With speculation growing for weeks about former National Champion Kathleen Hersey, and her future with the University of Texas women’s team, we may have gotten our answer on Saturday afternoon in Berkeley, California.
What has really gone on has been the subject of much rumor, and it’s hard to be certain about what is true until we get official word out of the Hersey/Longhorn camps. Hersey has been rumored to be considering leaving the Texas women’s team to go pro and continue training with Texas men’s coach Eddie Reese, who led her to the 200 fly National Championship (and Pan-Pac bronze medal) over the summer.
Hersey, and the Longhorns, had a fairly disappointing 2010 NCAA Championship meet, which resulted in a 12th place finish that was much lower than Texas and their coaching staff had hoped for. Hersey herself also seemed to have missed her taper a little, including a 10th in the 100 fly and only a fourth in the 200 fly.
No official announcement has been made, however, and Hersey may be waiting to see final approval of a revised Athlete Partnership Plan before making her decision.
Hersey is still on the Texas roster, and the official Texas Athletics site did not acknowledge the rumors or the issue.
Yesterday (Saturday), the Longhorns headed out to California for a huge early-season dual with Cal, and Kathleen Hersey was absent from the Texas roster. No mention of her absence was listed in either the meet recap or meet preview (where she wasn’t mentioned at all). This is the biggest indicator yet that Hersey might be parting ways with NCAA swimming.
(Update 10/18: I’ve received confirmation from the first personal source that I consider ironclad that Hersey is done swimming for Texas. I can’t name the source, because of his connection to the program, but in my mind, it has now moved from “rumor” status to being a done deal, barring any extreme change in the situation, ala a Hersey injury, Coaching Change, Reese Retires etc. Given the fact that Texas and Hersey have not made the announcement officially, it’s still unclear what this means for Hersey’s future in terms of going pro or transfering, or if this still leaves the door open for her to have a change-of-heart.)
Unfortunately, Hersey’s absence overshadowed a typically great early-season performance for Texas, which beat Cal 156-144.
Some highlights from that meet:
- California won both relays (200 medley, 400 free) by roughly a second.
- The 100 backstroke was a showcase of three of the best young backstrokers in the country: Cal’s Cindy Tran and Deborah Roth, and Texas’ Lily Moldenhauer. Moldenhauer and Tran are the last two national public school record holders, with Tran standing as the current national any-school record holder. This race ended up with Tran on top, in an impressive 54.49 that puts her third in the nation. Moldenhauer was second in 55.09, with Roth third in 55.55.
- Caitlin Leverenz confirmed that she was in for a major collegiate break-through this season after an oustanding long course season. Her 4:16.06 400 IM is the best in the nation this year by 3 seconds, and is an impressive time in such a grueling event for this time of the season.
- Another swimmer carrying over a great summer season is Texas’ Karlee Bispo. She was the B-final Champion at long course nationals, and against Cal put up a 1:46.97 that is the best in the nation so far.
- Cal won 6 out of 13 individual events, and both relays, meaning the swimming scoring was fairly even. The big difference maker for Texas was their divers, who went 1-2-3 on the 3 meter. The lack of divers is the big weakness on the Cal team and could haunt them come March.
- The last team these two teams faced off was to open the 2008-2009 season, also in California. Texas won that meet by a sizable 175-123 margin. Cal went on to win the NCAA Championship that year, while Texas finished 5th.
Don’t know about my source, but i heard this summer that Kim said she could train with Eddie this summer but not during the collegiate season. So I think she knew at the beginning that she was a no go with the Texas Women’s team.
I am not sure why she said no to World SC champs?! Maybe it is during finals, maybe she wants to go home for the holidays sooner…who knows? Kathleen is the only one.
I have received confirmation from a texas womens team member that Hersey is no longer a part of the team and is currently training with Eddie Reese and the men
A thought: Hersey turned down the spot on the World Short course team for December, ostensibly because she would be too busy with college season to swim. A lot of collegians did that – LaTourette, Spann, Dylla, Schmitt, Scroggy, Beisel, Crippen, Leverenz (whose coach is head coach!) – but very few – Phelps, Pelton, Lezak, Beard, Jones – for other reasons. Obviously Hersey planned on swimming for Texas, at least through the beginning of September. Thus, if something happened, it happened after the start of the season. Not saying what happened, but this definitely says something about the situation.
You make a good point about SC Worlds. I could see this as a function of 1) She had not yet made up her mind that she would leave, 2) the uncertainty in her own mind surrounding the situation, or 3) She had not yet been told that she would be unable to train with Eddie Reese during the NCAA season.
I think if they had been able to arrange things where Hersey trained with Reese, then she would have remained as a member of the team.
i wonder what life is like between Kim and Eddie…Kathleen has put them in a precarious situation.
Now more than ever, Kim has to have her girls swim fast for confidence reasons, as well as recruiting…she can’t afford another champ season like last year.
Well, in my opinion, Eddie Reese and what he’s done with the men’s side is the womens’ best recruiting tool. I coach in Texas, and the female high school swimmers I’m around usually can’t name a single female Texas swimming alum, but they can name 6 or 8 men. They are also stunned when they learn that A&M has been way more successful on the women’s side for the past 4 seasons.
I think I’d also disagree with the assertion that swimmers would tell recruits if they were in a bad situation. I know swimmers who are at other Universities (not Texas) who have hated their coach/program, but they always put on a happy face for recruits. And it’s not… Read more »
Kathleen hasn’t swum with the women since last spring.
#1 Hersey is done!
#2 Texas women always swim well in dual meets. Last year, I think they beat #1 UGA and they were bad at conference and ncaa’s. I think Sugar might have been fast yesterday then at the end of the year last year!
#2 is a very good point Joe. For example, Texas wins the Texas A&M dual meet nearly every year, but A&M has won 3 out of the last 4 conference championships (with the exception being the year where A&M’s two best swimmers were out for the season with shoulder injuries).
I acknowledged that it was uncomfirmed rumors. I’ve heard some things from people I know who have connections in the program, beyond what has just been posted on CollegeSwimming, as well. What makes me skeptical that it is just a sickness is that the official athletic site did not acknowledge that she missed such a big meet. If she was sick, the press release would have mentioned it. If it is sickness, it wasn’t sudden onset, because the TexasSports meet preview didn’t mention her name period. In fact, she hasn’t been mentioned once since the end of Pan-Pacs, which is odd if you have a National Champion on your team.
It’s not a smoking gun that Hersey is done. But… Read more »
After everything that has happened, I can’t imagine things are as bad as you make them sound. Team is doing well, and they are getting another outstanding recruiting class. Swimmers would tell recruits if stuff is wrong. Almost 100% of the information you cite is pure, unconfirmed rumor. No confirmation to any of this. She missed a meet. Could have been sick. Or maybe she is leaving and being stupid about the process. I.e., don’t go pro. But don’t report anything until it comes out or someone can tell you what is going on.