McCord gets pulled out of Freedlander and back to Columbus

Alex McCord was looking to enjoy a return home, sleep in his own bed and enjoy a relaxed Freedlander Swim Meet.

Two out of three, as the saying goes, ain't bad.

McCord, who capped a tremendous prep career at Wooster by signing a scholarship to swim for Ohio State University, is already enrolled and swimming for the Buckeyes' club team in preparation for the coming season. However, he had the annual Freedlander Swim Meet circled for a return home for a low-keyed swim.

However, the visit turned out to be anything but low-key for him as he pulled a groin muscle, effectively shutting him down and sending him back to Columbus for a visit with the team's doctor and trainers.

"It really isn't anything. It's a slight pull," said a relieved McCord from Columbus Tuesday afternoon. "It's because I'm so fatigued and I need to rest it."

Rest, though, is an arbitrary thing. Summer school started in mid-June in Columbus and McCord was signed up for classes as to begin training with the Bucks. That training – which includes five mornings and three afternoons in the pool, while lifting all five days – has been daunting, he admitted.

"I still pulled 2,000 meters (Monday) in the afternoon – I just can't kick right now," said McCord. "I just got out (of a noon class) and I'm headed to practice this afternoon. We practice every morning and have Wednesday and Friday afternoons off."

Practices have been intense, he said.

"We peaked at 15,000 meters roughly," he said. "We did that my second day here. I had never done that, plus we were lifting. I think the most we did in high school was 5,000 yards. … It's a different program."

McCord joins a Buckeye squad, one that won the Big Ten championship this spring, along with 15 other freshmen and a transfer. Eight of those are swimmers McCord had faced during high school, so he has a good idea of the competition in front of him.

"It's a huge class," said McCord. "We're going to have our biggest team ever with 40 swimmers. Twenty-two are going to the Big Ten meet, which generates a ton of competition to swim fast."

After earning All-Ohio honors in the 50 and 100 as a General, McCord said plans are he's going to remain a sprinter for OSU.

"I'm a bigger guy and I have the build of a sprinter strength-wise and body-wise. They aren't going to make me a miler," laughed McCord. "I am going to have to find a third event, though. My senior year I started thinking about that and I swam the 100 back off and on, but I never trained for it."

That was part of the appeal of swimming at the Freedlander this year as, for the first time, he was taking a relaxed approach to the meet after years of trying to dominate the events in which he was entered.

"I was looking forward to coming home," said McCord. "I was going to swim one of the open relays with some buddies, but that didn't work out. I was going to swim the 50, 100 and 100 back, and maybe the 200 free. I was tired – no way was I going to swim fast.

"I was coming back for fun. I swam here for years and I wanted to go one more time. It was a giving-back kind of feeling."

That wasn't the feeling he wound up with, but his worries over the injury were put to rest by Monday evening.

"Maybe I can get back next year," he laughed.