CREAM OF THE CROP

There were some mighty fast swimmers who finished the 2020-21 high school season right behind Swimming World’s Female and Male High School Swimmers of the Year, Torri Huske and Aiden Hayes. Of the four runners-up, two of them are underclassmen and will be returning for more fast swimming in 2021-22.

BY DAVID RIEDER AND ANDY ROSS | PHOTOS BY PETER H. BICK

CLAIRE CURZAN, Junior

Cardinal Gibbons High School, N.C.

Cardinal Gibbons (Raleigh, N.C.) junior Claire Curzan was one of the stars of this year’s high school season. Her name had long been in swimming fans’ lexicons, having broken a national age group record as a 12-year-old in 2017 to become the youngest girl to break 54 seconds in the 100 yard fly. So it is no surprise she improved to be one of the top high schoolers in the country.

Curzan twice tied her own national private school record in the 100 butterfly at 50.35 this season (originally set 2-7-20), just two weeks before Torri Huske lowered the overall high school record to 49.95 while Curzan got to keep the independent record that she has swum on three separate occasions—four if you count a prelims swim at Speedo Sectionals in March!

In the 100 back, her 51.57 put her atop the national leaderboard while her 48.73 leadoff in the 400 free relay put her fourth in the nation. Even with a disqualification in the 200 medley relay to start the meet, Curzan turned in one of the most successful high school seasons of anyone this year. It seemed every time she dove into the pool, the American record books were on alert.

With a target goal of the Olympic Trials in the back of her mind all year long, Curzan followed up her impressive year with a berth on the Olympic team for Tokyo in the 100 butterfly, as she finished second to Huske in the tense final in Omaha. —Andy Ross

GRETCHEN WALSH, Senior

Harpeth Hall, Tenn.

During her junior year at Harpeth Hall in 2020, Gretchen Walsh blitzed the high school sprint freestyle record book. She swam times of 21.59 in the 50 yard free and 46.98 in the 100 free, breaking a pair of national high school records held by two-time U.S. Olympian Abbey Weitzeil. Walsh did not quite get back to those marks in high school competition as a senior, but she still recorded the best performances in both sprint events in the country.

The Tennessee high school state meet was delayed from February to April this year, but that didn’t affect Walsh. She won the 50 free in 21.61, just 2-hundredths off her national record from the previous year, and she took another shot leading off Harpeth Hall’s 200 free relay, where she was timed at 21.65. She swam the 100 free in 47.55, a little more than a half-second off her junior-year record. And even without being at her best, Walsh’s times would have been quick enough to place fifth in the 50 free and fourth in the 100 free at this season’s NCAA Championships.

Next year, Walsh will compete for the Virginia Cavaliers and Coach Todd DeSorbo, who was known as one of the best sprint coaches in the world before he took the reigns at Virginia. Walsh will look to help Virginia win a second straight NCAA team title along with her older sister, Alex, who was the national champion in the 200 IM as a freshman.

In long course, Walsh excelled for the United States at the 2019 World Junior Championships, winning gold medals in the 50 and 100 free and as part of four relay squads. She was the youngest competitor at the 2016 Olympic Trials (13), qualifying to swim the 50 free just weeks before the entry deadline. At her second Trials in 2021, Walsh ended up 12th in the 100 fly semifinals and then 28th in the 100 free. However, she would rebound to put together a strong 50 free at the end of the meet, taking fifth in 24.74 after swimming a lifetime best of 24.64 in the semifinals. —David Rieder

WILL MODGLIN, Sophomore

Zionsville, Ind.

Zionsville sophomore Will Modglin had a breakout season for his high school team that finished third at the Indiana state championships behind powerhouse Carmel.

As a freshman in 2020, Modglin finished second in the 100 yard back to current Michigan Wolverine Wyatt Davis at 47.91. At the time, Modglin was just outside the top eight nationally, and with five of the eight boys ahead of him set to graduate, he had plenty of room to improve nationally.

Swimming in front of a barren crowd at the legendary IU Natatorium in Indianapolis—a venue that is normally packed to capacity for the Indiana High School State Championships—

Modglin blasted a 21.44 in the opening 200 medley relay on backstroke. The time put him fourth nationally by the end of the year, and although Zionsville was outtouched by Carmel in the very end, their medley relay finished second overall in the country—1:29.64 just behind Carmel at 1:29.60.

