OMAHA — Aspiring Olympic swimmers approach pre-Games training in different ways.
Katie Ledecky, for example, opted to defer admission to Stanford and train at her home club. Ryan Lochte, on the other hand, switched coaches after London and moved to Charlotte.
Simone Manuel did something entirely else — she redshirted.
After a terrific freshman year at Stanford in which she won two NCAA individual titles in the 50-and 100-yard freestyles, Manuel opted to stay put, keep training with coach Greg Meehan and keep working toward her undergraduate degree. But she wouldn’t compete as a Cardinal.
She would, however, get to focus on long-course lengths and the type of competitive swimming she’d need to master to contend for a spot on the U.