Summer’s Trials Lineup, High School Entry Fiasco, & NCAA Shuffle | SWIMSWAM BREAKDOWN

This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss Summer McIntosh’s potential lineup for the 2024 Canadian Olympic Trials, a high school swim team getting locked out of their section meet, and the major moves that have happened so far in the NCAA off-season.

0:00 Summer McIntosh’s Canadian Trials Lineup
5:56 Acalanes High School Entry Fiasco
13:08 NCAA Shuffle

SINK or SWIM
25:53 Should the crossover turn be replaced by a backstroke flipturn in IM events?
30:01 Will someone go under 3:40 in the Men’s 400 Free in Paris?

[Music] welcome back to the swim swam breakdown I’m your host Coleman Hodges coming to you from Austin Texas joined by yion Lee from Evon Illinois we’re g to get right into it today first on our docket of swimming topics to discuss it appears that one of Summer macintosh’s sponsors ninepoint Partners has released Summer’s lineup for the 2024 Canadian trials which will be May 13th to 19th the proposed lineup for Macintosh would be the 400 free the 400 IM the two fly the twoim and the 100 backstroke uh and noticeably we are missing the 200 free and the 800 free there if summer does decide to swim this lineup at Canadian trials how do you feel about it yion the main thing that’s interesting to me is the swimming the 100 back instead of the3 I think the 8003 free free um 200 I thing that kind of makes sense because they’re both on the same day and even though Macintosh did beat Katie Lei in the 800 free a few months ago Katie leeki at her top game is unbeatable and it just seems wiser to swim a shorter event towards the end of the meet where she is the prohibit prohibitive favorite and with the 200 free the 200 free is what I don’t understand her dropping and I’m looking at the schedule the the event schedule right now um for Paris yeah yeah for Paris and the 200 free it doesn’t seem to conflict oh wait no same session as 400 IM yeah I get it now uh just ignore all my confusion from before I understand why she would drop the 2003 because it falls on the same it falls in the same session as her best event admittedly it is the second event so if McIntosh wanted to just do it for funsies it wouldn’t affect her 400 IM in the way that swimming a 200 before would but either way doesn’t make a lot of sense and I guess swimming the 100 back as like an unserious race I don’t think she’ll swim it at the Olympics if she finishes top two it’s just something something to help her practice with the hundreds something to help increase her repertoire and her versatility that makes sense I sorry I just went on the whole tangent of stuff because I didn’t know the schedule well enough that’s what we’re here for yinyan is is yinyan tangents it’s all good specifically you I’ll go on my own tangents um I so yeah I think for the most part it makes a lot of sense I think I I think the 200 free is Summer’s fifth best event anyway so like even when people are like oh she should swim it you know one comment says tuner free final is two hours after 400 IM final I’m sure she could do that double I’m sure she could but this is why would she like that that this event lineup gives her four very very solid solid options to win four gold medals right and so I don’t think you Tinker with that by adding a fifth event plus she’s GNA be swimming relays and Canadian relays have a very good shot at meddling I think yeah so like I’m good with it I don’t see why so many people are saying oh no 200 fre because it’s like she’s not gonna swim five individual events that just doesn’t make sense unless you’re Michael Phelps unless you’re Michael Phelps and she’s not Michael BPS and I’m not saying she couldn’t but that’s also 3200s and 2400s which is yeah yeah like that’s more than what Phelps had and also I think we’ve learned now that doing what Phelps did might not be a good idea for everyone even that’s that’s not an insult towards other swimmers it’s just it’s a recipe for Burnout it’s a yeah I mean it is it is exceedingly challenging and I think yeah I summer would take three gold medals over a gold medal two Silvers and a bron and and two bronzes I think yeah right and swimming the 200 free makes that second scenario more likely so I think she’s putting her eggs in the chasing maximum gold medals basket yeah and it’s like this is her first Olympics where she has a legitimate shot at medling last year last time she was an outsider looking in so I think her decision especially as a teenager to focus on those events that matter most to her and not put too much on her play that’s honestly a smart decision on her part and I think she knows that yeah and I think Brent Ary her coach is in the same boat he’s a very smart guy and very methodical with how he’s prepared her for these kinds of meets so yeah we’re on the same page I I don’t I think her not swimming the tuner free is totally fine I think she’s still gonna probably be on and lead off the 800 free relay for Canada so it’s all good yeah uh from from that from that Vantage Point next up the a a technical entry error has locked aolan High School swimmers out of the CIF North Coast section meet and it just doesn’t make sense to me it it seems like like this is seems like on on a level of maybe even worse than than deqing Owen Lloyd for falling into Ross dance yeah you know like this seems like it’s like affecting an entire team this seems more Petty so yeah as we reported and as it was relayed to us uh the aelan had coach Brett Usinger believed he had submitted entries for the 13 swimmers 13 swimmers who qualified for the uh North Coast section meet