Ivy League Athletic Recruiting

Ivy League Athletic Recruiting July 8, 2012 If youre a prospective swimmer at Princeton, be sure to go through their meet results. Scan those heat sheets! See how your times stack up. Also, check out the school records to see where you stand. Its one of the benefits of timed sports athletes can know just where they stand (photo credit: Andreas Praefcke). Want an Ivy League athletic recruiting tip? Do your research. What do we mean? Well, lets say that youre a rising high school senior who hopes to swim in college. Specifically, youd like to attend Princeton. Youre a backstroker who goes a 1:02 in the 100 back and a 2:12 for the 200 back. Alright, so weve got some data points. Lets start researching! At Princeton University, the all-time varsity record in the 100 backstroke is held by Lisa Boyce. She swam the event in 54.10 (quite a bit faster than 1:02). But just because the record-holder has a faster time than you doesnt mean in itself that the Princeton coach wouldnt be interested. That would be quite foolish. But were just trying to give you some benchmarks to better understand where you fit in. With a time of 56.52, Karen Wang has the tenth fastest time in Princetons history. Its still a far cry from 1:02, but at least were getting closer. In the 200 back, the all-time record is held by Meredith Monroe with a time of 1:55.58. Ming Ong went the tenth fastest time in Princetons history with a time of 2:03.02. So youre nine seconds slower in the 200 than the tenth fastest swimmer in Princetons history. Alright, but thats just the fastest times in Princeton womens swimming history. For the really great information, its important to check out the schedule / results. Under the results, you can see how your times compare to other Princeton swimmers in actual meets. You should literally be going through the heat sheets! We dove through a few meet results and after reviewing seed times and results of Princeton womens swimmers, a 1:02 isnt that far off the pace. But its not good enough to warrant getting recruited. In a few meets, Princetons slowest 100 backstroker went a 1:01. In the 200 back in the few heat sheets we scanned through, Princetons slowest female swam a 2:10so youre definitely not that far off the pace. Again, not good enough to get recruited but, if you improve your times a little, you might be able to hold your own on the team. Was this helpful as you begin to think about the Ivy League athletic recruiting process? Let us know your thoughts and ask your questions about Ivy League athletics here!