University of Georgia Athletics
Freestyle Sprints 'A Different Animal'
December 10, 2015 | Swimming & Diving
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
When I say so, start holding your breath. Ready? Go. You can exhale after 19 seconds.
You probably aren't about to pass out or anything, but I bet after about 15 or 16 seconds you were feeling ready for a big gulp of air. Now imagine doing that not while sitting wherever you're sitting now, but in the pool at Gabrielsen Natatorium while swimming as fast as you can.
Georgia senior freestyler Michael Trice won the men's 50-yard free last Friday during the UGA Fall Invitational. He lowered his school record with a time of 19.31 seconds. And he didn't take a breath during the short-course race, which means 25 yards down and 25 yards back, with one turn.
"I don't breathe on the 50, I don't think a lot of guys do," Trice said. "Just hold your breath and go."
This is the world of the freestyle swimming sprints, where fractions of a second saved can and do make all the difference. The 50 and 100 free, coach Jack Bauerle said, are "a different animal" from pretty much everything else at a meet.
"The biggest thing is, you don't have time to make up for anything that you do wrong," Bauerle said Sunday, before heading to Indianapolis to coach the U.S. national team against Europe's best at the Duel in the Pool. "Sometimes in the 200 and the 500, you can sort of adjust yourself. (In the short races), one thing wrong and it's a done deal."
The fastest swimmer in the pool wins the longer races, maybe starting from the 200 on. In the 100 and especially the 50, the swimmer with the best start has a big advantage. And in the short course — short course (used in NCAA meets) means 25-yard laps and long course (national and international meets) means 50-meter laps — making excellent turns is as critical as making excellent time with your strokes.
"You definitely have to be very focused," said junior Olivia Smoliga, who won the women's 100 freestyle at the UGA Fall Invitational on Sunday. "I mean, the 50, all it is is your start, turn and finish. Everybody knows how to swim, so you have to make sure those little details are [she emphasizes with a snap of her fingers] on point."
Bauerle said there are a lot of great swimmers that have been undone by inefficient turns. Conversely, there are swimmers that have excelled at turns and had great collegiate careers, but struggled moving from short course to long course, which features fewer turns.
"There are people that are pretty good at 100 yards that we don't ever see at 100 meters," he said, later adding, "There's an old saying within the coaching ranks: you cannot fake Mother Nature or the long course."
The pool is always calm before the start of a race, and always a little chaotic once it begins. In an instant it looks as though someone has turned on a massive hot tub. The water along the line of swimmers is foamy white and the smoothness of moments before is long gone.
In the men's 100 freestyle final Sunday, among those powering through the water in the day's fastest event were Georgia's Trice and fellow senior Matias Koski.
Earlier in the day, Koski, who's as versatile a freestyler as they come, placed second in the 1,650-yard freestyle. That was in a time of 14:58.36 — just a tad longer than it took Trice and Koski to tie for second place in the 100 free with a time of 43:01.
"Those shorter races, I feel like I have to find my sprinter mentality, with a little more rage and less strategy," said Koski, who like Smoliga was named SEC swimmer of the week Tuesday. "It's a little bit unusual for me because that's not typically how I race, but I find it a lot of fun — something different."
Trice didn't mention rage, but what he described when talking about his pre-race routines — and they vary from the 50 and 100 — came close to it. It also sounded like what a boxer would do if he was going out for a one-round bout.
"Before the 50 I get really pumped up and smack myself a little bit to get ready to go, and the race itself you don't really even remember the race," he said. "It's just a blink and you're done. In the 100, I won't smack myself or jump around as much, but I'll definitely get in the mindset to go fast."
Koski has all the time in the world to think about tactics or anything else race related while doing lap after lap in the 1,650. Heck, he could sing a few of The Grateful Dead's longer jam songs to himself if he wanted. But in a frenetic 50 or 100 race: "You've got to know what to do before you jump in the water," he said.
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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