prior to the Sunday deadline he followed up twice with a North Coast section officials to confirm the submission but he had but but didn’t receive any communication but then received word on Monday day after the deadline had passed that the entries had not come through and therefore athletes would not be able to compete at what would be many of their last High School swim meet there were eight seniors out of those 13 swimmers qualified and I just don’t under there there’s like no rationale that has been presented from the uh from the North Coast section that’s like oh yeah this is why they can’t enter and and it makes sense right like it just seems like they’re being petty because the point of high school swimming is for kids to swim it’s not for people it’s not for adults to enforce rules that are kind of meaningless yeah and I think the fact that there was a quote unquote technical error that didn’t allow for the entrance to be submitted that just seems as you said Petty because why is why is this technical error that can just be fixed manually preventing these seniors from getting in a swim at one of the biggest swim Meats of their lives like that that just feels that just feels unnecessary and I think this also is kind of like a no offense but kind of like a swimming moment because we see a lot of times in swimming where like really small minor technical things are hurting people because the the people behind either don’t care or are not competent enough to run things smoothly and it’s just again really frustrating on the athletes behalfs especially since they’re just kids they’re high schoolers it’s not like it’s not like um entering them manually is going to create some sort of unfair Advantage like it there there was a there was a operational problem and that that shouldn’t that shouldn’t be hindering them and the the good thing is that there is a precedent um which was uh Benjamin Lions uh from long medal High School in Massachusetts he won a case against the Massachusetts Athletic Association that and that case allowed him to swim the ruling of the case allowed him to swim because he also had a similar entry error so I’m hoping that a solution like that will be put in place for aela’s high school yeah it it it is just a real bummer that it’s coming to this um the older sister of one of the 13 team members also provided the context that the entry system provides no confirmation no proof of receipt no acknowledgement and no submit button so it this this seems like first and foremost just a problem with the system of submitting entries yeah because if the coach submitted them and then followed up twice you should you should receive something that said okay we got your entries or something that said we didn’t get your entries right if if you’re trying to communicate with the North Coast section and then yeah like it there’s just again there’s no reason presented that you can’t just get the kids into the meat because the the point of all of this is for these kids to be able to compete and have a positive experience and like you said this seems like a very much swimming thing because sometimes it seems like people are just small-minded um yeah like this is taking me back to the case last year where um I think it was like a New Jersey high school I believe it was morst toown or pany Hills or something like that where swimmer got dced for wearing like an American flag cap just really small stuff an unnecessary stuff like this which is impacting literal teenagers it’s High School swimming exactly yeah like there’s there’s really nothing on the line here for any of these adults and but but there’s a lot on the line here in terms of memories made and yeah getting to see out a lot of hard work paying off for the athletes so come on Central C or North Coast section be be better I yeah hopefully we can see a positive result to this one thing that I am glad and grateful for is that swim swim is a large enough National platform in the swimming community where like a high school team like aol’s high school G have their issue aired out and have like the platform for like the entire Swimming World across the us to understand what’s going on so like people can rally behind them whereas if it weren’t for Sight like swim not not to not the Shameless self-plug but not but still just like so so they can have eyeballs on them to hopefully get the situation resolved absolutely I mean it it does it does provide a certain level of accountability hopefully and a certain level of pressure to to make the right decision you know if if not letting them into the meet is the right decision then show us why right don’t just say oh sorry hide behind a wall yeah um so I I agree with you if you’re listening to this now and you have the power to share this story or to take action in in any way against the North Coast SE please do we encourage it because we want to see we want to see High School swimmers be able to swim at their last High School meet there there have been a a lot of switch-ups in College swimming over the last month which is which has been exciting to see uh I’m going to focus on the men’s side because we saw Arizona State win their first men’s title at the 2024 ncaas two days later Bob Bowman the head coach goes to Texas uh and then we’ve seen a lot of shuffling around and also a lot of staying a lot of fifth years or a lot of seniors this now seniors announcing fifth years um from from Powerhouse schools on the men’s side so I’m G to run through a quick list and then I’m going to get your opinion Yin Yin so today Kobe coroso of Texas announced he’s staying for his fifth year