World Champs Review & Conference Champs Previews | SWIMSWAM BREAKDOWN

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we look back at the 2024 World Championships in Doha and look ahead to this week’s Power 5 conference Championships, including SEC Champs, ACC Champs, and women’s Big 10 Champs.

0:00 SwimSwam Breakdown Introduction
1:07 Doha World Champs Review
16:21 SEC Championships
24:30 ACC Championships
37:40 Women’s Big 10 Championships

Welcome back to the swim swam breakdown I’m I’m Coleman Hodges coming to you from Austin Texas we are joined by swimswim editor in Keith in Chief Braden Keith from Philadelphia Pennsylvania and yinyan Lee from Evon Illinois we are it’s it’s the it’s the in between day we have one day between

World Championships and the beginning of the power five conference championships how you guys how you guys holding up how you feel we were we were going to take a day off today but then we decided nah we’ll just record a podcast I missed you guys I haven’t seen you in forever

Coleman or uh yion looks like she’s coming from the Evanston prison what is written on the wall I don’t know I reserved like a core room in the library so I could record this podcast without there being background noise and there is a lot of writing on the wall and a

Lot of it’s in Korean so I don’t understand it and yion doesn’t speak Korean she speaks things for those who are unsure well today we’re here to discuss the writing on the wall the swiming wall after after the 2024 World Championships uh because I want to know

What you guys are thinking uh not not necessarily coming out of Doha but going into Paris you know I mean uh CLA kerzan I I was the swimmer of the meat on the women’s side and I’m drawing a blank who is Daniel wiffin Daniel was the swimmer

Of the meat on the men’s side but I I I want to know uh more about what what’s what was indicated to you heading into the Olympic Games because CLA keran for me didn’t move necessarily move the needle as much as other swimmers did yeah she her her needle moving was just

Because of last year where she wound up in the emergency room uh and didn’t make the US team at all you know it’s it’s not like she she clearly made herself a favorite to win at US Olympic trials in June um you know like I wrote yesterday they need to find a

Way to get her on the team just because she provides so many options for the relays um which is something they’ve they’ve proven to need especially after adding the mixed medley to the the schedule um you know Kate Douglas just continues to swim fast in season um I

Don’t think we’ve seen the best from her but you know she’s just doing Kate Douglas things over and over again um so from Team USA perspective I thought there were more good things and bad things which is not not how we’ve come out of the last few additions of these

Meats um you know myself included we’ve been pretty down on Team USA and even though this was a smaller team I think it was a a positive meet for them as much as it means I’m sort of a stepping stone toward Omaha I’m a little bit more down on Team USA than Braden

Is really big shocker someone’s more negative than Bren is um about swimming but because I don’t think any of those results prove that Team USA is in a better position than they were coming out of Worlds last year there were still plenty of missed opportunities for the

Team in terms of gold medals and a lot there were a lot of events where they were favored to win but just did not win um you think Carson Foster 143 in the 200 free is a is Team USA in a better spot than last year okay that 1439 he

Was a 144 something really swimmer before that’s not a big difference yeah but 143 feels cooler does feel cooler you’re so starved of fast swimming in the 200 free our standards are becoming um yeah the the bar is very low but but I mean I I’m not going to it it

Wasn’t a bad me for Team USA per se there there were good parts I just don’t think it moved the needle as much as people think it did because like Kate Douglas me yeah very good but still doesn’t really have an established clear pathway to Gold she could win gold but I

I I don’t there isn’t like a clear pathway yeah and I guess that’s that’s fair because I think there were positive results for for the American swimmers but you’re right there nobody came out of that meet where we say oh well now they’re shooting for gold whereas before

They were not so in and as we know last year medals weren’t the problem gold medals were the problem yeah really the only SW two swimmers that moved the needle in terms of gold medal uh performances is pan jeno obviously he broke a world record and then Angelina

Ker from Germany her 100 flight performance was probably one of the stories of the meat for me and maybe Tang from China too oh yeah yeah and her yeah I feel like as as a whole China really performed well and some of their star swimmers became more of star

