The SwimSwam Podcast

Olivia Smoliga raced a LCM competition for the first time since the 2024 US Olympic Trials this past weekend in Westmont. Smoliga, 31, raced the 50 back (28.4) and 50 free (24.9), where she made the A-Final in both and placed 3rd in the latter. She also time trialed the 50 fly (26.9). The 2x Olympian gives her perspective on why she decided to return to racing, saying she feels like a whole new person now compared to when she was last competing. Smoliga hasn't been completely away from the pool, however. In the interim, she started In Depth Swim Academy, where she's been able to share what she's learned in and out of the pool with young swimmers across the country.

Today on the GMM podcast we have Dan Meinholz, CEO of A3 Performance. For more than a decade A3 has been one of SwimSwam’s most consistent partners, and we’re especially grateful for their backing of our coverage of the NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships. That kind of long-term support helps us keep doing what we do. But Dan’s connection to the sport runs a lot deeper than a business relationship. He’s deeply chlorinated. Dan grew up in the sport, built his career as a team dealer working directly with swim clubs, and eventually made the leap to launching his own performance swimwear company, A3 Performance. Along the way, he’s stayed deeply embedded in the swimming community.

Mercersburg Academy had a big weekend at the 2026 Eastern Interscholastic Swimming & Diving Championships, winning the boys title and coming within striking distance of a combined team sweep after the girls finished 15.5 points short of the title. On the GMM Podcast, Head Coach Matt Hurst  breaks down the meet, his team's performance, and the culture that makes Mercersburg a consistent powerhouse in prep school swimming.

Coming into the B1G Championships, Indiana's Josh Bey was seeded at 3:42.61. Through prelims, he dropped a 3:36.92 PB. Then in finals, he cut another 2 seconds to touch at 3:34.90, touching .3 ahead of Michigan's Lorne Wigginton for the win. When SwimSwam sat down with Bey to discuss his monumental drop, he revealed an interesting development that occurred this season. At the beginning of the season, the 400 IM group had been doing a lot of over-distance training. When the group sat down with their coach, Luke Ryan, and asked to incorporate more race-specific work, Ryan agreed. This seemed to be a pivotal change, as Indiana had 5 scoring swimmers in the 400 IM, notably two freshmen in the A-final.

The 2026 NCAA Division I Swimming & Diving Championships will very look different. The CSCAA’s proposed format changes have stirred debate across the sport, and veteran coach Brian Schrader has stepped forward publicly to say he does not support them.