Hubert Kos has announced he’s going to Texas from ASU uh Florida is getting Jake back for a fifth year IU is returning three seniors who all scored at nc2a for fifth years um and they’re getting ASU transfer Owen McDonald we don’t really know what Cal is doing or or or who who might be taking a fifth year there but just with all that we’ve seen so far who do you who do you like as your your 2025 nc2a favorite right now or just heading into to the 2425 season um What men’s program do do you think might come out on top okay one I hate this question I it involves too much math in my head that I don’t want to do but I will give my opinion on some of these changes in fifth years I think the biggest surprise to me was that Owen McDonald did not follow his coach Bob Bowman into Texas from Arizona State because coming into college Owen McDonald he wasn’t a great recruit he he was probably one of the best in his class but he was not he was not top 20 but he emerged into one of the best swimmers in the NCA like for example he went from a 472 to a 442 in the 100 back 1426 1366 in the 200 back 1461 to 1392 in the 200 IM those are some ridiculous drops and I think it’s even mentioned that his best times some of his best times are faster than the Indiana team records which is insane and I’m just questioning why would he leave the coach that developed him into the swimmer that he is and just given the context that not many swimmers get to improve the way he did and go to a school where he’s already cons considerably better than a lot of his teammates and any other swimmer in the school’s history and I I I understand that Indiana is a phenomenal program in its own rights Maybe not maybe not known for some of the events that o McDonald’s swims they’re more of a feel like I see them more as like a breaststroke heavy School but and but just and also I understand because his brother is there but just that decision was a little confusing and also really interesting one to me the the fifth year stuff I’m not I’m not surprised about um cubert coach to Texas is what I expected oh McDonald to do so I definitely think that next year because ASU kind of disassembled there will I think we will see one of the closest NCA title races on the men’s side ever just because right now I I could literally not tell you who’s who’s gonna win so yeah and I do want to talk about Alex Walsh’s fifth year choice on the woman’s side so if we ever get to that we can talk about it oh we can we can talk we can talk about that but uh let me just yeah I’ll say my part about the men because there there’s just so much interesting so many interesting things happening especially with those um who we think might be the top four teams next year on the men’s side which is Cal Texas Florida and Indiana you know Indiana and Florida were separate the NC State eraser Coleman they have the number one recruiting class I think the the they’ll have to develop that talent I think freshmen are just you never know what’s going to happen with freshman that’s true and I I hope that they do because they have a monster class coming in well I’m also saying this because they’re a strong enough team on their own even without the Freshman yeah I’m I’m I guess I’m not counting them this year because they were Fifth and uh so I think they I feel like they kind of have to prove it at this point um just because Indiana Indiana and Florida seem to be maintaining their spots um in those in those slots and uh I mean especially Indiana like you know in 2018 their men were 20 points away from winning a national title and it’s and Ray lose and his staff I think do a really good job at developing and like kind of finding some diamonds in the roughs where of of like recruits that we didn’t necessarily think were going to make the leap and then they do um I think a great example of that was would be one of the returning fifth years Jason yep um who scored in both breast strokes this at nc2a but yeah I think it’s gonna be a really fun meet um I think Owen McDonald again I think swimming with your brother is a pretty cool opportunity and something that doesn’t come around every day I feel like like it it did my heart good to know that the Bob Bowman rayo’s pipeline is still very open because if you remember was it like five years ago three years ago when like we saw a bunch of transfers from ASU to Indiana and from Indiana to ASU and it it seemed like there was just they were just kind of trading Swimmers at one point um which was comedic from the outside but I think Bob and Ray are maybe not comparable coaches but have similar styles of coaching and so um it I I think that that might be more of a natural transition um and that coupled probably with getting to swim with your brother might might have been The X Factor for him yeah yeah and I’m not looking down upon his decision at all I think Indiana is a great program and I I I wouldn’t be surprised if he news improving there but it just it just confused me a little bit in the moment yeah I I don’t think most people saw it coming certainly but they have had the nc2a champion in the 100 back the last two seasons so maybe maybe good things to come uh I am gonna throw it out there and say I I I like Indiana on paper right now you know I think they get they get a replacement for Brendan Burns sort of and in Owen McDonald and I think they have returning scores and I think there’s some there’s still some untapped potential on that team but they had a lot of momentum this year and it was a home nc2a for them but I don’t know I want to see a close meet and that’s that I I really hope we get that and it’s look