Connor Jaeger Wins 1500m Heat, Keeps Swimming - 2nd in Final
Kudos to U-M swimmer Connor Jaeger for winning his 1500m freestyle heat in 14:59.97. He lost track of his lap count and didn't hear the bell, so kept going. (Unlike collegiate, counters aren't allowed in the water.)
Edit: 1) Gemmel (14:52.19), 2) Jaeger (14:52.51) going to London
Sean Ryan and Ryan Feeley finished 2 & 3 (15:10.54 & 15:10.55) in their heat to qualify for the final, Monday night (coverage starts 8PM EDT on NBC).
With Peter Vanderkaay, that makes 4 Wolverines in the final 8.
2) Connor Jaeger, 4) Peter Vanderkaay (15:08.93), 7) Sean Ryan, 8) Ryan Feeley.
Jaeger and Andrew Gemmell (14:57.29) were the only swimmers under 15 min. Top two will compete in London in this event.
Nothing wrong with an extra victory lap (or two)...
Well, he wasn't swimming slowly, like for a victory lap.
In all seriousness, he better keep count and listen for the last lap bell in the final, because he did lose a little time doing a turn and touching with his feet. Hopefully he'll have enough of a lead where it won't matter, but you wouldn't want to end up third by fractions of a second.
I was just gonna mention that he probably lost anywhere from a quarter to half a second by flip-turning instead of finishing. Could be a big deal in some races.
He was just showing off for the cameras!
In a race that long, that much time isn't a HUGE deal, but in the Olympics it certainly will be! He hopefully will have a deck coach giving him signs if this continues to be a problem. As a former distance swimmer as well, I know that if the mind can trick you into thinking the 1500 is shorter than it really is, then you're doing something right!
On the other hand, if you have enough left in the tank to keep going for another lap, you probably turned on the jets too late ;)
In an Olympic sized pool, nothing important is going to happen on the far wall except for in the 50 Free. Are they forbidden just because touching the pad would mess up NBC's graphics for the audience at home?
I was impressed that even with that he set a personal best and was WAY ahead of the field. Looked like he had quite a final kick in him as well. And yeah, the number of block M's in the water for the 1500M Free was really cool.
4) Peter Vanderkaay (15:03.37)
6) Ryan Feeley (15:10.52)
8) Sean Ryan (15:16.18)