The 2014 DC Metro Championships, the final meet of the high school season for many schools in the Washington D.C. area, began on Friday night with prelims of the 500 free and the 400 free relays, and with a lot of expectations about her potential in the 500 yard free, Stone Ridge’s Katie Ledecky didn’t disappoint.
She swam a 4:28.71 in prelims of the 500 yard free to take the top seed by a massive 28 seconds. Not only that, but she broke the National Age Group Record for 15-16’s, the National High School Record, the American Record, and the U.S. Open. Yes, that’s the American Record for “any age,” and U.S. Open Record effectively means that she swam the fastest 500 yard freestyle in history.
A run down of the records:
- Meet Record: 4:31.38 (Ledecky, last year)
- 15-16 NAG Record: 4:31.38 (Ledecky, last year)
- National High School Record: 4:31.38 (Ledecky, last year)
- American Record: Katie Hoff, 4:30.47, December 8, 2007 (NBAC Christmas Invitational)
Ledecky joins a prestigious list of swimmers who have broken American Records in high school competition, joining names like Kate Ziegler, who broke Janet Evans’ American Record in the 500 yard free for nearby Bishop O’Connell High School; and Jeff Kostoff, who also broke the American Record in the 500 free when he was in high school.
Update: As one of our readers pointed out, Mark Spitz also broke multiple American Records in high school in the 1960’s.
Ledecky’s splits:
51.15
53.82
54.50
54.81
54.43
Ledecky will have another shot to swim this in finals, but our prediction is that she won’t get it again. Our guess is that Ledecky really ‘let loose’ in prelims, knowing that she wouldn’t have any other scoring races tonight, and in finals will simply ensure the win, and focus on saving energy to score points for her team in relays.
Of course, a swimmer of Ledecky’s caliber could probably go a 4:27 tomorrow, and still be able to come back and do what she needs to do on the 400 free relay, so one never knows.
This will be her 5th American Record once ratified, and her second one in yards, joining the 1650 she did at Winter Nationals.
SwimSwam’s Matt Rees will be on deck on Saturday for finals of this meet, and will provide as much coverage as possible of what could be a historic meet, and will hopefully grab an interview with Ledecky when she’s done racing.
The top seed in the 500 free was Gavin Springer in 4:27.91: just barely faster than Ledecky’s time. Ledecky’s new teammate, and transfer from Florida, freshman Matthew Hirschberger is the 3rd seed in that 500 in 4:30.58.
Lost in all this is the 400 Freestyle Relay. While we’re busy congratulating Katie, let’s think about the absolute THRILL of a LIFETIME that the anchor of the Churchill team had. She will be able to say for the rest of her life that she held off KATIE LEDECKY to win a relay at a championship meet.
Those two have divergent careers: one is a multi-record holder and gold medalist, and the other may be good or great, but may never reach those heights again. But she has her one great moment, one she will never forget.
Congrats to Katie, obviously, and may you have a great career! To Hannah Lindsey of Winston Churchill HS: enjoy this great memory!
Compared to the women’s 200 the 400 & 800 ought be much faster .
As a quick reference ( percentages would be more correct ) I have looked at the w 200 X 2 plus 4x 200 .
At the heights of women’s distance as I see it 1968 1972 1978 1988 & present the 800s are (w200 world record x 4 ) + 41 secs 42 secs 31 secs 27 secs respectively now it is back out to 40 plus.
Eg Sippy Woodhouses 1.58.2 X 4 = 7.53 . Tracey’s Wr 8.24.4 therefore a differential of 31 sec. Janet’s is similar but the w200 would be drug assisted so it may be even better .
Do the… Read more »
If anything it is Schmitt’s 200 which is too fast . However she is a big strong girl in a proven squad .
Some of these girls are bigger than the men of 20 years ago.
Tell me about it! I feel like a shrimp walking on a pool deck at a national level meet. The athletes are now HUGE. Not like in my day. But it is all about each generation becoming bigger, stronger and better than the previous one.
Big people need to ensure they have the means to keep feeding themselves. We are in a rare era of plentiful & cheap foods which may not last forever.
In a famine you will be closer to the ground to scoop up the chaff & bite their ankles in the fight . Swimming will be a distant memory.
1.42.38 for Katie in the 200 free final.
Not a best time but it’s a new high school record.
Congrats.
Thanks Bobo! Do you know where there are live results for this meet?
Before anyone jump on me, here’s my unequivocal statement:
I don’t think or even suspect that Ledecky is doping.
Now that being said, I am sick of people attacking others who state their open mind that anything is possible although those other people also said they don’t suspect Ledecky of doping.
I have read in the above comments that people think it is fair to hint suspicion that Ye Shiwen is doping because she is inconsistent.
Here’s the answer: Since 2009, Ye Shiwen has always improved, time-wise, with the exception of last year when she had a bad year, following inconsistent training after the olympics (you’d know from the news, just like how Sun Yang did).
You want to… Read more »
Just curious are you implying that Schmitt is doping?
I am not implying or suspecting that Allsion Schmitt is doping, but in the above comment, Phillip Johnson stated that it is fair to suspect Shiwen is doping because she is inconsistent.
