Lexington grad Hannah Stevens (third girl from the left) huddles with her University of Missouri teammates on the pool deck. Stevens heads for the Olympic Trials as a strong contender for a spot on the Olympic team in the 100 meter backstroke.
Barely two years removed from Lexington High School, Stevens has put herself in serious contention for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro later this summer with her performance earlier this month in Indianapolis.
Having already earned a spot on the U.S. National Swim Team last summer with one of the nation's top six times in the women's 100 meter backstroke, Stevens said she used the Arena Pro Swim Series event in Indy as a tuneup for the U.S. Olympic Trials at the end of this month.
Tuneup? There's an understatement.
Stevens, a junior at the University of Missouri, broke 1 minute for the first time in her career in the prelims and then lowered it in the finals, where it took the fastest time in the U.S. this year to overtake her in the final 30 meters. Olivia Smoliga from the University of Georgia won in 59.41. Stevens finished in 59.67, second-fastest in the U.S. this calendar year and ninth-best in the world.
If you watch the USA Swimming video of the race, and have followed Stevens' career from the Greater Mansfield Aquatic Conference to the Ohio Cardinal Conference to the Southeastern Conference, the call of the race will give you chills.
"At the turn," the announcer said, "it is Hannah Stevens ... just a tenth of a second off world record pace."
World record pace.
"I wasn't expecting that," Stevens said of her performance, "but I was pretty pumped when I did it."
Stevens is coming off a sophomore season for Mizzou where she won three All-America honors at the NCAA Championships. She swam on the school's sixth-place 400 medley relay and was also a member of the 10th place 200 free relay. She was unhappy with her 14th-place performance in the 100 back despite a personal best 51.60 at the championships, but Missouri coach Greg Rhodenbaugh said where she finished in her specialty doesn't begin to tell the whole story.
"What we had her do there was pretty outstanding," Rhodenbaugh said. "She swam more than any other girl (four relays, as well as the 100 and 200 back) because she also swam freestyle. She didn't get to swim backstroke on our medley relays because she was swimming freestyle on the end of them. So we used her pretty hard and she did it for the team and the team ended up with our highest place ever in the NCAAs, 11th. So she was a huge factor in that.
"She was a little disappointed in her 100 back at the NCAAs, but she knew she was pretty used up, energy-wise."
Stevens, modest to a fault, wouldn't tell you that. Or that she swam on three relays before competing in the 100 back.
"I was definitely frustrated," Stevens said. "Last year, I ended up 21st in the world and then going into the NCAAs I was seeded 20th. It doesn't make sense to me, but I know who I am, I know what I need to be doing. So I can't let myself get down. I have to keep my head focused."
Rhodenbaugh pointed out that Stevens, who has also qualified for the Trials in the 200 back, is now able to concentrate almost entirely on the 100 back. That can make a world of difference along with only having to make one turn swimming long course (50 meters). College events, like high school, are short course (25 yards), so there are more turns to complete the race.
"Walls slow me down and everybody can catch up, but long course I can beat the college kids," Stevens said. "It's give and take. If you're good at walls, you have an advantage in short course. Looking at video, you could see where I was losing speed going in and out of walls. So a 50-meter pool doesn't affect me as much.
"I have a strong stroke, so when I pull the water I get into a rhythm and I'm able to hold it and stay tough the entire race."
Four years ago, when Missy Franklin was the 17-year-old darling of the London Olympics, winning four gold medals, including the 100 and 200 back, Stevens was just entering 11th grade at Lexington. She hadn't yet earned state meet MVP honors for coach Melisa Stone-Watters, let alone a second time for coach Brock Spurling.
She never envisioned being one of the biggest threats to Franklin in the 100 back, bidding for one of two Olympic berths in the event. The Trials are being held in Omaha, Nebraska, with the 100 back prelims and semifinals on June 27 and the finals on June 28. The 200 back will be staged July 1 and 2.
"I never imagined being where I am now," Stevens said. "I'm going in to make the team. I'm thinking it will take 59 low, if Missy's not on. And she hasn't really been on the last two years. I don't really see anyone breaking 59 right now. Maybe Olivia has the best chance. I think it's anybody's game in the top six right now."
