Photo by: Liz Parke
Armstrong Hopes to Make the Cut in Austin This Week
February 26, 2019 12:41 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Jake Armstrong says the hair now stays for the big meets.
Back in high school, Armstrong willingly partook in the time-honored swimming tradition of head shaving in the hopes of squeezing out an extra tenth of a second that could mean the difference between first or second place.
For the non-swimmers out there, you can actually go to the website SwimOutlet.com to learn how to do it the right way without scarring yourself for life.
For Armstrong, hair was once a big nuisance.
"I used to play football, run track and swim, so I always had to have short hair because I didn't want anyone pulling my hair in football or it getting in the way in track and swimming because it was just a pain in the butt," he explained. "But I'm letting it grow out now."
That's just like his coach, Vic Riggs, whose impressive mane would make former West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen jealous. Occasionally, Riggs has used his hair as a bargaining ploy for some of his better swimmers – qualify for NCAAs and he'd consider shaving it off.
Armstrong said Riggs once dangled that proposition his way a couple of years ago, but he didn't get a time fast enough in the 100-yard breaststroke to make the cut (pun intended).
Last year he did with a school-record time of 52.11 and now Armstrong says his coach is backpedaling.
"(His hair has) become a statement at this point," Armstrong laughed. "It's probably going to take more than just qualifying now."
Speaking of statements, Armstrong's two Big 12 titles in the 100 breaststroke is a pretty impressive declaration considering he's beating Texas Longhorns to do so.
Two years ago, he beat Casey Melzer by nearly a half second to claim his first conference title, and then last year he nudged WVU teammate Tristen Di Sibio, who went on to take the 200 breaststroke crown, and Melzer to earn his second walk to the top of the podium.
That's two of the eight individual men's titles West Virginia has won at the Big 12 meet since joining the conference seven years ago.
Eddie Reese's Longhorns have had a sleeper hold on the rest of them. For that matter, Texas has also put a sleeper hold on the NCAA Championships, claiming its fourth straight national title last year.
With the exception of the 400 individual medley, Texas has at least one swimmer ranked in the top 25 in every event heading into this week's Big 12 Championship in Austin, including four of the nation's top-16 fastest 200 freestylers, four of America's 25 fastest 200 backstrokers and three of the top 19 fastest 500 freestylers.
Guess what Reese does with all of that excess?
That's right, he's using them on relays, too.
"For programs like Texas, a lot of their guys won't even be rested this weekend," Riggs explained. "We have to rest and shave (for Big 12s) and then we've got to do it again in under three, four weeks depending upon whether you are a female or a male."
Most of the Longhorns already have their NCAA times, some the moment they sign their scholarship papers coming out of high school.
So to beat someone wearing a burnt orange swimming cap as Armstrong has done twice is no small feat.
"It's definitely an honor and a privilege to win a Big 12 title, especially in such a close conference where there are only three men's teams (TCU is the other)," he said. "It's nice that we can perform against the highest competition in the country with them being the reigning national champions."
Despite enjoying an outstanding senior season, Armstrong's third attempt at getting to the top of the podium in the 100 breaststroke later this week will be by far the most difficult.
Freshman Charlie Scheinfield, the best breaststroker in Chicago last year, now has that event covered for the Longhorns, and he comes into this week with the nation's third-fastest clocking at 51.41. That's .19 seconds off Indiana's Ian Finnerty, who was the first swimmer in NCAA history to post a sub-50-second time in the 100 breast at last year's NCAA Championships.
And Finnerty doesn't even have the fastest time in the country this year. That belongs to USC's Carsten Vissering (50.88).
Armstrong's best time of 54.32 this year barely makes the top 100 cut, and it's actually 44 spots lower than teammate and fellow Big 12 champion Di Sibio's time of 53.52, but he's not too concerned.
"I don't go very fast in-season compared to other people until I start tapering," Armstrong explained.
And he's now tapering. "The goal-time is 50-point anything," Armstrong said, admitting he knows what's out there in his event this year.
"When you are in the top one percent of the country you kind of know everybody's name that is close to you," he explained. "Me and Tristen are always keeping tabs, 'Oh, this guy at Indiana (Finnerty) went really fast, or Charlie at Texas went really fast at his mid-season meet.