And therefore I gave an example of an outstanding american swimmer who is a LOT MORE inconsistent than Shiwen to highlight the reason that it is not fair to suspect someone of doping just because they have one bad year.
Ok just making sure.
Good post, I agree with you. (and I’m from the US)
Yeah, but 2008 and 2009 were the suit years. Schmitt went a lot faster during those years, just like everyone else. When they were gone, her times went up. She also shuttled between Georgia and Bob Bowman, and it seems like her results pan out way better when she spends a lot of time with Bowman (see 2012). 2013 might have just been her losing steam after the Olympics.
> “And then McGillRocks wrote this ignorant comment:
“However some other people (Shiwen) have been less than consistent and gradual. She was not the favorite to win and made an upset and broke the WR. Not only that but it was surprising HOW she did it. It wasn’t as though she cut off a little from every faucet of the race, her freestyle split was undeniably an major outlier compared to the others. So some might say that it’s more justified to suspect her. ”
His comment is so ignorant that is so flabbergasting.
Coming from nowehere? Ye Shiwen was already DOUBLE Asian Games champion in 2010 when she was only 14 yo, swimming 2:09 and 4:33.… Read more »
But McGill it is an old ruse to say ‘some people might think…..”as a way to put out the idea. I know I have done it , we all do it in forms & in short it is snide & snark . Why bother accounting for unknown people’s opinions & how can you decipher the pathways they used to come to a conclusion? They might be idiots & know little of swimming . They are the mythical people so often used in creepy journalism .
I simply don’t know . Her final 100 is out of this world but then again , her times as a 13 year old were out of this world. About 10 years ago there was… Read more »
Oh & neither look like they are 400 shape .
I was trying to check the timing of Ye 400IM could not get an exact count.. but specially on breast where she got really close for the freestyle leg She was the smoother less energy use swimmer.. only by a small look every 3 strokes of Beisel Ye just did 2.. and at some place Beisel did 2 strokes for 1 of Ye..
But I don´t think Ye was smashed by media just because of being Chinese.. it seems like because she beat miss lovely (Not Bashing Her.. but some media looked up to her that way Beisel she was bashed.. because on recent years I´ve never saw anyone saying a WORD about Zige and Jiao and those 2 are… Read more »
Rafael .
Thanks for adding . The Australian coach ( who also trained Schipper simultaneously) swears the 08 girls are clean. If anything it is Jessica who dropped the ball after running out of steam .her final lap was 34 secs+ . But 200 fly is tough not just on a particular race but over the longer term . Even MaryT struggled after 17 .
Re the 400 I’m i think SwSw should do a statistical based article which highlights the outstanding leg / quality & the base strength of each major contender. I saw an analyses of Katie Hoff ( who was trained similar high mileage to Ye ) . Katie came out of the blocks young as a… Read more »
Can everyone shut up about this? I’m fairly certain I made it clear that I’m a HUGE fan of Ledecky, which is why i would be heartbroken IF she was doping. To clarify, I personally DON’T think she is doping, but that it IS within the realm of possibility. I didn’t think Lance Armstrong was doping, and how did that turn out? What about Tyson Gay? Tiger Woods seemed like a pretty great family guy right? I’m not accusing her of anything, I think she’s an absolute phenom. But I’m not about to shove my head in the dirt and say “she’s not doping because I say she’s not” Like many of you Ledecky-lovers (justifiably so, because as I said,… Read more »
#notsohumblebrag
http://m.troll.me/?guid=2011/11/07/creepy-willy-wonka/please-tell-me-more/
Yeahh you can consider it bragging if you’d like, but people around here seem to cry for credentials and proof whenever someone states an opinion.
How does being an MMA fighter, marine, and mvp of your high school swim team make you qualified?
Because i see doping all around me in each respective sport and the Service. I see the effects all the time. And if you think about it, a female outswimming almost all the boys her age in the nation…. that’s not normal. I highly doubt she is, but to say it’s not a possibility is ignorant.
I have a great view of the stars at night. I see them all the time, but that does not make me an astronomer.
is….is she running?
Best post on thread. RJCID, smash.
Ledecky prelims 200 free – 1:44.2 and 22.8 relay split. Some fast prelims times from the meet. Should be exciting finals.
This is horrible! Poor Katie has the swim of her life and all these morons claim that she doped? I’m glad that some people, Bobo Gigi and Ervinforthewin, are sane enough to put these trolls in their place!
No one is claiming Ledecky is doping.
Please improve your reading comprehension.
Sorry I meant they were implying that she was not clean.
I also did not see a single comment implying that Ledecky is doping.
Please show those comments to me.
Danm133’s comments definitely implicate something. Can you deny it?
Is this the comment?
“It is entirely possible that she is doping. Her times are so mind boggling that its fair to bring it up. However, I’m sure that she is not doping and is just a really good swimmer.”
If you think Dam133 think Ledecky is doping, then you need to work on your reading comprehension.
You seem to be the only one that thinks so. Maybe YOU need to work on your reading comprehension.
Danm133 clearly said:
“However, I’m sure that she is not doping and is just a really good swimmer.”
the only country that Aswimfan would consider that comment as an implication of doping is Australia