Regan Smith’s NAG Records, and the NAG Records she Spares

2016 SPEEDO JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS WEST

• December 7th – December 10th, 2016
• College Station, TX
• Texas A&M Student Recreation Center Natatorium
• Prelims – 9:00 am / Finals – 6:00 pm
• Psych Sheet
• Event Order & Timeline
• Heat Sheets (Friday PM)
• Live stream

Regan Smith was the biggest star in a meet full of big stars tonight at the 2016 Speedo Junior Nationals West Championships.  While Smith is not the only breaker of NAG records between the two Junior National Championships taking place this weekend, her time drops have been the most dramatic by far.

A slight 14-year-old from suburban Minneapolis, Regan Smith does not immediately appear a champion swimmer. Perhaps she’s a little tall for girls her age, but not head-and-shoulders above her peers, like many other NAG-shattering youngsters.  And because she doesn’t lift weights she is yet to reap the benefits that added muscle can give to swimmers, particularly those specializing in middle-distance and sprint events.  In the water, Smith has nearly perfect technique in backstroke, butterfly, and freestyle.  Her weakness is breaststroke, but as we all know by watching elite athletes, weakness in any aspect of their sport is relative.

Smith’s natural talent and dedication, combined with the resources to succeed and a supportive family and brilliant coaching from Mike Parratto of Riptide Swim Team, have allowed her to achieve the level of success we witnessed tonight.  While a full day of competition remains, it’s not too early to lay on the praises for Smith’s performances so far.  Smith’s 100 backstroke tonight would have earned her 6th place at the 2016 NCAA Division I Championships (though Olivia Smoliga did go a blistering 50.58 to win the consolation final and take 9th place).  Her 100 fly would have earned her a 12th-place finish at NCAA’s, and her 200 IM 13th.  But Regan Smith is not only talented at back, fly, and IM; she is also a very good freestyler.

To date, Smith’s best times in the freestyle races (up to the 500) are as follows:

• 50 – 23.57 (12/8/2016)
• 100 – 50.23 (3/13/2016)
• 200 – 1:46.77 (3/11/2016)
• 500 – 4:53.15 (3/12/2016)

With the exception of the prelims of the 50 free Thursday, Smith will not swim any freestyle in the meet this week, despite being qualified in 50, 100, 200, and 500.  While it is not uncommon for swimmers to have to choose between events at major meets, most of those swimmers aren’t also within striking distance of the NAG records in any of the events that they’re considering dropping.  For Smith, that has not been the case.  Judging by her performances so far, Smith could have made a real run at the 100 and 200 freestyle NAG records, which stand at 47.94 and 1:44.55, respectively, both of which are held by Missy Franklin.

SwimSwam has learned that Smith is going to scratch the 100 free tomorrow to focus on the 200 back and 200 fly, where she has two more great shots at rewriting the 13-14 record books.  But couldn’t she just coast the 200 fly and 200 back in prelims and blast a 100 free, and scratch it at night?  Yes, she could, but she hates swimming in prelims and scratching the finals, we were also told.  Her competitive drive is too strong, so she has been hedging her bets on the strokes and putting the freestyle on the back burner.

OK, fine, so no freestyle.  But are her shots at the 200 fly and 200 back NAG records really that stellar as to forego another race–maybe she wouldn’t break one or all of the records, but if she could pull off three victories instead of two, wouldn’t that be better?  Depends on your priorities, but for her, it isn’t.  So just what are her chances at lowering even more NAG records tomorrow?  Let’s take a look at her best times in the upcoming races, as well as how much she has improved in her events so far.

Events on 12/10/2016 (Saturday)

Events 12/8-12/9 (Thursday-Friday)

If Smith only needs to improve her times by 3.1-3.6 percent in order to break the NAG records in the 200 fly and 200 back, respectively, given her average improvement so far, she has a great shot.  Another way to look at things is by comparing Smith’s 100 back time to Missy Franklin‘s 100 back time when she was 14 and set the NAG record in the 200.  At age 14 in 2010, Missy Franklin established the current but probably doomed 13-14 NAG record of 1:51.01 in the 200 backstroke–here’s the good part–while having a best time of 53.16 in the 100 backstroke!  Smith is just over 2 full seconds faster than Franklin was in the 100 at the same age!  While comparing swimmers, especially young teenagers, is a precarious endeavor at best, it illustrates just how fast Regan Smith is, and how fast she could go tomorrow.

Whatever happens tomorrow, Regan Smith has already had an historic meet, and her future is looking bright.