"We do keep tabs, but it's important to realize once the buzzer goes off, we're all in the same water and anything can happen," he noted.
Armstrong is expecting a really fast race this week and his coach agrees.
"Hopefully, it will end up bringing the best out of both of those guys in their events," Riggs said. "They had really good swims last year and hopefully this challenge will help them go faster."
Armstrong, from Dover, Ohio, is back in a role he once had in high school when he was wingman swimming in the shadows of Frannie Brogan, an Ohio State signee who eventually gave up the sport.
Brogan was the No. 1 breaststroker in Ohio while Armstrong was No. 2.
"At the time, it sucked (losing to Brogan in the state meet) because I trained so hard, and I really wanted to win it, and I thought I could get it so it was like, 'Why did this happen?' But I think had I won it, I probably would have been satisfied with my swimming career, and I may not even chosen to swim in college."
But Armstrong stuck with it and has really blossomed under Riggs' tutelage. Riggs has had plenty of experience taking raw high school swimmers and turning them into good college swimmers, sometimes even great ones.
"Texas, Georgia and Stanford have guys and girls coming into their programs that can make NCAAs coming out of high school or are right there," Riggs explained. "We're taking kids that are at a junior national level, and we're trying to get them to the NCAA level."
Swimmers such as Jake Armstrong.
"Jake really didn't start swimming year-round until his first year in college," Riggs noted. "When you get multi-sport kids to swim for you, you've recognized talent they have, but it takes a year or a year and a half. It's really kind of on the athlete."
Armstrong has consistently improved, going from 54.3 his freshman year to 53.1 his sophomore season to a school-record 52.1 last year, which is actually faster than the time Kevin Donohue once swam at NCAAs to place fifth in 2008.
Donohue is one of only six male swimmers in school history to finish in the top eight at NCAAs to earn first team All-America status – all of them coming since 2007.
Armstrong would love nothing better than to be the seventh Mountaineer to do so.
"If the pattern continues, it's not too far out of reach," he predicted.
Armstrong is probably going to need to duplicate his career-best time to qualify for NCAAs once again next month. He said approximately 52.7 was the slowest time to qualify last year, and his PR is about a half-second faster than that. Armstrong is likely going to have to break 51 or go even faster if he wants to be in the top eight at NCAAs.
But first things first, starting with this week's Big 12 Championship.
"This is definitely going to be my hardest one, but I always step up to the challenge," he said confidently.
The preliminary for the men's 100 breaststroke is Friday morning with the final taking place later that afternoon. Competition begins on Wednesday.
In addition to Armstrong, Riggs has a handful of other competitors he's hopeful can earn NCAA qualifying times this week.
Di Sibio, a North Texas transfer, is a strong contender in the 100 breaststroke while senior Merwane El Merini has a shot in the 50 free.
Sophomore David Dixon, who had the nation's fastest 200 butterfly time this past October and was ranked in the top 15, sustained an injury and missed the entire month of January. He's back in the pool now and will be competing in Austin, but Riggs is not sure he's fit enough to get a qualifying time so soon.
"He's about two and a half weeks out of the cast so hopefully we can get him together either this weekend or next weekend at the last-chance meet," Riggs said. "We've also got a couple shots on relays, and Merwane has a good shot in the sprints."
On the women's side, junior Morgan Bullock qualified for NCAAs last year in the 200 fly and eventually took home honorable mention All-America honors. Riggs is hopeful the Zeeland, Michigan, resident can make a return visit. Emma Harris (200 breast) and Julie Nilton (50 free) could also get there with outstanding performances this week.
"Our conference is on the smaller side so one of the advantages we have is we do get second swims, where in some conferences it might be a little harder to get second swims," Riggs said. "You sell (recruits) on the fact that they get to race against the best program in the country and if they want to get to the NCAA level, Texas is one of those programs that can help them get there."
Riggs prefers using the Texas Longhorns as a means of getting his best athletes to NCAAs rather than sacrificing his hair.
That's become non-negotiable.
Back in high school, Armstrong willingly partook in the time-honored swimming tradition of head shaving in the hopes of squeezing out an extra tenth of a second that could mean the difference between first or second place.
