Wednesday, November 28
Greensboro, N.C.
TBA
Lehigh University
vs
U.S. Winter National Championships
Wilson, Lasco hit their strides at US Winter National Championships
11/30/2018 9:54:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Lehigh junior breaks two school records, swims in two finals
GREENSBORO, N.C. — The US Winter Swimming National Championships ended with a lot of positive emotions and finishes for two members of the Lehigh men's swimming and diving team, as junior Walker Wilson and freshman Glenn Lasco finished their competitive schedule on Thursday.
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Thursday was a big day for Wilson at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, as he really showcased his abilities in his freestyle events, performing his strongest in the 400 meter freestyle. In the preliminary round on Thursday morning, Wilson swam to a 24th overall place finish out of all the heats, qualifying himself for the C Final on Thursday night, but he also broke the Lehigh school long course meter record with a time of 4:04.12.
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The time in the heat was 1.26 seconds faster than the time that qualified himself for US Winter Nationals over the summer when he swam a 4:05.38.
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The school record wouldn't hold for very long, however, as Wilson once again swam fast in the C Final of the 400 free on Thursday night, shaving over three seconds off his time from the morning with a 4:01.83. In the Final, Wilson finished in fourth place out of six competitors.
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"I felt pretty good in the morning for the 400 freestyle and when I swam it at Futures in the summer, I felt pretty strong," said Wilson. Â "But it was a weird heat in the morning with my competition, I just wasn't that happy with the first half, but after a big nap I was recharged for the night. I was in an overall better mood in the C Final, which really helped me."
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It was really all about the individual performance for Wilson, who is setting himself up perfectly for the rest of the season, especially heading into the Patriot League Championships in February.
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"This is by far the hardest part of the year training wise as we get closer and closer to Patriot Leagues," Wilson said. "Glenn and I have been putting our focus on preparing for Winter Nationals, but it's going to be great as soon as we get back to Lehigh and start to grind and lift again."
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Wilson also swam in the 50 meter freestyle, where he didn't fare nearly as well as the previous event, getting a 23.87 and didn't qualify for any of the three finals that night.
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Heading into Friday morning, though not head-to-head, both Wilson and Lasco had the opportunity to compete in the 200 meter freestyle, where Wilson dominated once again and found himself in a very similar position as the day prior.
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In the second heat of the preliminary round in the event, Wilson finished in first place to a time of 1:54.27, slightly slower than his personal best, but still finished 22nd of the top 24 and qualified for the C Final for the second day in a row.
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Lasco swam his personal best time in the 200 free, with a 1:54.96, but it wasn't fast enough to get himself in the C Final with his Mountain Hawk teammate.Here's Walker Wilson swimming to a first place finish in Heat 2 of the 200 meter freestyle this morning at the US Winter National Championships. #GoLehigh pic.twitter.com/u9lrJ3Kgm6
— Lehigh Swimming & Diving (@LehighSwimDive) November 30, 2018
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"I felt like I did really well in both the 50 and 200 free on Thursday," said Lasco. "There are definitely some things that I can work on, but overall I feel satisfied.
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"It's been a humbling experience to be here at Greensboro and race the top guys, while being able to represent Lehigh at the same time. Training for this kind of racing is a completely different animal, so having prior experience is definitely needed. I'm glad I had the opportunity, but there's definitely a lot of improvement we need to make. We just need to put our heads down and keep grinding."
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In Lehigh's final competition of US Winter Nationals, Wilson swam his heart out in the C Final of the 200 meter freestyle on Friday night, swimming not only to a second place finish in the event, but also to a new school record with a time of 1:53.35, shaving 0.92 seconds off his time from the morning.
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Overall, Wilson's strong week just built off his already strong success from a big first half of the season, especially with strong performances at Princeton and Lafayette. The best is still yet to come for Wilson, who will continue the dual season on Wednesday against La Salle at Emmaus High School.
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"I consider myself to swim really strong in season," said Wilson. "Both freshman year and sophomore years I had my best midseason times at Lafayette. I knew my first couple of dual meets this season would be normal, but we all swam our strongest starting with the Princeton meet.
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"Going back and forth between long course and short course has been really tough, but it's been so much fun."
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Both Wilson and Lasco will have a few more chances to time trial at Greensboro on Saturday and Sunday before returning to Bethlehem next week, but their individual performances have already shown what they are capable of, as Walker has said that the Mountain Hawk men "will really turn some heads in the coming weeks."
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"It's been a positive experience for both of them, they will come out of this hungry and driven," said assistant coach Eric Bugby. "Long course and short course are polar opposites and they are proud to walk away with experience and are coming away with a very infectious attitude that we hope carries over to their teammates.
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"I think the rest of the season is going to be difficult in a good way. We are now entering a speed and power phase. We build them up with an aerobic base and a little bit of speed-work. They will end faster than they start. But now, we get to put a little more rest into the season. More rest equals faster times. They will only continue to swim faster as season progresses, and will swim at a much higher rate in the final eight weeks of the season. It's going to be tough, but it's going to be rewarding for them."
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