If there is one D2 swimmer looking for redemption this season, it might be Milton's Jennah Haney.
She entered last year's state meet as the two-time defending champion in the 100 breaststroke, with a chance of becoming one of the few swimmers in state history to win a single event all four years in high school. But she finished runner-up to Plymouth freshman Kate Criter in one of the fastest races in state history -- five swimmers, including one in the first heat, broke the existing state record. Haney dropped 2.16 seconds from her sectional time at state, only to come up nearly half-a-second short of Criter. As she emerged from the pool after the race and looked up at her time on the scoreboard, Haney had one of those "What do I have to do?" looks on her face.
Probably no swimmer in the state greeted the news banning high-tech swimsuits like the blue70s with greater eagerness than Haney. For if any single event generated buzz and angst about the high-tech suits, it was the D2 girls breaststroke final last year at state. Records in 100-yard races usually fall in increments, not multiple seconds (Criter topped the old record, which had stood since 1996, by 2.23 seconds.), and not by multiple swimmers. Suits like the blue70s, because of their buoyancy, were viewed as especially beneficial to breaststrokers. See this article on how one elite U.S. breaststroker is changing her stroke to accomodate less-buoyant suits:
http://reachforthewall.com/2009/09/11/kukors-plans-to-change-with-the-slower-times/
And it's worth watching last year's D2 breaststroke final (see http://wiaa.tv/events/6276 starting at about the 98-minute mark), and note in particular how high Criter sits in the water; the top half of her head rarely if ever breaks the surface. Did Criter get "more" out of wearing a high-tech suit than any other swimmer in the race? Hard to tell; Criter had a very solid freshman campaign, is a very good technician with a rapid turnover, and won the race over the two other top finishes -- Haney included -- who also wore full-body high-tech suits. But it should be a fascinating race to watch this year -- all five of the swimmers who broke the state record in the race last year return.
As for Haney, she's already established some solid times early in the season, with a 1:07.27 100 breaststroke against McFarland this past week at her home pool. Haney will also face a big decision on her second event -- she's never finished lower than 3rd place at state in an individual event, but in her first two years she swam the 200 IM. Last year she switched over to the 200 free, but she finished well behind two other swimmers -- Brookfield Academy's Kelsey Hojan-Clark and Shorewood's Elli Sellinger -- who return this year. Maybe Milton's dual-meet win over McFarland showed a hint of what's to come -- Haney won the 200 IM in a very fast 2:08.29 (a time good enough to finish 2nd last year at state).
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2 comments:
One of the fascinating points of the story cited in the post was that Kukors changed her stroke very deliberatly to take full advantage of the suit technology, and is now changing it back to accomodate the non-floating properties of the old style suits. You have to wonder how many high school swimmers will have the coaching and time to make that kind of adjustment.
One of the things I've always been fascinated with (and you can hear it in the commentary of the WIAA girls state swim meet) is how different swimmers tackle the breaststroke. It seems to have much more variance than the other strokes. Some are very low in the water, some are quite high, some have quick turnovers, others much longer. Watching Plymouth's Kate Criter both from ground level at the state meet, and then on tape, I was struck by how high she sat in the water, and how quick her stroke turnover was.
I once asked a pretty good breaststroker who I know, how she came about her approach to the stroke, and her response was: It just feels right that way.
I wonder if there is a conventional or accepted way for the breaststroke to look, or perhaps it's just more dependent on the individual swimmer.
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