For the non-swimmers out there, you can actually go to the website SwimOutlet.com to learn how to do it the right way without scarring yourself for life.
For Armstrong, hair was once a big nuisance.
"I used to play football, run track and swim, so I always had to have short hair because I didn't want anyone pulling my hair in football or it getting in the way in track and swimming because it was just a pain in the butt," he explained. "But I'm letting it grow out now."
That's just like his coach, Vic Riggs, whose impressive mane would make former West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen jealous. Occasionally, Riggs has used his hair as a bargaining ploy for some of his better swimmers – qualify for NCAAs and he'd consider shaving it off.
Armstrong said Riggs once dangled that proposition his way a couple of years ago, but he didn't get a time fast enough in the 100-yard breaststroke to make the cut (pun intended).
Last year he did with a school-record time of 52.11 and now Armstrong says his coach is backpedaling.
"(His hair has) become a statement at this point," Armstrong laughed. "It's probably going to take more than just qualifying now."
Speaking of statements, Armstrong's two Big 12 titles in the 100 breaststroke is a pretty impressive declaration considering he's beating Texas Longhorns to do so.
Two years ago, he beat Casey Melzer by nearly a half second to claim his first conference title, and then last year he nudged WVU teammate Tristen Di Sibio, who went on to take the 200 breaststroke crown, and Melzer to earn his second walk to the top of the podium.
That's two of the eight individual men's titles West Virginia has won at the Big 12 meet since joining the conference seven years ago.Eddie Reese's Longhorns have had a sleeper hold on the rest of them. For that matter, Texas has also put a sleeper hold on the NCAA Championships, claiming its fourth straight national title last year.
With the exception of the 400 individual medley, Texas has at least one swimmer ranked in the top 25 in every event heading into this week's Big 12 Championship in Austin, including four of the nation's top-16 fastest 200 freestylers, four of America's 25 fastest 200 backstrokers and three of the top 19 fastest 500 freestylers.
Guess what Reese does with all of that excess?
That's right, he's using them on relays, too.
"For programs like Texas, a lot of their guys won't even be rested this weekend," Riggs explained. "We have to rest and shave (for Big 12s) and then we've got to do it again in under three, four weeks depending upon whether you are a female or a male."
Most of the Longhorns already have their NCAA times, some the moment they sign their scholarship papers coming out of high school.
So to beat someone wearing a burnt orange swimming cap as Armstrong has done twice is no small feat.
"It's definitely an honor and a privilege to win a Big 12 title, especially in such a close conference where there are only three men's teams (TCU is the other)," he said. "It's nice that we can perform against the highest competition in the country with them being the reigning national champions."
Despite enjoying an outstanding senior season, Armstrong's third attempt at getting to the top of the podium in the 100 breaststroke later this week will be by far the most difficult.
Freshman Charlie Scheinfield, the best breaststroker in Chicago last year, now has that event covered for the Longhorns, and he comes into this week with the nation's third-fastest clocking at 51.41. That's .19 seconds off Indiana's Ian Finnerty, who was the first swimmer in NCAA history to post a sub-50-second time in the 100 breast at last year's NCAA Championships.
And Finnerty doesn't even have the fastest time in the country this year. That belongs to USC's Carsten Vissering (50.88).
Armstrong's best time of 54.32 this year barely makes the top 100 cut, and it's actually 44 spots lower than teammate and fellow Big 12 champion Di Sibio's time of 53.52, but he's not too concerned.
"I don't go very fast in-season compared to other people until I start tapering," Armstrong explained.
And he's now tapering. "The goal-time is 50-point anything," Armstrong said, admitting he knows what's out there in his event this year.
"When you are in the top one percent of the country you kind of know everybody's name that is close to you," he explained. "Me and Tristen are always keeping tabs, 'Oh, this guy at Indiana (Finnerty) went really fast, or Charlie at Texas went really fast at his mid-season meet.
"We do keep tabs, but it's important to realize once the buzzer goes off, we're all in the same water and anything can happen," he noted.
Armstrong is expecting a really fast race this week and his coach agrees.