Swimmers in in panen and um T Tang glad Union had to say his name first so now we know how to say I’ve gotten so many comments about saying it wrong at this point but um and then South Korea also the men’s side had such a great meet uh they started out a

Little slow but then they picked it up in a hurry yeah they weren’t great in I meth South Korea won Gold on the very first day yeah like Kim Kim Lin in the 400 free um was was a shock was an am man half nowyes performance perance Circa 2021

Tokyo Olympics right where he just kind of came out of nowhere and did it and then their 800 free relay like I think they have a shot at gold in that I think probably less so than China or the us or maybe Australia but yeah it’s tough to win gold with a

146 it is but do you does anyone off the top of their head know Yang jun’s best TI they definitely have always had kind of a flat leg on that relay yeah so I should know he let off in 147 but then they had 449 454 437 so it’s

Like yeah they got a lot of pieces that are there he did pretty good this year but hang s sunu has had a few meets where he hasn’t been as good on reles that’s true like worlds last year yeah um you know who I was excited about Taylor

Ruck oh yeah you know she had some did she win any medals she probably won some relay medals but she had some um she had some nice relay swims and you know it just feels like these Canadian bres by the way yeah it feels like um these

Canadian women are kind of like on this very long stretched thread of of holding on to metal position um but you know they they somehow keep coming back penny alexc when she swims just fights back and becomes pretty good again and Taylor Ruck does the same thing um I don’t know

That’s exciting for the Canadians especially now with with China they’ve been kind of cemented in that third place third or second place spot in a lot of relays for a few years now um but with China and a couple other countries coming on hard it’s going to be it’s not

Going to be as much of a given that they’re going to stay in that spot um but I think seeing Taylor rck back will help a lot because she can fill three relay four relay spots yeah I mean I’m really happy for Taylor rck but I think

The biggest takea away from her success is that summer Macintosh will not be forced to Sprint well she might be not go too far well at least not in the medley relay in the finals yeah and the Canadian breast Strokers with what they’re doing so yeah

Maybe summer won’t have to be on the medley relay which would be huge for her yeah I but I wonder like if she’s having a meat would they put her on any I mean I it all depend right but and shebly be cooked from like the

Five events that she s and they’re not going to beat Australia or the US so like the upside is going from bronze to a faster bronze I don’t know man some of sometimes people make bad decisions but that’s not a choice that I would make espe and they’ve been pretty

Conservative with her so yeah hopefully that can I agree I I guess I’m just wondering if their conservative approach will kind of end in Paris like if they’ll just be like well you’re having a great meet you think you’re up for anchoring the medley and she’s like yeah like I wonder if

They would put her on it anyway if she splits you know 525 does that follow the schedule is it after okay yeah yeah so it’s like if you’re if you’re feeling good but um you know hash Herby effect for Taylor Ruck um I did an interview

With her when I was at ASU in December and I think she’s in a good place with her swimming and kind of getting back to where she was but she had 529 anchor on the on Canada’s bronze metal medle relay and then 532 she made the final of the

53 so yeah it seems like she’s kind of inching her way back to where she was before um and getting some speed with the Sun Devils which is good to see any other uh parting thoughts I know you guys love when I ask this question um from these World Championships any any takeaways

That you think our audience need to know am I a bad Ambassador for swimming if I said that the meat was kind of boring results wise oh I disagree I enjoyed the meat much more than I thought I was going to I honestly I think both are true

Um to me like it is a February World Championships in an olympic year so I I think we kind of knew people were going to be at their best for the most part but you know 100 free world record you can’t scof at that and then even though

The times were not I think for the most part where we would normally see them at a World Championships seeing this level of swimming long course in February still pretty exciting and I thought there was a lot lot of good stuff for the Nerds you know we had we had a few

Guys bust Shane casus Greg paler half noi who I don’t know man the the what you’re hearing what what you hear is not in the right direction people around him it’s it’s not clear if he’s going to get his trajectory back on track I’m I guess I’m a little concerned about whether

He’s gonna be able to get back to the us anytime soon um because I think uh I think he left Indiana while still on his student visa and maybe overstayed the terms of that Visa which can make it hard to get back um but you know I I I’d

