In her first swim of the 2013 Winter Nationals, NCAP’s Janet Hu came within .01 seconds of Faith Johnson’s National Age Group Record in the 50 free with a 21.90 while leading off a National Age Group Record breaking relay.
Sometimes, especially in the sprints, that .01 can be the hardest to get, but in her 3rd swim of the first session, Hu got just enough to tie the mark, with a 21.89 for the 2nd seed overall (behind just Natalie Coughlin, who was 21.79).
Hu ties the swim done by Johnson in Johnson’s own pool. She’s a sophomore at Tennessee, who did the time in the spring while at NCAA’s as a freshman for the Volunteers.
Hu has a busy schedule in finals, swimming that relay again, the individual 200 IM, and the individual 50 free; that will continue throughout the meet as she’s entered in four more individual events, and possibly four more relays as well.
This swim is noteworthy as it’s the fastest 50 yard free ever swum by a female who was still in high school (though, this is not a high school meet, so it won’t count as the national high school record). Johnson was in her freshman year of college when she swam her time.
Let Hu enjoy her accomplishment from this a.m. I am sure she can handle the future quite well without all the would of, should of, could of’s offered above.
Stanford’s 200 free relay (and other sprint relays) will be CRAZY next year. Another plus is that they’ll all be American.
21.89 just a few minutes after a 200 IM!
Fresher tonight in the relay final, she could swim faster.
As I say for one year on swimswam, Miss Hu is a beast in yards.
She can swim this week a 51 on backstroke and on butterfly, around 1.56 in the 200 IM and 48 low in the 100 free.
She will be a monster college swimmer.
I’m sure the Stanford coaches are licking their chops in anticipation of next year.
Prediction 12 months out: Hu, Schaefer, Neal, Manuel 200 FR set the AR with a sub 1:26 in their first meet together in fast suits
And they’ll have Lindsey Engel as substitute on the bench. 🙂