2011-12 College Swimming & Diving Honors
Career Improvement Male
Tim Binning/Theswimpictures.com
Drew modrov
by Chris DeSantis Improvement in swimming and diving is a hard thing to measure. On the surface, it looks easy- see how far the times go down or scores go up and compare. That's far too simple. Every coach and athlete knows that the better an athlete is, the harder it is for them to improve. Therefore, to be "most improved" an athlete must both have improved by a wide margin but also to a very high level. ! Of the male swimming and diving athletes who finished their eligibility in 2012, no swimmer improved more and to a higher level than Drew Modrov over his career at both Rider and Auburn. Modrov's career improvement in
the 50 freestyle took him average D1 prospect (20.91) to NCAA elite (19.32). He improved just as much in his 100 free over his college career (46.31 to 42.90). In the 200 free, he entered college at a time that wouldn't final in many Division 3 conference meets (1:46.10) and left as a key relay contributor on a top ten Division 1 squad.! ! To put Modrov's improvement into perspective, Modrov's final 50 time represented 92% of his entering time and helped him qualify 8th in that event the 2012 NCAA Championships. A comparable improvement for the 8th place qualifier in the 500 free (4:16.27) would have meant that 43 13
they entered college north of 4:36 in that event. Modrov would likely have been a contender for this award had he not improved beyond his junior season, but he improved every year in every one of his major events. His massive improvement, the level he got to, and his constant progress all earned him the career most improved honor.