Love to hear some honest Thoughts From Him given the success he had while training with Indiana and then making a change anyway um you know there were I Finley Knox has been injured for a longer percentage of his career than the average 23y old has been so you know

Seen him run down Carson Foster and Shane Casas on the under the 200 am I thought was a lot of fun sioban Hai was kind of mediocre in the freestyle races but she went 1059 and the 100 breaststroke which just makes me want to Badger her into swimming it at the

Olympics even though I know there’s an event conflict but um with her and Kate Douglas sort of both now having those same event conflicts maybe the schedule’s due for a rewrite um Meritt steenbergen man talk about a story she was I don’t know if you guys remember

Her but she was good enough that we were writing about her when she was 13 or 14 um really which is is something you know we do covering Club meets um in the US but it’s pretty rare for a a international swimmer to catch our attention that early and then she kind

Of had some issues with her coaches and just kind of disappeared um but her coming back is is crazy to me and breaking the Dutch record in 100 free by half a second you know that’s that’s a big deal um especially with the their history and sprinting exactly um you

Know i’ I’d love to see her win an Olympic gold medal I think that would be one of the stories of the Olympics I I don’t know if the broader world would pick up on that but I think that would be one of the the great stories of the

Olympics yeah Maris steber so impressive I pointed this out after last world compared to the other sprinters she was still swimming considerably more because she was doing the Dutch prelims and finals relays she was swimming the 200 she was doing the 200 IM and yet she was still producing similar or even better

Results than a lot of her competitors at times but I just think in general a positive takeaway that I have from this meet because I don’t want to be all negative um is that a lot of the quote unquote bad performances they’re not as concerning as they would be at another

World championships meet because you think of this me as like you’re you’re training through it so a lot of people are training through it you still got a few more months left until Paris and there’s still a lot of time to learn from your mistakes from this meet and be

Better when you’re going into Paris yeah I agree for the most part you know I think Shane kasas is a a different story it’s starting to feel like things are piling up there um where it’s going to start to impact his psyche if it hasn’t already um something’s something seems

Like it’s not working for him but you know with Shane being who he is he could show up at trials and pop off a 4,900 fly and it wouldn’t be that surprising either so yeah I I I thought the the steenbergen story line was interesting

Too because we saw her swim the tun free she didn’t even swim in the final and then I forget where the IM was in relation to the 100 free but she made the final but then didn’t make it on the podium in the 2im and those are both

Events we’ve seen her do very well in and then the 100 free she pops a 522 and it’s like oh well at least there’s some speed there like that yeah we saw a lot of swimmers and I think it’s probably indicative of how people were approaching this meet normally we see

This explosion of times at the beginning and then by the end because we you know we have a sense of how this happens because we know how much work we have to do right and so day one we have 15 records to write by the last day we

Might have one or two um and this meet almost felt like the opposite like Bruto was terrible day one um and then was good in the 50 um Daniel whin was not good day one then won the 800 and the 1500 so maybe that’s indicative of

Swimmers not coming into the meat with a lot of rest but then getting some rest as it progressed because I assume you know even in offbeat World Championships they’re not doing 8,000 meter sessions and you know trainings in between sessions right yeah like similar to like

Maybe a World Cup circuit or an ISL thing where you you had that built-in rest um yeah just because you’re you’re at of meat and you’re not you’re not training um I think you said this in a comment section at the beginning of the meet Braden but it’s like it’s still a

World Championships right like people are if you’re there you’re gonna try to swim fast still two and a half million dollars on the line that money seriously all right well I’d say that’s good on our world Champs Roundup uh eight eight days of of pretty dar good long course swimming Midwestern right

Now pretty darn darn good swimming it’s my Missour coming out uh and now starting tomorrow we’ve got lots of conference Championship action uh Tuesday colan the divers started today oh God yeah thec the championships has now been extended into a 42 day meet so forward to for the next month and a

Half go big or go home that’s the SEC motto um so that’s SEC and ACC championships will start tomorrow evening Tuesday evening uh with the tuner medley and 800 free relays and then women’s big 10 championships we’ll start with those two relays on Wednesday evening and then it’s and then it’s just

