Cal’s Franklin a star attraction at NCAAs
Want to see the best female swimmers in the world? No need to save up for Rio de Janeiro, where the 2016 Summer Games will be held, or Montreal for this year’s world championships. To see the best in the world, Minneapolis is where it’s at. The city will host the NCAA championships beginning Thursday.
“In a lot of ways, it’s deeper and more competitive than a world championship or an Olympics, because it’s not based on countries. It’s just based on best times,” said California coach Teri McKeever, also the U.S. women’s coach in the 2012 Olympics. The top programs feature the top Americans as well as elite swimmers from all over the world.
Still, the main attraction is Cal freshman Missy Franklin, who makes her NCAA championship debut for the top-ranked Bears. The four-time Olympic champion has plenty of elite company, such as Cal teammates Liz Pelton and Rachel Bootsma and U.S. teammates Elizabeth Beisel at Florida and Breeja Larson and Cammile Adams at Texas A&M.
Franklin will not race her usual 100 and 200 backstroke events. Instead she’ll swim the 100, 200 and 500 freestyle because that’s where her team needs her. “Every coach would be envious of a Missy Franklin, who can swim multiple events and be successful,” McKeever said.
McKeever likens managing her roster to a chess match. “If you have someone like Missy who’s a queen or a king, you can move her around. And you have pawns, which can only do one or two things. Every coach is looking at how they’re going to maximize their point total,” she said.
Since the Bears are deep in backstroke, neither Franklin nor Pelton, who was fourth in worlds in the 100 backstroke, is entered.
Not surprisingly, Franklin has embraced the challenge with a smile. “It’s been really, really fun being able to focus on freestyle, swimming all distances of it. Being a sprinter, being a distance swimmer,” she said. “I’m really excited to see how they transfer over into long course,” she added, referring to 50-meter pools used for the Olympics instead of the 25-yard pools in college.
After a year at Cal, the world’s best swimmer got even better with increased versatility. “Missy hopes to swim at a world-class level perhaps for another decade. If she swims the 100, 200 back, that’s going to get a little stale,” McKeever said. “Swimming is swimming. I think you can learn a lot in what I call your non-ego events — the events you’re not as comfortable with or that you’re challenged in new ways.”
After winning five Olympic medals in the 2012 Games at 17 with McKeever, Franklin decided not to turn pro because she loved the team dynamic at Cal.
Last summer, Franklin followed her breakout in London by winning six gold medals in the 2013 world championships. Next on her list: a national title for the Bears, who finished second behind Georgia last year.
“The whole process has just been amazing,” Franklin said of her season. She will compete next year as well before turning pro before the 2016 Olympics. “It seriously feels like yesterday like I was moving into the dorms. ... It’s just been so much fun.”