There are three individual events on the high school schedule that high school superstar Missy Franklin swam in London in 2012: the 100 free, the 200 free and the 100 backstroke. When she represents Regis Jesuit High School in Fort Collins, she won’t swim either of those races.
Instead, she’s opting to race the 200 IM and the 500 free, according to psych sheets that were released today. No names were listed under relays, so we still can’t be certain about which two relays she’ll add to that schedule.
Franklin had a chance at breaking the all-time high school records in both the 100 back and 200 free, but as she has made clear all season, she’s not swimming for the records or the individual glory. This season is all about the team for her. She will still have a chance at breaking records in those two races, because she’s so good even in these off events. The most likely to go down is the 1:57.41 held by her good friend, and Olympic teammate Kathleen Hersey that is the independent school record in the 200 IM. Franklin was a 1:55.3 in the 200 yard IM in 2010, when she was only 15, so Knutson’s overall record is in danger as well.
Her best time in the 500 free is a 4:42.00 in the same year.
500 Free
Overall and Independent School Records: 4:33.35, Kate Ziegler, Bishop O’Connell, 2006
200 IM
Independent School Record: 1:57.41, Kathleen Hersey, Maris H.S., 2008
Overall: 1:53.82, Dagny Knutson, Minot H.S., 2009
Brooke Hansen from Loveland (2:05.84) and Shelley Drozda (2:05.86) from Mountain Range will be the two to push her in that IM. Both are sophomores, and with that youth and Drozda’s speed in the backstroke especially (she’s the top seed), Franklin could have at least a little push early on. Hansen is primarily a breaststroker.
In the 500, Ralston junior Madeline Myers is seeded a mere .02 behind Frankin in 5:57.73.
Franklin will likely be the swimmer of the meet, but based on a quick glance of the psych sheets, Fossil Ridge will be the favorites to take the team title again. Last year, their win was a surprise and a bit of an upset; this year the team is clearly stacked, with senior sprinter Rhianna Williams, who is the top seed in the 50 (23.35) and 100 (51.24) freestyles.
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Dear Another Concerned Mom,
Hmmm, I don’t seem to recall a single Cherry Creek parent suggesting that Amy van Dyken not swim 50 or 100 free at the Colorado State Championship meets because she was too fast…and neither did any of the parents on other teams, for that matter. High school swimming in Colorado is very much a team sport, and if a team is good enough to win (as the Littleton women did in 1992 and 1993, over Cherry Creek, despite 1992 being Amy’s senior year and, yes, her swimming all of her fastest events that she went on to earn Olympic gold medals in), then kudos to them for putting their fastest swimmers against each other. It is… Read more »
Get real people and figure out how HS swimming works! Missy had to swim those events because of what events her other Regis teammates had qualified for. Since your limited to only 4 swimmers per event and some kids only qualified for 1 event, in order to allow all your qualifiers to swim you have to juggle your top swimmers into the holes you have in your roster. Plain and simple, Regis already had 2 girls who where going to place in the top 16, and two other girls, who only qualified in the backstroke. So Missy couldn’t swim that event, if she did, then one poor teammate would have not been able to swim at state at all!
Last I checked that meet had no cut off times so no such thing as over qualified.. Good thing, as your beloved Bonnie would of been too fast to swim last year and records are made to be broken. Shame on you for your poor sportsmanship. Win or lose its how you play the game.
Well I guess once again Missy Franklin’s showing us her true colors by insisting on participating in this year’s state championship.
Even though Missy’s well aware that by doing so, she’s already forcing family and friends of all the HS participants to have to compete with her fans for tickets that should have rightfully been theirs.
Not to mention all the disruptive media attention that’s going to be focused unfairly on a single individual who’s grossly over-qualified for this competition, thus taking away the dues that rightfully belong to others who have a more legit claim to being in this event.
It makes me and frankly a whole bunch of other parents really quite frustrated that the… Read more »
This is just the saddest thing I’ve read on this site. Make sure you comment on the DC swimming articles about how selfish Katie Ledecky is, too.
Sounds to me, with those times by Bonnie Brandon, that Bonnie also shouldn’t have been allowed to swim at the meet last year. It appears to only be for slow people.
Love this 🙂
Wow! I am not a missy fanboy but I am a parent of a couple of very strong swimmers. If your son was a top football, baseball, basketball player would you pull him from the team? Tell him not to run that pass? He would be praised for the contribution he makes to his high school team.
As swimmers, our children don’t participate in a sport celebrated or even acknowledged by many of their peers. Yet they train incredibly hard, with dedication and commitment to their sport and miss out on many social aspects of high school. They have every right to shine and have fun at their high school sporting event! I have always been impressed at the… Read more »
Such a shame you’re a gutless coward who refuses to put her name on her post, and hides behind a stupid handle; otherwise, you could have some credibility. Emphasis on “could.”
This person is not for real… how could she be!
You and the Wall Street Journal have done a remarkably effective job of making Cherry Creek High School look horrible.
Dear Concerned Mom,
I bet if you talked with the swimmers competing at this event they would be thrilled at the prospect of competing at the same event with such a great swimmer. Maybe, a couple of them will even be inspired to take their swimming to a higher level.
On a personal note, my son swam in a lane next to Michael Phelps last year. He was excited to race against the greatest swimmer of all time, even though he knew Phelps was much faster. He did not focus on the fact that he was 17 and Michael was 25 or that he was racing an Olympian. He has proudly told the story of being beaten by… Read more »
The meet is at high altitude so don’t expect crazy times from Missy. We also don’t know her level of rest. I predict 1.56 and 4.44 for her. I’m a little less enthusiastic to watch the meet now she doesn’t swim her best races but Missy is Missy. Live streaming is on playon sports (a very nice website for high school sports) at 4 PM EST in USA. And I want to watch live your crazy helicopter moms. Do they plan a protest march against the presence of Missy at this meet? I imagine the scene.
Bob is correct. Missy also swam in the 200 back at the olympics which was also the only individual event she set a world record in.
But he’s only talking about high school events, the 200 back is not a high school event.
That’s really selfless of her, rooting for her at this meet to break those records!!
She is a mature young woman and very selfless. She will be an asset to any team she’s on anywhere. Wish the parents could be more mature and selfless