The roller coaster uh leaving the station from there let’s start with SEC championships um what swimmers are you guys looking for to make big waves to pop some eyes I mean I assume we’re gonna get some fastest splits of all time in the tuner medley relay on day

One uh I’m really curious to see what Bella Sims is gonna swim and I was thinking about this today like if she will go best times at this conference or NCAA season as a freshman just because her best times are so so fast especially in her like Prime

Events I’m excited to see the woman’s mid distance and distance swimmers period um C’s I know Dune Coy scratched the meat but there’s still plenty of really strong swimmers because woman’s distance is really really deep in the SEC youve got Bella Sims Rachel steggy Abby McCulla Emma Wyant

Just and Isabelle ivy in the 200 so it might not it might I guess woman’s distance has been faster this year than last year it’s not like the fastest times but it’s extremely deep and I’m just really excited to see how competitive it’s going to be that

Field oh I guess I’m excited for the men’s Sprint freestyles it seems too obvious but somebody had to say it you know Josh Lando versus Jordan Crooks um both I’m sure have bigger goals this year outside of the the Collegiate circuit um but I think anytime those two

Guys are going head to-head that’s a race to watch yeah espec I guess going back to going back to what Coleman said about Bella Sims you know regardless of the times I think um you know we we all watched her stroke midseason her freestyle stroke and it looked a lot

Different than it did in high school um so seeing how she adapts to that if that was intentional or if that was you know bad habits creeping in um to me that you know to the trained eye watching that will be almost as interesting as um the final result

Itself yeah and I think if she does swim best times this season it’s going to be at this meet because not that Florida chokes at ncaas but they usually perform really really well at as seas and go or lights out so I wouldn’t be surprised to

See if the best times come here or not in CAA do you think what do you think her event lineup will be currently she’s entered in 100 T 500 free tuner back tuner fly tuner Time 4 I you can always S three individual events I absolutely

Hate it I think she’ll do 200 500 free I’m leaning towards T her back yeah that I mean that seems like obvious choice yeah it does she swam a lot of backstroke this season I think it’s really interesting that she’s swam the 100 fly and hund back at a lot of dual

Meets but are is not entered in either one yeah I mean that’s kind of what people do at dual meets they swim events that they won’t really swim at Championship meet like that’s why Leon Marshon swims hundreds all the time yeah I mean I guess if you at that

Level of athlete where you don’t feel feel like you need the race reps as much that works and I I assume Bella falls into that category but it is a little curious to me that she we didn’t see her racing like more IM or more distance freestyle throughout the season but now

Obviously it seems like that’s what she’s doing I don’t see your swimming the 100 free but I would love I would love it if she did hey you know who else I’m excited about at sec’s who fighting Texas Aggy Men You’re Year got off to a rough start

They were suspended and then they weren’t and nobody really knows what well they know what happened in between there um and they love to comment on swims slam so I’m sure they’ll let us know um but you know they they look really good I think this year could be

Baylor Nelson’s coming out party we all know Baylor Nelson is a very good swimmer and he’s got all kind of age group accolades and stuff but I don’t think he’s a name that comes to mind when people think SEC championships yet um I mean the World Championships team

Last year yeah but do you really think about Baylor Nelson like when you’re thinking about who’s gonna make the Olympic team is Baylor Nelson jump into your head like I don’t I I went to Texas A&M and it it’s not the first name into my head um you know they’ve got Alex

Sanchez who’s the best two breast stroker um I think I think A&M has been kind of building a a core for a few years um and then obviously Shane cus leaving early sort of slowed that down maybe delayed it a little bit but I think Baylor Nelson is is in that same

Tier and um I think this this year and next year has got to be the year for the A&M men it it just seems like they’re due to do something really big so I mean I think you mention this but just going undefeated in a dual me season two uh

Which has never happened like they obviously have a lot of momentum heading into this championships and obviously winning a dual meet is a very different logistically than competing in a conference championships but we will get to really see them show off their depth or see what their depth looks like uh at

This conference championships yeah I can totally see them getting second at this meet because Florida’s a big heavy favorite but Texas A&M I think Auburn’s gotten weaker since last year and they came second I think Texas A&M Georgia they were all around that bubble and I