Modglin’s day was just getting started— in the 200 IM, he put up a 1:45.14. Before December, he had never been under 1:50, but this season, he improved to a 1:45 by the state championships. When the season was said and done, he sat second nationally.

Modglin’s bread-and-butter event, though, is the 100 backstroke, where he torched a 46.60 in finals to not only win his second state title in the event, but his first mythical national title, and he was the only high school boy this year to break 47 seconds in the 100 back! The time, however, was not a state record for Modglin, but he’ll have two more years to catch Wyatt Davis’ mark of 45.80 from 2020.

To close out the day, Zionsville and Carmel went head-to-head once more in the 400 free relay. Modglin strategically went third, splitting a 43.59 to cap an emotionally exhausting day, and although it wasn’t enough to help his team win the state title, Zionsville finished third nationally at 2:59.41.

Modglin still has two more years of high school remaining, and he has not yet made a decision on where he will attend college. In June, Modglin swam in his first national meet, where he was 42nd in the 100 meter back and 200 IM at the Wave II U.S. Olympic Trials, and was 46th in the 100 fly. —Andy Ross

DAVID CURTISS, Senior

Pennington School, N.J.

The title of fastest man ever in a high school swimming competition belongs to David Curtiss, a native of Yardley, Pa., but a swimmer for the Pennington School and Hamilton Y Aquatic Club in New Jersey. Curtiss has broken 20 seconds in the 50 yard free all four years of high school, but his last two years have brought about record-setting performances. His junior year in 2020, Curtiss swam a 19.42 to break the national independent school record held by Olympian Ryan Murphy. This year, in a shortened high school

THE TOP 3: HIGH SCHOOL SWIMMERS OF THE YEAR BY BOB KLAPTHOR

GIRLS Event Rankings Power Pts. Total

1) TORRI HUSKE #1 100 Fly (49.95*) #1 (372.2) 19 (Sr.) Yorktown, Va. #1 200 IM (1:53.73*) #2 50 Free (21.65) #2 100 Free (48.04) 2T) CLAIRE CURZAN #1 100 Back (51.57) #2 (363.8) 7 (Jr.) Cardinal Gibbons, N.C. #2 100 Fly (50.35) 2T) GRETCHEN WALSH #1 50 Free (21.61) #3 (359.8) 7 (Sr.) Harpeth Hall, Tenn. #1 100 Free (47.55) BOYS Event Rankings Power Pts. Total 1) AIDEN HAYES #1 100 Free (43.00) #1 (360.5) 14 (Sr.) Norman North, Okla. #1 100 Fly (45.47*) #2 50 Free (19.20) 2) WILL MODGLIN #1 100 Back (46.60) #2 (342.6) 7 (So.) Zionsville, Ind. #2 200 IM (1:45.14) 3) DAVID CURTISS #1 50 Free (19.11*) #5 (339.0) 6 (Sr.) Pennington, N.J. SCORING: 3 points for a #1 ranking, 2 for #2, 1 for #3; and 3 for overall national record (*) season, Curtiss broke that record two more times and ended up with the fastest overall time as well. Curtiss swam a 19.26 in early March to crush his own record, and then a few days later, he recorded a 19.11, which also surpassed Aiden Hayes’ overall national record of 19.20. In an event that favors experience and physical maturity, Curtiss would have been quick enough to qualify for the NCAA Championships A-final this season. Perhaps Curtiss and Hayes might have developed a rivalry as they move onto the college ranks, but both will be joining the North Carolina State Wolfpack this fall to help create what should be an insane sprint group, certainly one capable of challenging for an NCAA title in the 200 free relay in the near future. Curtiss will likely be tasked with more than just the 50 free in college, and while his lifetime best in the 100 free is just 42.80 (set in April), college training will likely help bring that more in line with his 50 free abilities. In long course, Curtiss has been as quick as 21.87 in the 50 free (last January), and he qualified for the final in the event at Olympic Trials as the youngest swimmer in the field (18) before finishing sixth in the final. —David Rieder v