A People's History of 22.82
The Women's 50 Free in 22.82 seconds or less.
Yesterday, at the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Championships, Albion’s Hannah Fathman swam the Women’s 50 Free in 22.82.
In this year, when Kaley McIntyre seems able to shave evermore tenths from the time it takes her to complete this chaotic event, we may become desensitized to just how fast 22.82 actually is.
The list of those who have swum this event in 22.82 or faster (<=22.82 seems a reasonable shorthand) is short, and many of the names will sound familiar.
Breaking 23
Until 1998, no one in Division III went under 23.00 in this event, until Michelle Engelsman of Kenyon, who would finish 6th in the 2004 Summer Olympics in 50 Meter Freestyle, set the record of 22.96 at Nationals. Beth Galloway, also of Kenyon, dropped the record down to 22.95 in 2003.
The Start of the Modern Age
The first big jump in the Women’s Free came in 2005 when Marie Marsman of Carleton College dropped a 22.78, a very modern looking time. In fact, it is the exact time with which Kaley McIntyre won nationals last year.
It was also the first time someone went under the threshold time - 22.82 - that brings us together today.
Ms. Marsman’s record stood for four full seasons, until Kenyon’s Elizabeth Carlton shaved off 0.07 seconds at the 2009 Nationals.
Touching 22.66
Again the record stood for four full seasons, until 2013 when Kristin Nitz (Kristin Brown in the USA Swimming database) of Wheaton IL swam a 22.66. If that name sounds familiar, it should. In 2014, Kristin Nitz set the modern record in Women’s 100 Fly, 52.64. Not a typo. It was stunning. You can watch it here.
Anyway, that 50 Free record stood for a little while.
Swimmers of the Year
In 2014, soon to be CSCAA Swimmer of the year Anastasia Bogdanovski, joined the <=22.82 list, going 22.80 at Nationals.
At 2016 Nationals, Emma Paulson of St. Thomas swam 22.77 twice, in prelims and finals. She also went on to win CSCAA Swimmer of the Year.1
Emma Waddell and the rise of Fiona Muir
Nationals in 2017 established a great 50 Free dual between Fiona Muir and Williams Junior Emma Waddell. The first time around, Ms. Waddell got the better of it, becoming Women’s 50 Free national champion in 2017 with a 22.69.
The next year, 2018, was Fiona Muir's year.
Ms. Muir became national champion in 50 Free with a 22.48, the largest drop in time so far, 0.18 seconds faster than the existing record. This was all the more remarkable because large time drops are obviously far less likely the faster the set of times considered.
There are, after all, limits. Even if we don't know what they are. But we can sense them by the narrowing increments of improvement, as if some invisible boulder impedes progress, and can only be moved with the greatest of effort and then only the smallest of distances.
Unless you were Fiona Muir, who pushed the boulder and it just kept rolling.
To this day, 22.48 is the record in Women’s 50 Free.
Crile Hart’s strange entry
There were no Nationals in 2020, but Crile Hart had a leadoff relay split of 22.68 at the NCAC Championships. We are torn on this. Crile Hart could do anything, but she wasn't a 50 Free specialist. Her fastest stand-alone 50 Free was 23.35. She had one other relay start under 23, a 22.88 earlier that year. This 22.68 is a weird one but we cannot find anything obviously wrong on the HyTek. We add the one and only Crile Hart to the list.
Unleash the fury
Maddie Hopkins of Denison was one of the absolute greats of the lost class of 2020 and 2021. Even in that dreariest of seasons, 2021, she posted a 22.66 in the 50 Free, because Maddie Hopkins was freaking amazing.
The return to normal activity in 2021-22 unleashed the fury. Taylor Robey of Nazareth College went 22.79 at the Allegheny Mountain / Empire 8 Conference Championships. At Nationals, two of the modern greats - Emmie Mirus of Kenyon and Taylor Leone of Emory - traded <=22.82s.
Last season, three more athletes went <=22.82. Denison's Tara Culibrk and Kenyon's Alexandra White finished 2nd and 3rd at Nationals with a 22.81 and 22.82 respectively. The event at 2023 Nationals was of course won by the incomparable Kaley McIntyre, who swam a 22.78. This season she has also posted a 22.68, and then a 22.60, making Ms. McIntyre, at least for now, second only to the greatest ever, Fiona Muir.
And of course, yesterday Hannah Fathman of Albion went 22.82 in the Women’s 50 Free. Swims that fast never get old, and may we never get used to them or take them for granted.
<=22.82 Roll of Honor
Fiona Muir, Emory, 22.48
Kaley McIntyre, NYU, 22.60
Kristin Nitz (Brown), Wheaton IL, 22.66
Maddie Hopkins, Denison, 22.66
Emmie Mirus, Kenyon, 22.67
Crile Hart, Kenyon, 22.68
Emma Waddell, Williams, 22.69
Elizabeth Carlton, Kenyon, 22.71
Taylor Leone, Emory, 22.71
Emma Paulson, St. Thomas, 22.77
Marie Marsman, Carleton, 22.78
Anastasia Bogdanovski, Johns Hopkins, 22.80
Tara Culibrk, Denison, 22.81
Alexandra White, Kenyon, 22.82
Hannah Fathman, Albion, 22.82
A digression on Emma Paulson
Emma Paulson started her swimming career at the Division I University of Wisconsin. It appears she swam great, but press reports suggest she wanted to be closer to home and so transferred to Division III St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN.
But this caught our eye. It is her roster page for the University of Wisconsin.
You can see that they list her at 5’ 5”. This is Ms. Paulson as a Junior at St. Thomas.
St. Thomas does not list height on their roster. But Emory does. This is Emory's Cindy Cheng, also in 2016. She is standing in about the same spot as Ms. Paulson, maybe a few inches to the right.
Cindy Cheng is credibly listed as 5' 7". Say what you want about lens angle, the interviewer’s head is at the same level in both shots. Ms. Paulson is taller than the blue NCAA dot on the backdrop. Did Emma Paulson grow 6" taller in two seasons? It certainly looks like it. If so, it would be reminiscent of Tanner Filion’s change in height during his time at Whitman College.
St. Thomas no longer competes in the MIAC or Division III. According to ESPN, the other teams in the conference, a conference St. Thomas helped to establish, banded together to expel St. Thomas from the MIAC, because St. Thomas won too many football games.
This was a fantastic history. Thank you. I think you’ve shown that this might be a historical year in women’s sprinting, but based on the past maybe not. It takes a very special D3 swimmer to go sub-22.82. I am so looking forward to nationals.