Think this could be the year that Texas A&M takes that second spot I really wish there was more parody into who would be winning this meet but I think it’s Florida men and Florida women pretty pretty soundly yeah there is much parody in College swimming I think I think both Georgia teams are

Probably better than they look on paper um but yeah I it’s they’re just so deep you I can’t wait for next year yeah the with with all next year with all of the team switches and conference realignment yada yada it’s it’s gonna be an interesting meet next

Year but you know this year I think we’ll see a little bit more of the same as we did last year it looks like Florida’s meat to lose on bu the men and the women’s side let’s switch over to the 2024 ACC meet where it will also be

A little bit more of the same on team perspective can’t wait till next year uh we got Callen Stanford coming in hot next year yeah but Stanford and the entire top 20 men’s recruits oh no that’s the year after one more for that I the ACC is the only conference that

Improves swimming wise when it comes to conference Reign like every other actually no maybe the SEC with Texas but Texas doesn’t make the SEC better Texas well yeah and then the Big 10 I guess I guess us USC versus Ohio State on the woman’s side will be interesting I think

USC at their best makes the Big 10 better they’re they’re down right now but you know at their best I think they make the big 10 better USC is not down right now they they’re having the breakout year no no they’re doing well but they’re in a valley they I mean USC used

To be a top five team and they’re not that oh yeah yeah yeah but they are I yeah I mean they’re on the right side of the valley I think but you know they’re still in the valley yeah uh acc’s uh the Virginia women obviously going probably going to win unless

Something catastrophic happens NC State men look the same way as well uh but what swimmers will you be watching we obviously have the wal sisters and Ellen Nelson highlighting UVA uh I think it’ll be really interesting to see how some International swimmers react to coming back after swimming in

Doha I think I think gret and Walsh is going to go 47 on the Hun back yeah 100% I think I think that’s I was I wasn’t sure if that was going to be controversial or not no no that’s not a hot um uh and CAA record by a quarter of a

Second okay whatever um you know it’s it’s there’s there’s so much to watching this and the wal sisters and um whoever else whatever I think the thing that matters the most to me out of this is Louisville the Louisville women especially because they they came into

The season with like top three at NCAA hopes and it’s as the season has worn on Abby hay is not swimming for them at accs we don’t know why we’ve asked but we don’t know why um as the season has worn on it it it feels more and more

Like they’re just like one or two swimmer short of achieving that um even though coming into the season on paper it looked like it was there for them so I you know watching to see who can jump up for them and fill those slots those one or two slots they need

In in a bigger picture sense is probably an interesting thing to watch but yeah it’s just going to be about Virginia breaking records I mean that’s that’s at the end of the day what it’s gonna be right I see what Jasmine notini does I want to see um which I know Union is

Interested in because she transferred out of Northwestern um I want to see I want to see if they put Amy canny in the hunter breaststroke they’ve been kind of talking about that all year long and it’s it seems like a stupid thing to say except it’s Virginia and that’s just

Kind of what they do and then she would show up and swim a 57 and that would be that and she’d be a breast stroker then um just what South Africa needs and other female breast stroker Braden yinyan and I were discussing this right before you hopped

On but in talking about Louisville I feel like they’ve kind of reacted to the the trend of swimming fast in season but they’re such they’re so traditionally a Championship only team and specifically an NCAA team right like they they really don’t or his historically have not

Really gone in on acc’s like other teams do do you think we’ll see that shift or do you think we’ll see them move up in the rankings in conf conference wise as they’re trying to look for those one or two more swimmers to to get them over the humped and seas Yeah It’s

Tricky because we we know know the data shows that they always add the most points at NCAA like consistently no not always but pretty consistently they’re number one or top two um and so it’s It’s Tricky for them right because it’s hard to get top three at NCAA if you

Don’t qualify enough people for NCAA it’s really hard to get to top three at NCAA if you only have eight or nine swimmers going um so you know I I always I always wonder like why don’t teams split more like why isn’t there more hey my top seven swimmers who are already

Qualified they’re going to train straight through and then my next seven swimmers are going to rest and try to get those cuts and maybe we can sneak in an extra swimmer or two um doesn’t seem to be What’s Done nationally a lot it seems to be a whole lot of All or

