My in-laws are all former swimmers, and one of my wife’s uncles still does a lot of meets and open water swimming and is very involved in officiating, USMS, etc. I’ll call him Uncle A. As an adult onset swimmer who is regarded by these folks generally as a talented athlete they are always shocked at my slow swimming. I mentioned to my father-in-law that I can only do 32 seconds for a 50 scy and he was blown away and told me all about how he was under 30 by 7th grade.
Anyway…
The topic of a kid one of them knows who is a sophomore in high school who swims a 49 for 100 scy and Uncle A says “That’s pretty pedestrian.”
Everyone seems a bit incredulous. I ask him what does that mean? How many high school kids are under 49? over 1000? He guffaws and says WAAAYYY over 1000. Just in his district in NoCal every single high school team has at least one kid under 49 and on some teams EVERYONE is under 49.
I can say from my experience (though I’m in Canada), that a 49s 100y free would put you in the finals (top 8) for the provincial champs at the HS senior level. Of course, there would have been people who could have hit this sort of time, but swam other events instead (we had a 2 event + 1 relay limit when I raced), but I would not classify this as a ‘common’ time at all.
Winter juniors cuts it’s a 45.39. That is what you would call “fast†on a national scale. 15 year old males arent quite fully developed. But if a 15 year old kid has been swimming year round since he was 8 and he only does a 49 he is not fast. But also know that a kid who swims a 49 at a high school duel meet is pretty darn fast compared to the average so it’s definitely respectable but you need some context .
I was looking thru the top times for my daughters region (Pacific Northwest) from last year - the top 25 times for 15 yo were all sub 50 with the fastest 45.5x and there were 10 boys 14yo who went sub 50.
When I’m fit I’m around 32 as well. My daughter is 24.65 50 scy - and not a sprinter haha.
It’s a speedwalking pedestrian at 49 but not fast fast.
Well, that was the top 25 all under that mark. Maybe more than that…that was 49.65 I believe - how many more like that? Plus you have to count 16yo too in the sophomore count. And this is just USA swimming, there are other swim avenues even though the numbers are probably smaller.
I would say that there are definitely a couple thousand…I would rest easy with that number.
My in-laws are all former swimmers, and one of my wife’s uncles still does a lot of meets and open water swimming and is very involved in officiating, USMS, etc. I’ll call him Uncle A. As an adult onset swimmer who is regarded by these folks generally as a talented athlete they are always shocked at my slow swimming. I mentioned to my father-in-law that I can only do 32 seconds for a 50 scy and he was blown away and told me all about how he was under 30 by 7th grade.
Anyway…
The topic of a kid one of them knows who is a sophomore in high school who swims a 49 for 100 scy and Uncle A says “That’s pretty pedestrian.”
Everyone seems a bit incredulous. I ask him what does that mean? How many high school kids are under 49? over 1000? He guffaws and says WAAAYYY over 1000. Just in his district in NoCal every single high school team has at least one kid under 49 and on some teams EVERYONE is under 49.
Is this true? It seems pretty incredible to me.
The USA Swimming age group time standards are, IMO, the best way to compare swimming times across diff ages and diff events. These standards categorize swimming times by age and event and “grade” any given time from “lower than B”, B, BB, A, AA, AAA, and AAAA. According to these standards, 49.XX puts a 15 yr old male solidly in the AAA category as the AAA 100 yd free standard is 50.49. To make AAAA, he would need to go 48.19 before turning 16. I suppose the definition of “pedestrian” varies according to the person’s frame of reference but given that the age 15 male B standard is 1:04, I personally would not say 49 is pedestrian. If he has been swimming hard for several years, he may not become an Oly Trials finalist but, in the grand scheme of swimming, he is certainly a very quick swimmer. Your Uncle A sounds a bit “elitist” in this judgment. You should ask him what his best 100 free time is.
Also, just FYI, the 18 yr old B standards for the 500, 1000, and 1650 free are 6:07, 12:51, and 21:21. These might be good goals for aspiring tri swimmers under age 40. For anyone interested, here’s the link to the pdf file:
I can say from my experience (though I’m in Canada), that a 49s 100y free would put you in the finals (top 8) for the provincial champs at the HS senior level. Of course, there would have been people who could have hit this sort of time, but swam other events instead (we had a 2 event + 1 relay limit when I raced), but I would not classify this as a ‘common’ time at all.
Maybe, but HS swimming in Canada isn’t anything close to what it is in the US. So far in 2018, there have been 130 15-16 y/o boys who’ve gone 55.0 or faster for the 100 scm, which is roughly equivalent to the 49 for 100scy. That’s not counting the kids who are younger than that who’ve gone 55 or better. (Edit, there are 17 13-14 y/o’s who’ve done that) Most of those kids swim in the club system, not HS.
Given that the US has 10x the population and swimming is generally at a higher level than Canada anyway, there are likely thousands of kids who have gone faster than 49 for the 100, and that’s not even counting the ones who can but don’t swim that event.
In Washington state last year, a 49 didn’t even qualify my brother (a junior) for the state meet. Not pedestrian, but definitely getting a lot more common.
Given how many kids are that fast or faster, (some waaaay faster) I’d say uncle A is right, if I interpret his statement through his viewpoint as a guy who sees a ton of these performances all the time. It’s not that a 49 is slow, but by the same token it’s not outstanding. If that’s your best event, that probably won’t land you a college scholarship at a D1 school, and probably not even a D2.
In this context, pedestrian = commonplace.
For a bit of context, I was about a 56 or 57 100scm at age 16, I started late (14). That’s a 50-51s 100scy, back in the 80’s when times were about 1-2s slower than now at the top level. I wasn’t even close to sniffing any kind of D1 or D2 team in the US as a walk-on, let alone a scholarship.
Given how many kids are that fast or faster, (some waaaay faster) I’d say uncle A is right, if I interpret his statement through his viewpoint as a guy who sees a ton of these performances all the time. It’s not that a 49 is slow, but by the same token it’s not outstanding. If that’s your best event, that probably won’t land you a college scholarship at a D1 school, and probably not even a D2.
In this context, pedestrian = commonplace.
For a bit of context, I was about a 56 or 57 100scm at age 16, I started late (14). That’s a 50-51s 100scy, back in the 80’s when times were about 1-2s slower than now at the top level. I wasn’t even close to sniffing any kind of D1 or D2 team in the US as a walk-on, let alone a scholarship.
You could have walked on at my D1 school in the '80’s. I did, slower than that. And could have at a few more schools for sure.
Swimming scholarships are actually pretty rate. Current limit looks like 9.9 per school. Spread over 4-5 years is 2 to 2.5 per year.
IF, and that’s a big IF the school fully funds. Often scholarships are split to give more people a little $.
My school gave the equivalent of 3 full scholarships. Split so that 3 guys a year got fees (~tuition) covered. Not really much of an expenditure by the school.
I wouldn’t call a HS Soph 49 pedestrian, but obviously a few thousand in the US can do that
In Washington state last year, a 49 didn’t even qualify my brother (a junior) for the state meet. Not pedestrian, but definitely getting a lot more common.
Looking through this year’s (Feb. 2018) state champs meet here in Texas the slowest qualifier for the boys 100 free qualified for the meet with a 47.79 (probably had the race of his life at regional 2 weeks earlier). He didn’t get too far as he went a 49.92 in prelims.
