• Welcome to Fearless Friday Bulletin Boards. Please login or sign up.

 FF is powered by:        Do Not Sell My Personal Information

Arkansas (Catholic HS) swimmers REPRESENTED for 10-time NCAA DII national champions

Started by OPoraquê, January 06, 2014, 11:10:24 am

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

OPoraquê

There's been a post on the 7A Basketball board about Arkansas 7A West players starring at defending NCAA DII men's basketball champion Drury (which currently has an 11-0 start and a 34-game win streak, with this year's team having three players from the 7AW.  DU's on the road vs. two top 10 teams this week so that streak will be in jeopardy, but DU's currently ranked #3 in the nation.)

Also, Drury is going for an NCAA II record 10th straight men's swimming championship.  Two years ago Nick McCarthy from LR Catholic was on a national champion relay team at Drury.  Then his LR Catholic and Drury teammate Samuel Olson was also (like McCarthy, though on a different event) on an nc relay team,  as was McCarthy in 2013.  This season, DU is ranked #1 in the NCAA IIs again, but this time an interesting difference is that their top ranked swimmer isn't from another country as is so frequently the case the past decade.  Olson is in the top 5 in the nation (currently) in three events plus a #1 ranked relay (the only DU swimmer placing top 5 in three individual events).  McCarthy is in the top 5 in two events, plus is in a currently-#1-ranked different relay team.

Again, for DU this is highly unusual to have their top swimmer be from the U.S.  Congrats to them, as I've heard the DII's have gotten MUCH faster the past few years.  BTW, last year, Drury was the only NCAA team to have three national champions (men's bball, men's and women's swimming) and Arkies played a key role in the first two.  In fact, separate out the foreign players, and most of the non-Missouri talent that scored either men's bb or men's swimming points were from Arkansas.

RATTLER43


OPoraquê

The bad and the good: Samuel Olson broke his collarbone on the beach in Hawaii while the team was there training over winter break.  (Don't want to ask how one breaks their collarbone on the beach, but I guarantee he's sorry it happened - he'll be out 6-8 weeks).

The good?  His LR Catholic/DU teammate Nick McCarthy set a Breech pool record in both the 50 free and as part of the 200 free relay team.  Again, bear in mind that DU is a 20-time national team champion (9 times in the NAIA, 11 times in NCAA Division II, including the last 9 Division II swim meets).

As I recall, McCarthy was, I think, the only kid to beat (in regionals, not at state) Bentonville's state multi-record holder Pearson Gean, who, sadly, isn't swimming any more for the University of Virginia team.  Knew he had to have some talent to have done that, but to also be a pool record holder (as of now) in 2 events at a 20-time collegiate national champion shows the kid has some swims.  Best to him, and here's hoping that his younger but now wiser teammate Sam Olson comes back in even better form.

(EDIT: On Saturday, 1/25/14, McCarthy was the only individual winner for Drury on the men's side against SEC member (and DU foe) Mizzou.  To get the win (again, in the 50) he had to beat Mizzou's best short freestyle swimmer, a young man from Florida, as well as two MU kids who were two-time 50 free champs in their states in high school (one from Kansas (where he holds a 50 free record), one from Missouri).  Interesting that a kid from Arkansas beat them.  Again...the talent pool gradually improves in this state.  Samuel Olson when he was healthy had beaten the Florida guy for Mizzou earlier when the teams faced each other...think Olsen took first in the 100 yard free.  McCarthy was also on two relay teams on the men's side for DU that beat their Mizzou counterparts this afternoon as well.)

OPoraquê

No more posts on this thread unless something really big happens at nationals, or on that order, but Nick McCarthy not only made conference swimmer of the week with his Division I Missouri sweep last week, but he also broke what had been the longest-standing pool record at DU (50 free, set 22 years ago in '92), which, interestingly, was held by a University of Arkansas swimmer.  Great for the young man...hope his LRC/D U teammate can come back and better that.

OPoraquê

Any of you guys who know the two kids mentioned above from Little Rock Catholic for Drury, congratulate them.  McCarthy captured the first individual national title (50 free) for the DU men in their quest for a 10th straight national championship, again, quite a feat for a program that brings in so much foreign national talent (the teammate McCarthy beat who finished in 2nd place holds the Polish national record in the 50 free for an 18 year old).  And his teammate Olson placed 8th (I think good for all-American honors) after suffering a broken collarbone just over 2 months ago...again, a significant accomplishment.

Right now they're sitting pretty on the men's side after the first day.  If they stay that way those two are key guys they'll thank for it.

OPoraquê

Quote from: OPoraquê on March 12, 2014, 09:32:41 pm
Any of you guys who know the two kids mentioned above from Little Rock Catholic for Drury, congratulate them.  McCarthy captured the first individual national title (50 free) for the DU men in their quest for a 10th straight national championship, again, quite a feat for a program that brings in so much foreign national talent (the teammate McCarthy beat who finished in 2nd place holds the Polish national record in the 50 free for an 18 year old).  And his teammate Olson placed 8th (I think good for all-American honors) after suffering a broken collarbone just over 2 months ago...again, a significant accomplishment.

Right now they're sitting pretty on the men's side after the first day.  If they stay that way those two are key guys they'll thank for it.

...and both McCarthy and Olson (again, the latter coming off a broken collarbone two months ago) combined today to form 1/2 of the new NCAA Division II record in the men's 200 free relay.

DU is pulling ahead on both the men's and women's side for the team lead in the national championships, but the final two days will be critical.  Again, looks like Arkies will have played major roles if indeed the men win their 10th consecutive championship.  (If that happens, there are something like only 2-3 other active NCAA coaches in any sport at any level whose teams will have done that.)

OPoraquê

Quote

"He's always had it ... as Nick ("the kick" McCarthy) refined his stroke his first couple of years of training, then we went to work on his kick and all the other elements that made him aggressive on the wall, which used to just bury him before," Reynolds said. "He's just a kid who would listen and work on things every day. The progression is always such where we love to see a kid peak in his senior year, and Nick was a great example of that.

http://drurypanthers.com/news/2014/3/15/MSWIM_0315141943.aspx


Well, they're part of history now.  Drury won its NCAA II record 10th straight men's swimming championship (the women won today, too, fifth time in six years).  When this streak started, most of America had no clue (mercifully) who "Barack Obama" was, Facebook was getting started as "thefacebook.com", there was no "YouTube" or "Twitter" yet, the iPhone was under development, Justin Bieber was a 12 year old, Miley Cyrus wasn't even "Hannah Montana" yet...you get the picture.

And again for DU, Arkies were in the middle of it.

LR Catholic's Nick McCarthy was national champion in the 50 free, 2nd place in the 100 free, and along with former LR Catholic teammate Samuel "the collarbone" Olson was part of not one but two DII national record setting relay teams (200 free relay, 400 free relay) in a meet that seemed to have dozens of records broken.  McCarthy was also on two other relay teams that got fourth place.  And Olson (who will be a senior next year as McCarthy will graduate) also placed 8th in the 50 yard free.  (BTW, Olson was on the national champion 200 free relay team last year, McCarthy was on it the last two years, but neither of those set a national record.)

(Also, their coach, 53-year old Brian Reynolds, has now won 21 men's championships total (12 at DII, the rest in NAIA) and 13 women's championships (10 at the DII level) in 31 years as DU's h.c.  I think that McCarthy scored the most points of anyone for DU, with Olson scoring the third most points between individual races and the relays.  Pretty strong accomplishment for a very strong coach for a VERY strong (they won by more than 200 points over the next men's team, Florida Southern) team.)


Fox 16 Arkansas Fox 24 Arkansas