Nothing that goes on um but yeah I don’t know I don’t know it’s it’s they have more sprinters than I think people know but beyond that that especially without Abby hay they’re just there’s just not a lot of names you can point to say that again oh I said Louisville

Also lost Liberty Williams to Alabama this year it’s Bren it’s interesting that you bring up that point because Louisville is historically a championship team but interestingly last year I’m pretty sure they scored less points than they were projected to score and that was their best finish ever

Correct me if I’m wrong on that but I pretty sure they they added in a bunch of relay relays and really benef well they didn’t it they didn’t only get third because of this but NC State had a relay that was disqualified and I think

That helped bump them um up to top top four because it was between them and I think it’s going to be the battle the battle for seconds was really close between the acc’s so I think last year was sort of different in sense where they they were lights out at acc’s then

Continue that into NCA but we really didn’t see much of them before that and I think something similar is GNA happen this year so last year Louisville was seated to score why isn’t this article telling me what I want to know here we go they were seeded a score 242

.583 points there was like a six-way tie on the the py sheets so 242 points what and what they scored was this is this is Great Entertaining stuff watching me Google they scored 288 so they still went up 46 points not not what they usually do but they still did improve

Okay never mind I was wrong on that but yeah I mean that is muted and at the end of the day they don’t give out trophies for who drops the most time in NCAA they give out trophies for who scores the most points and swims the fastest um on the

Men’s side we have Louisville’s got Again Louisville has a few Summers coming back from Doha uh did NC State have guys in Doha as well I I think Casper sokowski was there I feel like he’s one really interesting swimmer who I really enjoy watching an incaa but hasn’t quite made

The jump to long course yet I think he’s made an international final or two but he’s been kind of stuck at that 5300 meter backstroke long course and so I’m like I think he will swim really really fast at both acc’s and NCAA championships but I hope for his sake

That he can translate that to long course say that again Bren Stokowski did swim at Worlds he was not super fast he swam prelims and semis of the hunter back gotcha yeah I’m personally very curious to see how the nurre Dame men swim they’re one of the most intriguing teams

In the NCA in my opinion Chris Juliano sort of had his breakout moment last year at ccs and then uh Tanner Philly in the D3 transfer he could potentially do something here that would that’s a great story T bacon that they’re they’re just the team that’s been that’s been on the

Rise and usually they a a lot of them emerge at at this meet and I’m excited to see how they do the Virginia Tech man are bringing a bunch back from Worlds Carlos Cole Marti basically the entire yeah um yeah I mean all that’s good I think Quinton mccardy is due to do

Something big I mean he’s already done a lot of good things this year um Abdul ramman lrb God I screwed that up um skipped worlds he was entered in Worlds originally and scratched late and basically his explanation was coach said I should stay home and I decided to be a

Good athlete and listen to my coach so um it seems that you know that leads me to believe that they have something big lined up um for Championship season whether that’s this week or in a month from now um but yeah I mean the I think

The men’s Sprints in the ACC are going to be a lot of fun to watch too right oh what else the injury sorry am I am I hogging all of the time I haven’t done this in so long I have so much to say um Yousef Ramadan who’s swam almost no

Butterfly this season because he had that scooter injury uh but on paper should be one of the the NCAA favorites so he’s probably got to start showing something now it’s always the college student athletes and their scooter injuries that happened well at a when I

Was at A&M I forget who it was but one of the the highle women broke her arm riding a bike somebody open a car door and she rode into it yeah but college campuses and and alternative modes of transportation are kind of death traps I think that’s sort of well known and we

Just accept it yeah it’s not gonna stop anyone yeah you’re either gonna get injured or you’re gonna get your bike or your electric scooter stolen okay maybe if you go to college in Chicago here’s my big question for for men’s men’s ACC specifically two inter medly relay day one NC State who swims

Backstroke and who swims butterfly is is is it Casper on back and uh oh my gosh Aiden hay Aiden Hayes on butterfly or is it Aiden on back and Casper on butterfly I think it’ll be Casper and Aiden I think it’s probably a wash on paper so

