“Sprinters rule the world.”
That’s what Matt Craven told me a long time ago and boy was he correct.
College swimming recruiting and swimming scholarships are dominated by sprinters. Why? Well it’s quite simple: they are intricate to relays and relays are worth double the points.
You can never have too many 50/100/200 Freestylers in your stable. That’s because they can swim 3 individual events as well as 4 relays.
Here’s your standard conference championship point scale:
| Place | Individual | Relay |
| 1 | 20 | 40 |
| 2 | 17 | 34 |
| 3 | 16 | 32 |
| 4 | 15 | 30 |
| 5 | 14 | 28 |
| 6 | 13 | 26 |
| 7 | 12 | 24 |
| 8 | 11 | 22 |
| 9 | 9 | 18 |
| 10 | 7 | 14 |
| 11 | 6 | 12 |
| 12 | 5 | 10 |
| 13 | 4 | 8 |
| 14 | 3 | 6 |
| 15 | 2 | 4 |
| 16 | 1 | 2 |
There is obviously a need for sprint strokers: 50/100 Back, 50/100 Breast, 50/100 Fly. Though, there are only two medley relays. Sprint freestyle is needed on all five relays.
The #1 recruit in the country this year is undoubtedly Ryan Hoffer — the future Golden Bear. In fact, he’s the #1 recruit EVER in the history of college swimming because he is a BEAST at sprinting:
50 Free: 18.71
100 Free: 41.23
200 Free: 1:35.27
50 Back: 21.04
100 Back: 45.58
100 Fly: 45.46
You could be the best distance swimmer in the world and not swim on a single relay at conferences. That means your ability to score points is diminished by 40% (60/100). A sprinter has the chance to garner 100 out of 100 points.
Should you quit swimming the 1650, 200 Fly, and 400 IM? No. Not if that is what you are good at.
Alas, it’s important to understand your value in the college swimming recruiting process.