and it looks like we’re going to be getting that anyway we also got the got the news that Alex W is is taking a fifth year tell me your thoughts on that yion so before Alex Walsh joined well not joined said that she was going to take a fifth year I knew that us uh UVA still had the hot hand heading in next year just because they they gain pretty decent recruit they gain a really good recruiting class with um I just about Leah Hayes as well Leah Hayes and animos and bunch of other um Bailey Hartman they’re joining U and they getan so they were already God five people too much and now Alex Walsh is coming back just hand the NCA I mean and I don’t this does not change the NCA title implications that much because UVA was going to win anyways but I am a little surp surprised that she chose to take a fifth year just cuz be I felt like before this season uva’s top swimmers especially um especially like their Olympians weren’t really doing fifth years like we saw Kate Douglas she chose to um go to grad school but focus on Long course so she she didn’t want to do the fifth year she was tired of College swimming but so I kind of thought that Alex Walsh would go on a similar path especially since I was actually talking to Tyler Fenwick about this like a few months ago and he said something along the lines of like Alex W she’s not a swimmer that really has to rely on her college career to be successful she has like an like Olympic long course future ahead of her so like she doesn’t really need the fifth year as much as some other swimmers do so I kind of just like took that as a sign that maybe she wasn’t gonna return so the fact that she’s returning does surprise me a little bit and I that’s that’s not saying that long course isn’t her future because it’s absolutely is but just like I don’t know given uva’s history and given what I’ve heard this was a little surprising to me I also feel like um her fifth year placement is more ideal than Kate Douglas’s like you know Kate Kate’s would have been heading into the Olympic year whereas Alex’s is right after the Olympic year it’s like yeah why not go swim yard s and have fun in College swimming right after the Olympics yeah uh like I feel like that makes more sense to me on paper than you know the year before the Olympics you want to focus on Long course um I was a little surprised too yeah it did kind of feel like Alex was just gonna say hey I’m I’m good on College swimming but it’s it’s crazy to me how much of a swing there was because at one point we’re it it seemed like it was possible that Alex was not going to take a fifth year but that Reagan Smith was going to swim for Texas oh yeah and like you know the the swing that that would have been it’s like okay does does te Texas really have a have a legit shot to take down Virginia now that Reagan Smith is on the team and the the likelihood is probably not just because of all the other swimmers that you mentioned that UVA is canning this year but uh but now it’s like yeah there’s there’s no there’s no chance I mean that could be we could see the most dominant team in college swimming we’ve ever seen next year does Kate Douglas have any more eligibility can she just can she like pull a Haley Cal a Haley Cavender and just take her fifth year on a wh that would be that would be silly that would just be silly but I yeah I doubt it do you I I feel like Kate Douglas might be done with swimming after this summer yeah yeah I think well I feel like she should take a shot at one more short course worlds because that 200 IM world record is doing but you want it yeah I want it we all want it come on Kate do it for the fans do it for the fans yeah all right that is our major news for the week let’s finish off this with a couple sink or SW SS first up today on Sinker swim at the 20124 Polish championships that were serving as the country’s Olympic trials we saw two swimmers in one lane in the women’s 200 IM uh during the crossover turn uh one the swimmer in Lane seven ended up in Lane six going into the breaststroke leg and she finished the race in Lane six along with the original swimmer who was also in Lane six I did a whole video about this but I’m curious what everyone else thinks specifically what you yinyan think uh should we should should swimming get rid of the crossover turn in IM events and just replace it with a backstroke flip turn I’m gonna sync it we need the crossover turn for the drama because I just find it so funny how some of the best swimmers and I amers in the world can do so much but then when it comes to a crossover turn they they struggle immensely I don’t I don’t remember if summer McIntosh couldn’t do a crossover turn or if her crossover turn was really bad but it was just really funny to watch because because it was like yeah this is world record holder summer McIntosh struggling to do a crossover turnament may maybe this is just me wanting the top swimmers in the world to be more relatable but I yinan that was the best answer I ever could have hoped for and but I don’t agree with it at all I oh oh well I you know this is a this is an argument show or at least in theory yeah I’m swimming it all the way I think the crossover turn is dumb and causes way too much drama and it wouldn’t even it it I like it wouldn’t ruin the sanctity of the event if people just did one freestyle stroke in their 50 backstroke and then did a flip turn and there would be so many less dqs we wouldn’t see Kaylee McKuen getting dced at the World Championships but Alex Walsh not getting dced even though they kind of did their turns kind of looked the same that that was a whole that’s a whole