They’ll just put them both where they’re most comfortable yeah which right now for Aiden is butterfly even though he came out of high school is bad strer right oh see like they’ve been doing all these time trials they’ve been doing all these like posting all these videos of

Speed maybe it’s to throw people off but I think it’ll be Aiden Casper I think they’re I think they have something in they’ve been working on something in the lab and I think they they think that will be the faster combination Coleman I want to say you’re wrong but I don’t

Really know how to argue with you so you could just say he’s wrong like period at the end then you he can’t then that’s it P I’m just saying we’ve seen a lot of 20.3 50 backs in practice from Mr Hayes so you know love The Practice

Swims who’s got a faster stopwatch Todd dorbo or Bren h no remember that one of them was with pads like it was um legit no no no touchpad has ever been we all know how to how to fudge the touchpads now thanks to Hightech or whoever it is

Thanks to Liberty University we all know how to take swim Spees uh and then finally our last power five Conference Championship meet of the week will be women’s big 10s I’m really I’m I’m personally really excited to see how the Matt ba Michigan women will uh

Perform and show out in his first season as head coach um in Michigan especially with Stephanie balduini having a really solid meet in Doha I assume she’ll be swimming at Big tens but I actually don’t know that for sure doesn’t seem to take anybody too long to get back yeah

Yeah Rachel clinker swam at a dual meet for Cal days that was very surprising good for her yeah ious I’m curious to see how Michigan does as well because in the past few years it’s felt like Ohio State’s been here Indiana’s been here and then Michigan’s been here

I want to see if Michigan has what it takes to maybe move up from here to hear just closer to Ohio State and Indiana I still think Ohio State and Indiana have more death than Michigan but it it’ll be very interesting to see how much they

Jump because they’ve made a lot of big improvements with Stephanie bini and a lot of Lindsay Flynn who’s been pretty good um just throughout her entire career and uh I for I forgot her name but there’s like a 500 freestyle who’s pretty good Katie Oh Katie crom I think

That’s her name yeah they just have a lot of improving swimmers and I’m excited to see is anybody else surprised that Michigan didn’t get the same sort of energy bump that we’ve seen from other programs that have hired coaches of Matt Bow’s um you know caliber lately you know like when

Duran T took over Cal all of a sudden they have the number one recruiting class Virginia and Todd dorbo the Notre Dame momentum even pit a little bit it doesn’t feel like Michigan has gotten that bump and I don’t know if we’ve gone to that well too many times in recent

Years that people that that the last round of exciting new head coaches is still sort of sucking the air out of that the room um but I I expected them to have more kind of top 10 top 15 recruits and all the Fanfare that goes

Along with um bringing in a new coach of that ability I mean I don’t this wasn’t because of B because these recruits happened before but but they’ve had had pretty good recruits commit like I think this year she’s a freshman right now Hannah Bellard then next year they have

Abby Dunford coming in so th those are two pretty really good recruits and so and that’s more than they’ve gone in the past I I’m I am siding with bra I am surprised that the Michigan hasn’t gotten that wave yet and I mean if you

Talk to any coach I think they will tell you that especially on their recruiting side it does come in waves and so you know sometimes you you just get a class and then that kind of gets the momentum rolling it also sometimes only takes one you know one top swimmer to get that

Ball rolling for schools maybe if Matt ba had been at Cal a couple more years and like you know established himself as really a coach who can help win national titles for multiple years that might have helped his Street Credit a little bit but I am I have been surprised that the the

Energy surrounding the program hasn’t blossomed a little more and you know it’s is I I’ve also tried to not to make too much of it it’s his first season I think it takes four or five years to really establish what you want to do on the

Team the culture of the team um as a as a head coach but that’s why I’m excited to see how they perform at Big 10 because this might be their coming out party of sorts and and an opportunity certainly for Matt bow to show what they’ve been working for these past

Eight months yeah so so speaking of Matt baow in his former program Ohio State where he was before Cal right am I making that up okay that’s corre um and then he was at Indiana before that yeah it feels like the window is closing on their streak a little bit not that

They’re going to fall off a cliff or anything um but they are relying on a lot of years this year I think they’re they’re clear favorite this year um next year is going to be their biggest challenge yeah they get kit kat back just love I love saying her name kit

