schools did athletic scholarships that I’m aware of. I wouldn’t have gotten one anyway.
4 u of Waterloo
5 maybe a 1:02 for 100 fly scm. Nothing outstanding, but we didn’t “get noticed”. We just showed up to a pre season meeting and as long as you were OK, you got to train and at least do dual meets. We had higher standards for provincial champ teams, and CIAU’s (now cis) were by qualification.
I had friends with AA times get partials at the I-AA level. Walk-on was pretty easy as well if they had room on the roster.
I wonder if this is something that has changed over time? I’m assuming this was in the past a bit? At the University of Tampa(DII) a kid has to have met a AAA for 16-18’s cut in an event to be considered for a walk on slot.
Definitely been awhile ago. Back then it was juniors and seniors in college that dominated. You came up through the college program. I looked at some results for Tampa recent meets and last years top 3 Men and it is probably 90% freshman and sophomores holding top 3 spots. I guess Tampa is also one of the “powerhouses” of the sunshine conference so they can attract better talent/times. It’s like walking onto Stanford. Both can be a little more picky. More kids probably looking at Tampa than say North Dakota (hypothetical) as well. Ybor City vs. cold rock. I know where I would have picked if those were my choices.
I would think more competition to get on in most places is probably the general rule now as the depth of swimming has gotten so much better at the AG level. There were some fast times back then but now there a lot of those fast times (which have gotten faster as well). I would advise anyone though to not limit yourself to just a few universities/schools when looking. There are a lot of quality athletic and academic programs out there that would love to have a good all-around kid.
- two years swimming for a Canadian university team
- Missed qualifying for Nationals by 0.3s in the 100 breast
- nada
- U of New Brunswick
- I wasn’t noticed, I’m sure my coach at University had no clue who I was when I showed up 1st year.
nebmot:
How far did you go? High school and stop? Continue to college? Club?
HS was my only ‘growing up’ swimming. Never swam clubs and didn’t know how to put my face in the water until after I joined the team.
Zone, Junior Nations, Nationals, or Olympic trials?
No to all of the above. (I’ve never even heard of the first one.)
If you swam in college how much of ride did you get? None, Partial or Full?
Walked on. So, no initial money. Coach gave me some junior and senior year due to work ethic and money left over.
What school (if you don’t mind sharing)
VU
If you swam in college what were your times like ages 16-18 to get noticed? AAA or AAAA? These are US standards I don’t know if they are international or not
I never got noticed. Not recruited. I didn’t even intend to swim in college. I got asked by a couple of the teammates in college when I went to the pool to workout and was fixing their stroke flaws and keeping up with their sets. It wasn’t a great team, skill wise.
nebmot:
How far did you go? High school and stop? Continue to college? Club?
HS was my only ‘growing up’ swimming. Never swam clubs and didn’t know how to put my face in the water until after I joined the team.
Zone, Junior Nations, Nationals, or Olympic trials?
No to all of the above. (I’ve never even heard of the first one.)
If you swam in college how much of ride did you get? None, Partial or Full?
Walked on. So, no initial money. Coach gave me some junior and senior year due to work ethic and money left over.
What school (if you don’t mind sharing)
VU
If you swam in college what were your times like ages 16-18 to get noticed? AAA or AAAA? These are US standards I don’t know if they are international or not
I never got noticed. Not recruited. I didn’t even intend to swim in college. I got asked by a couple of the teammates in college when I went to the pool to workout and was fixing their stroke flaws and keeping up with their sets. It wasn’t a great team, skill wise.
Vincennes??!!! friend walked on their basketball team had a blast there.
Vincennes??!!! friend walked on their basketball team had a blast there.
Nah. Right state, wrong corner. Valparaiso
Vincennes??!!! friend walked on their basketball team had a blast there.
Nah. Right state, wrong corner. Valparaiso
Yup know it well and used to stay with friends in Merrillville the night b/f Leon’s tri back in the day.
How far did you go? High school and stop? Continue to college? Club? Swam Club, High School and College
Zone, Junior Nations, Nationals, or Olympic trials?** I had Junior cuts in 7 or 8 events and Nationals in 1 or 2**
If you swam in college how much of ride did you get? None, Partial or Full?Freshman year 85%, Full ride after that.