"Hopefully, it will end up bringing the best out of both of those guys in their events," Riggs said. "They had really good swims last year and hopefully this challenge will help them go faster."Armstrong, from Dover, Ohio, is back in a role he once had in high school when he was wingman swimming in the shadows of Frannie Brogan, an Ohio State signee who eventually gave up the sport.
Brogan was the No. 1 breaststroker in Ohio while Armstrong was No. 2.
"At the time, it sucked (losing to Brogan in the state meet) because I trained so hard, and I really wanted to win it, and I thought I could get it so it was like, 'Why did this happen?' But I think had I won it, I probably would have been satisfied with my swimming career, and I may not even chosen to swim in college."
But Armstrong stuck with it and has really blossomed under Riggs' tutelage. Riggs has had plenty of experience taking raw high school swimmers and turning them into good college swimmers, sometimes even great ones.
"Texas, Georgia and Stanford have guys and girls coming into their programs that can make NCAAs coming out of high school or are right there," Riggs explained. "We're taking kids that are at a junior national level, and we're trying to get them to the NCAA level."
Swimmers such as Jake Armstrong.
"Jake really didn't start swimming year-round until his first year in college," Riggs noted. "When you get multi-sport kids to swim for you, you've recognized talent they have, but it takes a year or a year and a half. It's really kind of on the athlete."
Armstrong has consistently improved, going from 54.3 his freshman year to 53.1 his sophomore season to a school-record 52.1 last year, which is actually faster than the time Kevin Donohue once swam at NCAAs to place fifth in 2008.
Donohue is one of only six male swimmers in school history to finish in the top eight at NCAAs to earn first team All-America status – all of them coming since 2007.
Armstrong would love nothing better than to be the seventh Mountaineer to do so.
"If the pattern continues, it's not too far out of reach," he predicted.
Armstrong is probably going to need to duplicate his career-best time to qualify for NCAAs once again next month. He said approximately 52.7 was the slowest time to qualify last year, and his PR is about a half-second faster than that. Armstrong is likely going to have to break 51 or go even faster if he wants to be in the top eight at NCAAs.
But first things first, starting with this week's Big 12 Championship.
"This is definitely going to be my hardest one, but I always step up to the challenge," he said confidently.
The preliminary for the men's 100 breaststroke is Friday morning with the final taking place later that afternoon. Competition begins on Wednesday.
In addition to Armstrong, Riggs has a handful of other competitors he's hopeful can earn NCAA qualifying times this week.
Di Sibio, a North Texas transfer, is a strong contender in the 100 breaststroke while senior Merwane El Merini has a shot in the 50 free.
Sophomore David Dixon, who had the nation's fastest 200 butterfly time this past October and was ranked in the top 15, sustained an injury and missed the entire month of January. He's back in the pool now and will be competing in Austin, but Riggs is not sure he's fit enough to get a qualifying time so soon.
"He's about two and a half weeks out of the cast so hopefully we can get him together either this weekend or next weekend at the last-chance meet," Riggs said. "We've also got a couple shots on relays, and Merwane has a good shot in the sprints."
On the women's side, junior Morgan Bullock qualified for NCAAs last year in the 200 fly and eventually took home honorable mention All-America honors. Riggs is hopeful the Zeeland, Michigan, resident can make a return visit. Emma Harris (200 breast) and Julie Nilton (50 free) could also get there with outstanding performances this week."Our conference is on the smaller side so one of the advantages we have is we do get second swims, where in some conferences it might be a little harder to get second swims," Riggs said. "You sell (recruits) on the fact that they get to race against the best program in the country and if they want to get to the NCAA level, Texas is one of those programs that can help them get there."
Riggs prefers using the Texas Longhorns as a means of getting his best athletes to NCAAs rather than sacrificing his hair.
That's become non-negotiable.
Players Mentioned
Breast
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Breast/IM
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Fly/Breast
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Free/Back
/ Men's Swimming & DivingSWIM: Paper Airplane Competition
Wednesday, February 11
SWIM: Villanova/Duquesne Recap
Monday, January 26
SWIM: 50 Freestyle Race with a Twist
Wednesday, December 10
SWIM: Loyola (Md.) Recap
Wednesday, November 05