Kat’s neck um and and so I think that you know her when she announced she was coming back I think that’s probably a huge weight off of Ohio State next year um but you know I’m for them I’m I’m more looking for who’s going to be the

Next Nia thunderberg who’s going to come out of nowhere and and establish themselves as a force to see if they can make it six I think they’re going to make it five this year without a problem um but then next year it’s it’s a little

Bit of a a gap you know their recruits are good not great but they’ve also done a nice job of developing recruits zenik is a great example of that she was a nice swimmer coming out of high school but has become a big 10 Champion type swimmer um so that’s that’s what I’m

Looking for the the next Buckey to carry the torch into 2025 and Beyond yeah I just want to go back to the Michigan topic but not only do they have a really good coach in Matt B who’s been building a really strong reputation but Michigan’s also really much a very much

A Best of Both World school because they’re very academically strong and they’re also a big Sports school I mean they’re football team won the National Championship so it’s really I think just from a school standpoint not considering the swim team I think it’s a really good destination for a lot of non-revenue

Athletes Yan give us give us the Northwestern breakdown who’s who’s going to do it for Northwestern this year AA Spitz has been carrying the team this year I’m excited to see how she swims in her transfer from Cal for anybody who doesn’t know uh yeah transfer from Cal

Um I’m not really sure about anyone else there hasn’t been anyone that’s popped off that much but I’m really just looking to see swimmers improving from where they were last year because Northwest the Northwestern woman lost a lot of their NCA qualifiers and top performers so this is really a

Rebuilding year for them I I’m more interested to seeing how the men perform in a week from now because they’ve got the really good recruits but just yeah just excited to see progress I okay I want to go back to Ohio State because it is interesting this format is

Amazing that like the first I feel like four years ago or five seasons ago when they won their first title or their first title of this streak it was kind of like they came out of nowhere they had a really solid Conference team and it was like oh this is kind of pleasant

This is a nice surprise and then they’ve just continued to build off of it and we haven’t seen I think we’ve seen them do solid at nc2a but like it’s been clear that they are very much a conference built team and a conference focused team

That can also do well at NCAA and has that caliber of athlete but that’s what they’re going for and it’s worked really well for about to be five years in a row and I I think that’s very commendable like they they chose a lane and they

Committed to it and it again it’s paid off for them I I’m really curious to see how Indiana again I don’t think they’re going to top OSU but they’ve have some athletes who’ve really built some momentum so you’ve got Mariah denigan who just made the Olympic team in Open

Water you’ve got Anna palowski who made the world Champs team last summer you’ve got Ching wean who’s also who’s already a great distance summer and so yeah they they have athletes got divers they got divers they have athletes yeah and so I’m I’m interested to see if

They can maybe get over that hump and would be curious to talk to their coaches to see if how much of an emphasis they are putting on that Big 10 versus nc2a because again we know OSU kind of goes all in for for for Big 10

Yeah so I want to go back to talk about Northwestern just kidding we don’t need to talk anymore about Northwestern this conversation’s giving me so much Whiplash because like the bask Big 10 basketball’s also like nearing its like conference stage and Ohio State and Indiana are two of the

Top women’s basketball teams in the Big 10 so it’s like what what sport are we talking about right now oh yeah nobody cares Caitlyn Clark that’s all we want to hear about the Big 10 women basketball tournament it’s the Caitlyn Clark show everybody else is just Supporting Cast

It’s time for our favorite segment in the swim swam breakdown yinyan tells us about other sports aside from swimming yeah last two weeks ago we broke into a whole conversation about whether Caitlyn Clark would turn pro or not that was the time and now she’s the most scoring champion ever most

Scoring all right Caitlyn Clark all right who who wins in a penalty shootout JC Sheldon or clay K Caitlyn Clark why J Sheldon out of all people I don’t know why not she seems like she’s got a boot what okay I know Caitlyn Clark used to play

Soccer because I read a story about that that is our world Champs recap that is our power five conference primer uh for this week thanks for tuning into the swim swam breakdown and make sure to tune in every week for your week’s news in swimming