The Georgia women were the undeniable favorites in the 800 free relay at this week’s SEC Championship meet, but I don’t think what they did in this final was really fathomable at this stage of the season. The Bulldog quartet of Shannon Vreeland, Megan Romano, Jordan Mattern, and Allison Schmitt swam a 6:52.64 for a new SEC American, U.S. Open, and NCAA Record in the 800 free relay; in a word, the fastest 800 yard free relay ever swum.
The old records belonged to:
NCAA/U.S. Open: Cal, 6:52.69, 2009
American: Georgia, 6:53.58, 2011
That Cal relay was made up of Sara Isakovic, Hannah Wilson, Liv Jensen, and Dana Vollmer, and it was done in polyurethane. That’s an unbelievable foursome to take down the record of, and Georgia did it with flare. They averaged a 1:43.16 – that’s an NCAA A-cut and #2 time in the country, on average. This relay is stacked, and nobody will touch them at NCAA’s – even if they are a bit slower, like they were in 2011 when they last set the American Record.
That relay has two U.S. Olympians on either end, plus Romano (the fastest 200 yard freestyler in history) in the middle. I don’t know that anybody in college history has ever amassed a group of women’s freestyle talent like this Georgia foursome has. What’s even scarier is that there’s still a lot of meat on the bone here. We know for a fact that Romano and Schmitt can be faster than their splits, as they’ve both done so; one would guess that Vreeland and Mattern could be too.
Splits:
Shannon Vreeland 1:43.38
Megan Romano 1:42.43
Jordan Mattern 1:44.32
Allison Schmitt 1:42.51
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I used the time conversion tool on your home page to convert the 1:43.16 average, and it came out to 1:57.70.
That means the Georgia relay was not the fastest 800 free relay ever swum.
It was the fastest in yards, but not the fastest over all.
China’s polyurethane-(and-who-knows-what-else)-tainted long course meters 800 free relay world record is 7:42.08. The slowest split was 1:56.09. The U.S. relay from London, which broke the Olympic record, posted a time of 7:42.92. The slowest split was 1:56.85, which incidentally was Vreeland. Each of these relays had all four swimmers faster than the average converted time, presuming the conversion tool is working properly.
Georgia might’ve laid claim to the third fastest 800… Read more »
I’m sure the writer of this article meant “yards”
Hi. A question for Miss Bellamy. In episode 2F09 when Itchy plays Scratchy’s skeleton like a xylophone, he strikes the same rib twice in succession, yet he produces two clearly different tones. I mean, what are we to believe, that this is some sort of a magic xylophone or something? Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder.
Worst. Episode. Ever.
I hate that I read all six “paragraphs” of your comment.
Unless we’re trying to be novelists rather than journalists, this type of distinction is a lot more important than it may seem. One word can be the difference between truth and fiction.
Sorry, the author of this article didn’t say it was the fastest relay in history. He said it was the fastest 800 YARD free relay in history. There is no fiction in this article.
It was revised after I commented.
That it was, trying to stem off any more esoteric arguments about yards vs. meters.
So, how about them Bulldogs?
http://www.aggieathleticsmedia.com/swimstats/SEC2013/
Wow- incredible splits by Romano and Schmitt
Where can results with splits be found?
Nowhere live. The ones that we’re sent after the meet should have them – we’ll update the link as soon as we get them.
http://www.aggieathleticsmedia.com/swimstats/SEC2013/
Tennessee men and women are really outperforming themselves. Looks like their recent dual meet success was more than early in-season speed. For example, their breastroker outsplitting Breeja Larson, Gendron anchoring in 1:42 high, etc. If they don’t blow their load at SEC’s, the women might have a chance of knocking down one of the big teams a place.
I think what’s scary is that they have at least 3 other girls who could be on that relay and have vitually little effect on the end result. The depth is outrageous.