Franklin set a U.S. record in the 2012 Games of 58.33. (The world record is 58.12). But her best qualifying time for these Trials is 59.38, less than .3 faster than Stevens. Franklin began struggling with back spasms in 2014 and since then has improved mostly in freestyle, while stagnating in backstroke.
But it's hard to bet against a swimmer who, when she's at the top of her game, is arguably the best female swimmer in the world.
Rachel Bootsma, the other Olympic qualifier for the U.S. in 2012 at age 18, hasn't bettered her 59.10 from London since, but won NCAA titles in 2015 and 2016 and can't be dismissed.
The fastest American this season and last has been 33-year-old Natalie Coughlin, biding for her fourth Olympic team. Her qualifying time of 59.05 is just a tenth off her career-best, when she won her Olympic gold in the 2008 Beijing Games.
Two teens, Claire Adams, 18, and Kathleen Baker, 19, have times just ahead of Stevens. Adams briefly held the junior world record last summer, going 59.58 at the U.S. Nationals. Baker has four sub-minute swims to her credit.
"I don't think anybody can really figure out who's going to win or be the (second qualifier)," Rhodenbaugh said. "It's going to be two of six to eight girls and I will certainly say Hannah has put her name in that mix.
"She swims at a pretty high level all the time, just about every day at workouts. So even her bad workouts are pretty good. We didn't expect her to break a minute by that much (at Indy), but we certainly thought it was a possibility because she's gotten very good."
Stevens said the key now is to get plenty of rest and maintain both speed and mental sharpness.
"Instead of three walls (turns), there's one and that can make or break your swim," she said. "If I have a bad wall, everybody gets ahead. If I have a good wall, I stay with the crowd."
Or, her fan club hopes, ahead of it.
"It's funny what we do," Rhodenbaugh said, speaking for his coaching peers. "We try and watch people and see how they would do in our system and program. I certainly thought Hannah could be really competitive on a national level, and as a coach you certainly hope they believe that, and when they do, this is what happens.
"When they believe it, they come in every day and work their fannies off. And that's certainly true of Hannah. She does the little things outside the pool she needs to do because she is really passionate about figuring out just how far she can go. When you get people like that, you get people like Hannah."
It's easy to tell Rhodenbaugh is quite fond of Stevens.
"Certainly when we recruit people to Mizzou, we want people we think can be competitive at the national level and, really, at the top of the national level, and I think that's happened for quite a few people in our program," he said. "Now when people come in, they have that culture that 'Yeah, I'm the next one to bust out.' Certainly that's Hannah who has done that. It's kind of fun when you have a lot of people like that and they help each other to that level."
Rhodenbaugh has qualified a sizable contingent of swimmers for the Trials.
"I never know what people are going to do," he said. "I know they're going to get a whole lot better and they're going to be competitive on the national level ... and I'm getting used to them being competitive on the international level, too.
"Hannah's the next one in that discussion."
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TOP CONTENDERS
Here are the 8 top times in the women's 100 meter backstroke going into the Olympic Trials:
(Place, time, name, age, team, location, date)
1: 59.05, Natalie Coughlin, 33, California Aquatics, Pan American Games, 7/18/15
2: 59.38, Missy Franklin, 21, California Aquatics, Summer Nationals, 08/06/14
3: 59.41, Olivia Smoliga, 21, Athens (GA) Bulldog Swim Club, Arena Pro Swim Series, 06/04/16
4: 59.58, Claire Adams, Claire, 18, Carmel (Ind.) Swim Club U.S. National Champs, 08/07/15
5: 59.63, Kathleen Baker, Kathleen, 19, Unattached, FINA World Championships, 08/03/15
6: 59.67, HANNAH STEVENS, 21, U of Missouri, Arena Pro Swim Series, 06/04/16
7: 1:00.10, Ali Deloof, 22, U if Michigan, AT& T Winter Nationals, 12/04/15
8: 1:00.25, Rachel Bootsma, 22, University of California, Berkeley, AT& T Winter Nationals, 12/04/15