thing and I’m not taking shots at anyone here but it’s just like the crossover turn causes too much drama and I don’t want that drama in in my swimming life so I I think you we should just convert to a backstroke flip turn but the drama means discourse and discourse might be bad in the moment but when you look back on it in 10 years you’re all gonna laugh about it oh maybe Kaye mchan won I I apologize maybe maybe it won’t be fun for her but having the existence of a crossover turn is not going to ruin her life I’m going I’m going to get for this no I mean you’re you make a valid point I just don’t agree with it and I think you’re wrong okay as you said this is an argument this is in theory an argument show yeah it’s usually Braden Keith driving in the argument but we’re doing we’re doing our best braen Keith impression this time next up on Sinker swim last Sinker swim of the day it’s a quick show because you know what I’m I’m I’m going to say it I’m just so glad to finally have a week where like nothing insane is happening and that’s I guess that’s saying a lot considering less than a week ago we had a chines doping Scandal and dude swim 340 in the 400 free but it’s just like can we take a breath people like so this is a shorter breakdown and I’m happy about it but yeah speaking of that 340 and the men’s for free Lucas Martins went 34.3 in the 4 free style he is the fourth fastest performer of all time now but he is still not under 340 we still haven’t seen anyone in history do it he doesn’t even have the German record because he’s the second fastest German of all time because Paul Beerman has the world record at 34.0 s08 yeah 07 um so sink or swim will someone go under 340 in the men’s Foreigner freestyle in Paris I am absolutely swimming it uh I’m actually doing a few articles it’s like ranking the men’s and women’s world records by How likely they’ll fall in Paris and spoil alert I have the men’s 400 free ranked pretty high it’s just I just have a feeling we’ve been knocking on that 34 door for the past year and do I think Lucas Martins will be the will necessarily be the one to break the world record and go under 340 during Paris probably not um it could be so many different people ad hafi Elijah Winnington um Kim W and just the men’s mid distance swimming oh yeah Sam short right right uh Med mid distance swimming distance swimming it’s just getting faster and faster a world record is bound to fall and I will be disappointed if it doesn’t well prepare to be disappointed yinyan because I am sinking it it’s not gonna no way we’ve never seen the fastest swims of all time at the Olympics in this event what but except for sun oh in this in this EV this in this event because it’s day one uh and well it might be day two in the new schedule hold on people let me pull this up really quick uh no it’s day it’s still day one still day one so it’s day it’s first day of the Olympics so everyone’s still kind of like getting into the meat they got their nerves it’s it’s like the first event or this it’s one of the F it’s the first it is the first final um so it’s the first medal event of the Olympic Games and the way someone’s going to get out get under 340s if they go out really fast no one’s going to go out really fast in this race I don’t think because they want to win they’re they are swimming to win they’re not swimming to break the world record they should swim to break the world record because then they might win but but no one’s going to like 343 won in Tokyo and I I I know that the events gotten much faster since then but what I’m saying is that people are very conservative in this race um and I think and I just I don’t see it Lucas Martins went his best time in Germany I think at a World Championships it could totally happen like that’s where Ian Thorp went is fastest I’m not sold on half nowi because I just don’t know where he’s at this season he’s he’s I don’t actually know where he is in the world but ALS you know it’s like he’s had a lot going on the Australians are looking great but I just I don’t I don’t see happening in Paris okay Counterpoint I know you said the World Championships were an exception but they are a big high stakes meet and the 400 freestyles were on the first day of the meet and both of them men’s and women’s were ridiculously fast it’s true and Arian timus and the woman’s were oh I guess but that’s on day two but still when a best time so you you’re you’re not wrong but I I just think I think it’s different because for the women on the women’s side there’s like three people who are gonna win right like you had summer Katie and ariar and so it’s like I think it’s easier for them to swim their own race a little bit and I think for whatever reason I’ve never been to any of these meets I’ve never certainly never competed at them but at a World Championships it’s just just a different level of pressure than the Olympics and I do think that affects race strategies especially in this event or in in longer events like I don’t I really don’t think people are going to be as aggressive especially on the men’s side because there are so many people there’s we don’t know who’s going to win we have no idea like in the women’s event you you know one of three athletes are going to win right and like that we kind of knew that last year in the women’s forer free 2o so yeah I would love to see it I don’t think we’re gonna well you’re right boom all right well we will see in in really not that long uh this it is is coming up soon and yeah it is exciting but anyway that’s our show thanks for joining us on the swim swim breakdown we will see you next time [Music]