Brickelle Bro, McKenzie Coan Trade American Records in 1650 Free

Stanford’s Brickelle Bro and Loyola University’s McKenzie Coan taded American Records in the 1650 yard freestyle this past weekend at their respective conference championship meets.

The two, who are teammates on the U.S. Paralympics National Team (Coan on the National A Team, Bro on the National B Team), both compete in the S8 classification for freestyle and over the weekend became the first two women ever under the 20 minute mark in the longest event in the record books.

Entering the weekend, the record was set at 20:07.09 and belonged to Coan. Bro got under the 20-minute barrier first at Pac-12s with a 19:56.87. Then, in a Sunday Time Trial at the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Championships (ECAC) meet hosted by the Naval Academy, Coan swam a 19:51.70.

The comparative 500 yard splits:

• Bro – 6:03.01/12:06.91/18:10.23 = 19:56.87
• Coan – 5:54.92/11:58.42/18:03.50 = 19:51.70

While both swimmers closed very well in the race, with Bro’s closing 650 yards actually a little better than Coan’s, Coan was incredibly aggressive in the first 500 yards.

The challenge for both swimmers at late June’s Paralympic Swimming Trials in Charlotte is that the longest event on this year’s Paralympic schedule is the 400 free, where they’ll collide with fellow American Jessica Long, who is the defending S8 World Champion in the event. Up to 3 swimmers can be taken in each event, but for a 3rd swimmer to have any chance to earn an invite in an event, they will still have to swim at-or-near the top of the World Rankings in a complex Paralympic selection system.

Both swimmers, however, have multiple other opportunities to qualify for the team.

Coan, who demonstrated her speed in this 1650 swim, to contend in the shorter events. She was 6th at Worlds in the 100 free last year (1:10.29) and also swam on the silver-medal winning American 400 free relay.

Bro, meanwhile, was 7th at Worlds in the 100 fly, 6th in the 200 IM, and 7th in the 100 free.

Both swimmers did compete in the 400 free at Worlds, with Coan placing 4th and just missing a medal and Bro touching in 6th place.

Interview with Brickelle Bro talking about her first Pac-12 Championships experience below, courtesy Pac-12 Networks.