Thank you for this. The way that the 2019-20 season ended was devastating, and there were so many fantastic swimmers who were just - done. The Denison women were primed to have an amazing NCAA meet. You mentioned some of their amazing freestylers. Maddie Hopkins had also already gone a 22.66 that year and might have scared Fiona Muir’s 50 free record at Nationals. In any case, we do forget that year, but its Nationals would have been epic.
And I think you know that I agree with you on disagreeing with the premise of that Swimming World article (although the attention is appreciated). Even before COVID there have been D1 transfers who made their mark. Julia Durmer (UVA to Emory) comes to mind, and I know there are others. But it just doesn’t have the overall impact on times that some people believe. D3 is just getting faster organically. Can’t wait to see what this year brings.
And you found the sore spot. I agonized over Maddie Hopkins (and a few others that fit that pattern). I decided to draw the line at Seniors who never again competed at the NCAA level. Ms. Hopkins did come back the following year and compete a few times in that awful 2020-21 season. She clearly got it as bad as anyone else, but her trajectory was just a little different. I don't know. She definitely deserves more attention. She was just so good.
That’s a totally fair line to draw. I was so unaware of what was happening for most teams during 2020-21 I had forgotten that some conferences had an abbreviated season that year.
Thank you for this. The way that the 2019-20 season ended was devastating, and there were so many fantastic swimmers who were just - done. The Denison women were primed to have an amazing NCAA meet. You mentioned some of their amazing freestylers. Maddie Hopkins had also already gone a 22.66 that year and might have scared Fiona Muir’s 50 free record at Nationals. In any case, we do forget that year, but its Nationals would have been epic.
And I think you know that I agree with you on disagreeing with the premise of that Swimming World article (although the attention is appreciated). Even before COVID there have been D1 transfers who made their mark. Julia Durmer (UVA to Emory) comes to mind, and I know there are others. But it just doesn’t have the overall impact on times that some people believe. D3 is just getting faster organically. Can’t wait to see what this year brings.
Thanks. I appreciate that.
And you found the sore spot. I agonized over Maddie Hopkins (and a few others that fit that pattern). I decided to draw the line at Seniors who never again competed at the NCAA level. Ms. Hopkins did come back the following year and compete a few times in that awful 2020-21 season. She clearly got it as bad as anyone else, but her trajectory was just a little different. I don't know. She definitely deserves more attention. She was just so good.
That’s a totally fair line to draw. I was so unaware of what was happening for most teams during 2020-21 I had forgotten that some conferences had an abbreviated season that year.