My 14-year-old sister is really good at rolling her eyes.
She hasn’t won any trophies or gold medals for it, but it’s truly an artform that she has perfected. If you say something she doesn’t like, she simply casts back her pupils and leaves you at a loss for words, wondering why you hurt the way you do.
She’s probably not the only teenager equipped with a such a vicious tool, and I’d be foolish to say she’s the best eye-roller around. But I do consider her to be really good at it.
So maybe my standards are too low, but when Florida swimming and diving coach Gregg Troy called Caeleb Dressel “really good” at last week’s NCAA Championships, I almost gasped at the understatement.
Twenty-eight-time All-American Caeleb Dressel isn’t just really good. He’s the most dominant athlete to ever wear the orange and blue.
To justify my claim, let’s delve deeper.
Dressel, now a senior, won 10 individual SEC championships in his four years as a Gator – more than any male swimmer in program history. He also won a school-record nine individual NCAA titles, including four consecutive in the 50 free. He holds seven national records and is a two-time Olympic gold medal winner.
Last summer at the 2017 World Championships, Dressel won seven gold medals, tying Michael Phelps’ record for the most first-place finishes at a single word championship.
If all of that wasn’t enough to secure his status as a Gators legend, Dressel certainly solidified his legacy at this year’s NCAA Championships. Over the course of just two days, he broke his own American record for the 50 free not once, not twice, but three times. He lowered the mark from 18.20 to 18.11, from 18.11 to 17.81 and from 17.81 to 17.63. The latter time beat second-place swimmer Ryan Held by more than a second. It really seems like Dressel only has himself to compete against.
While Florida is a powerhouse for developing world-class swimmers, only one has achieved at a level comparable to Dressel. Sorry, Ryan Lochte fans but I’m talking about Dara Torres.
Torres swam for the Gators from 1986 to 1989, over which time she accumulated nine NCAA titles and over 20 SEC titles. But Torres only won three of her nine national crowns in individual categories. Dressel, on the other hand, won nine individual NCAA championships — giving him the edge.
You can try to throw Tim Tebow or Danny Wuerffel up against him, but Dressel did more of what’s most important in terms of dominance: winning. Of course, Tebow led the Gators to a national title in 2008 as did Wuerffel in 1996, but Dressel kicked ass for four years.
If you’re reading this and can’t believe you missed your chance to witness one of the world’s fastest swimmers alive, worry not. The 21-year old superstar still has much to prove.
“I want to stay hungry in this sport,” Dressel said. “I want to always find new ways to improve, and there’s competition out there like never before.”
Benjamin Brandt is a sports writer for The Alligator. Follow him on Twitter @bhb1227 and contact him at bbrandt@alligator.org.
Caeleb Dressel struggled at the Philipps 66 on Wednesday.
