SPONSORED BY
MAGGIE PURCELL
how they train [PHOTO BY KEITH LUCAS, SIDELINE MEDIA]
BY MICHAEL J. STOTT
PROGRESSION OF TIMES SCY
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
100 Free
—
52.21
52.88
50.36*
200 Free
—
1:56.05
1:52.13
1:49.03*
—
2:18.15
2:16.29
2:12.84
4:34.52
4:39.36
—
4:17.09
200 Breast 400 IM
* Season incomplete
M
aggie Purcell, a USA Swimming Scholastic All-American, landed on the University of Richmond campus in the fall of 2018 as collegeswimming.com’s 11th-ranked swimmer in the state of New York. “Maggie has talent and growing confidence,” says University of Richmond coach Matt Barany of his junior swimmer. “She has four very efficient strokes and amazing strength. One day, she actually pulled a power rack into the pool. Her initial race strategy her freshman year was to crush the water with her strength. As a sophomore, we tried to distract her from this strategy. We encouraged her to make the front half of her races more ‘artistic’ by being efficient and effortless. This strategy offered her confidence and reserves for the second half of her races,” he says. “Having four talented strokes, I favor her IMs, but she’d probably identify herself as a breaststroker. The 200 breast can be formulaic with stroke counts and cadence—this has helped her swim her way into the race. Her short course walls are very good. She has taken it upon herself to improve this on her own accord. At practice, she’d gladly go underwater and race our dolphin kickers.” All of that was on display at the February 2020 Atlantic 10 Conference Championships. She won the 200 breast (2:12.84) and placed second in the 400 IM (4:17.09) and fifth in the 200 IM (2:00.42) while contributing legs on four topthree relay finishes. At the end of the truncated 2019-20 season, she occupied four spots on the Spiders best times list: 100 breast (6th/1:03.15), 200 breast (2nd/2:12.84), 200 IM (4th/2:00.42)
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MARCH 2021
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and 400 IM (4th/4:17.09). “Maggie is also one of our all-time best flutter kickers,” says Barany. “We do a lot of kicking, especially in the first six to eight weeks of the season. She sets the tone, and she brings others with her. She can hold 1:15-1:16 range for 16 x 100s @ 1:45. Once we see this level of kicking, we transition over to more stroke-specific kicking. “Some would call her stubborn, but I think she’s straightup bold. As we tried to develop her weakest stroke, we’d train her backstroke with Hannah Gouger (1:53.5 200 back), and Maggie would do everything she could to hang with her. Maggie doesn’t know her limit. She can drop 4:35s for 8 x 400 back @ 5:30. That’s pretty good. “Another thing: Maggie is eternally grateful. After every practice, she looks me in the eye and says, ‘Thank you.’ It doesn’t matter how many practices a coach attends, these are the two most gratifying words. She’s one of a kind, and Richmond is lucky to have her,” says Barany. SAMPLE SET 400 IM Prep (January 2021) 6x: • 2 x 50 dive fly @ :30 rest after each 50 fly (Rounds 1-2: in Sox untimed; Round 3: 26.8 + 27.0; Round 4: 26.6 + 27.0; Round 5: 26.9 + 27.2; Round 6: 26.8 + 27.0) • 400 back (Rounds 1-2: 4:35, 4:38); 2 x 200 back @ :15 rest after each 200 (Round 3: 2:14 + 2:15; Round 4: 2:16 + 2:16); 4 x 100 back @ :10 rest after each 100 (Round 5: 1:06, 1:07, 1:07, 1:07; Round 6: 1:05, 1:07, 1:08, 1:08) “There would be a lot of conversation prior to this set. The first two rounds of fly would include drag sox with a huge emphasis on using the hips for locomotion. Once the sox are off, we’d encourage Maggie to execute her kick/stroke count while swimming fly for distance. This gives us a chance to measure her velocity. She can cruise these in high 26 with little effort—we’d let her loose on backstroke. No limits on back. “Over the years at Richmond, I’ve coached quality IMers— Jessica Witt, (2x All-American, 400 IM), Lauren Beaudreau (NCAA 200 IM and 400 IM), Mali Kobelja (2012 Olympic Trials 200 IM). I learned a lot from them, and one of our tenets is to merge the four strokes at season’s end when athletes are highly coordinated and execution is seamless. We don’t do a lot of IM sets inclusive of the four strokes.” v
Michael J. Stott is an ASCA Level 5 coach whose Collegiate School (Richmond, Va.) teams won nine state high school championships. A member of that school’s Athletic Hall of Fame, he is also a recipient of NISCA’s Outstanding Service Award.
