SwimSwam Pulse: 80% Favor Hoffer’s 100 Free As Top NAG Record Swim

SwimSwam Pulse is a recurring feature tracking and analyzing the results of our periodic A3 Performance Polls. You can cast your vote in our newest poll on the SwimSwam homepage, about halfway down the page on the right side.

Our latest poll asked SwimSwam readers to pick out their favorite of the slew of National Age Group (NAG) records that fell on the weekend of Winter Junior Nationals and the NCAP Invite.

RESULTS

Which was the most impressive NAG record from the weekend of Winter Juniors?

• Ryan Hoffer’s 100 free – 80.8%
• Michael Andrew’s 200 IM – 6.9%
• Reece Whitley’s 200 breast – 7.8%
• Other – 4.6%

Unsurprisingly, an overwhelming majority selected Ryan Hoffer‘s 41.23 in the 100 free as the most impressive NAG record of the week. Hoffer’s swim lit up the SwimSwam comments section immediately after the 17-year-old became the fastest 17-18 in history and the 4th-fastest performer of any age in American history.

The sprint freestyles have always maintained somewhat of an advantage over other events in terms of fan popularity. We saw a similar effect in action when Caeleb Dressel (the man from whom Hoffer took that 100 free NAG, as it were) became the youngest man under 19 seconds in the 50 free a few years back.

The other two listed options – Michael Andrew‘s 200 IM and Reece Whitley‘s 200 breast – received almost identical amounts of votes. Whitley was the runner-up by just under one percent of the vote, but the two were separated by just 19 votes overall.

We purposefully excluded Katie Ledecky‘s 1000 free from the voting – Ledecky broke the American record by a whopping 11 seconds, and her swim was also the 17-18 NAG record. The rationale was that Ledecky’s swim, being an American record for any age, would likely steal enough of the votes to make the outcome less-than-illuminating. As it turned out, Hoffer’s swim garnered enough of the vote to almost do the same thing itself. It’s certainly possible that some portion of the 4.6% that voted “other” in our poll had Ledecky in mind despite our exclusion of her swim (internet readers occasionally not reading all the details of a story before interacting with its site? That would be shocking!), but most of that 4.6% was probably looking at one of the many other NAG records to fall that weekend. A brief refresher of the NAG records at the time:

NATIONAL AGE GROUP RECORDS – WEEKEND OF DECEMBER 12-13

Speedo West Winter Junior Championships:

• Michael Andrew, 15-16 boys 200 IM, : 1:42.77
• Michael Andrew, 15-16 boys 100 fly: 46.23
• Michael Andrew, 15-16 boys 100 breast: 52.21
• Ryan Hoffer, 17-18 boys 100 free: 41.23

Speedo East Winter Junior Championships:

• Alex Walsh, 13-14 girls 200 IM: 1:56.20
• Alex Walsh, 13-14 girls 100 back: 51.62
• Camden Murphy, 15-16 boys 100 fly: 46.25
• SwimMAC girls, 15-18, 17-18 girls 200 free relay: 1:30.09
• SwimMAC girls, 17-18 girls 400 free relay: 3:16.62

NCAP Invite:

• Reece Whitley, 15-16 boys 200 breast: 1:53.66
• Brett Feyerick, 11-12 boys 50 back: 24.22

Check out the SwimSwam frontpage to vote in our newest poll, which asks about the upcoming slate of major meets in 2016.

FIND AND VOTE IN THE NEW POLL HERE, ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE PAGE ABOUT HALFWAY DOWN.

Which are you looking forward to more in 2016:

• Olympic Games
• U.S. Olympic Trials
• Men’s NCAA Championships
• Women’s NCAA Championships