What school (if you don’t mind sharing)** Clemson**
If you swam in college what were your times like ages 16-18 to get noticed? AAA or AAAA? These are US standards I don’t know if they are international or not.** I never followed AAA standards or whatever. I focused on cuts. The answer to the question above were high school stats, so that was age 16-18. **
- Not very, was a solid B in most strokes and A, AA in free & backstroke
- hahaha
- hahaha swim coach said I was too slow to swim with the girls so I ran XC instead where I managed to outrun the girls, somehow.
- East Carolina
- my times were so slow no one noticed me.
But I will say my 2 years of being a very mediocre and somewhat dedicated club swimmer has enabled me to be an above average triathlete swimmer & given me the ability to swim fast compared to most off of very, very limited swimming.
Thanks to all for the comments, this isn’t to gauge my son’s triathlon ability, maybe later on for that. Right now he is 12 and already qualified in several strokes for Zone in Maui next summer. Just trying to gauge him getting picked up by a college if he stays on the path he is on.
For those wondering what Zone is, USA Swimming is divided into 4 zones, and they have a championship meet in each zone. We are in the western zone, so from Texas and north of it to Hawaii.
nebmot:
How far did you go? High school and stop? Continue to college? Club?
Swam competively from age 6 four seasons a year until junior in high school. Got burned out and coach made me pick between skiing and swimming. I picked skiing ;0(
Zone, Junior Nations, Nationals, or Olympic trials?
Had tryout for eastern regional team .I was a little fish in a big sea.
I was very good at county level and okay at state level but just a guppy in a ocean of sharks at national level.
If you swam in college how much of ride did you get? None, Partial or Full?
I trained with my high school team when in middle school and with Rider college swim team under coach Cappola when In high school.
What school (if you don’t mind sharing)
I did not swim in college but worked instead and then dropped out to become a professional firefighter. My best advice is to keep it fresh and don’t push him. Print let him get burned out or bored. It is a thin line.
If you swam in college what were your times like ages 16-18 to get noticed? AAA or AAAA?
N/A.
- Started at age 4 swam through college.
- None of the above.
- None.
- Fresno State
- I was a walk-on, times were not too fast, and in Southern California they used different times with the same labels.
Spoke a couple days ago to a college swimmer who competes for Whitworth a competitive team among small schools. He is a former student @ h.s. where I teach and was one of the better h.s. swimmers in Montana (but only a state champ in relay I think not individual. MT is not a strong swim state compared to some of our running & maybe football) …There are some pretty speedy times even in NAIA and D 3. As in guys close to 45-46 in the 100 free short course , 1.43 in 200 free & 50-51 in 100 back. Very few to no scholarships @ that level I think …
Swam for a really high volume at a young age… 5 hour Sunday’s by age 12, burnt out by the end of high school.
Went 1:00/2:11 100 and 200 breast, 4:12 400 IM, 4:55 500.
Ran at a D1 school instead of swam, on half scholarship.
Was mostly talking to coaches of back of pack D1 schools and some D3 schools that were good like Emory. I initiated a lot of e mails to coaches, which I think helped. Many were happy that I showed initiative. In the end decided to run… Then our teams were cut for running! (Not actually relevant except for starting triathlon and otherwise would not have read this post)
How far did you go? High school and stop? Continue to college? Club? Zone, Junior Nations, Nationals, or Olympic trials?If you swam in college how much of ride did you get? None, Partial or Full? What school (if you don’t mind sharing)If you swam in college what were your times like ages 16-18 to get noticed? AAA or AAAA? These are US standards I don’t know if they are international or not
Swam 8 to 23.
First 4 years summer swimming then year round age groups. Then at University of Calgary.
Finals at Youth Nationals/Sr Nationals in Canada.
Jr National Champion x3 Individual / meet record
Umpteen team titles at SR.
4th Canada Games after being on IVs for food poisoning.
Finals at World Cup
9th US Open
Podium at CIAU in 200 Fly (2/5 years, 4th 3/5 years) (Cdn University Nationals), 2 Team Titles, Gold 4x100 Medley Relay in my last varsity race. Top 16 x2 in the 1500 Free.
The team from Bozeman came to a meet in Calgary when I would have been probably 15 or so. They thought they were pretty good and were quite taken aback by the depth of talent. Truth be told most of the fast kids at the meet were from Calgary or Edmonton which at the time (~92) had a combined population of 1.6 million. (Today is just around 2.3 million).