Robert Howard (American swimmer)
Personal information | |||||||||
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Nationality | American | ||||||||
Born | Alexander City, Alabama | July 8, 1996||||||||
Sport | |||||||||
Sport | Swimming | ||||||||
Strokes | Freestyle | ||||||||
Club | DC Trident[1] Indiana Swim Club[2] | ||||||||
College team | University of Alabama | ||||||||
Medal record
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Robert Howard (born July 8, 1996) is an American former competitive swimmer who specialized in the sprint freestyle events. He represented the DC Trident in the International Swimming League.[3]
Early life
[edit]Robert Howard was born July 8, 1996, in Alexander City, Alabama, as the son of Scott and Beverly and Bob Howard.[4] Howard attended Benjamin Russell High School and swam for Auburn Aquatics. He was a two-time USA Scholastic All-American in 2013 and 2014 and swam collegiately at The University of Alabama from 2015 to 2019.
College career
[edit]2016
[edit]As a freshman for the Tide, Howard placed 12th in the 100-yard freestyle (43.78), 15th in the 50-yard freestyle (19.90) and 30th in the 200-yard freestyle (1.37.74) at the 2016 Southeastern Conference (SEC) Championships. He was also a member of the 3rd place 400-yard freestyle relay.[5] At the 2016 Men's NCAA Division I Championships, Howard contributed to the sixth place 400-yard freestyle relay.
2017
[edit]At the 2017 SEC Championships, he improved his rankings finishing seventh in the 100-yard freestyle (42.96), ninth in the 50-yard freestyle (19.52), and 17th in the 200-yard freestyle (1:35.17).[6][7] Howard was also part of three relay teams: the runner-up 400-yard, third place 200-yard, and fifth place 800-yard freestyle. As a sophomore at the 2017 Men's NCAA Division I Championships, he was part of the 200-yard and 400-yard freestyle relays which finished fifth and ninth, as well as of the 22nd place 800-yard freestyle relay.[8]
2018
[edit]Howard had a breakthrough season during his junior year by placing third in the 50-yard freestyle (19.14), fifth in the 100-yard freestyle (42.58) and ninth in the 200-yard freestyle (1:34.61) at the 2018 SEC Championships.[9] At the 2018 Men's NCAA Division I Championships, he finished seventh in the 50-yard freestyle (19.09), 10th in the 100-yard freestyle (41.81), and 23rd in the 200-yard freestyle (1:34.42). Howard also contributed to the seventh place 400-yard freestyle relay, ninth place 200-yard medley relay, 10th place 200-yard freestyle relay and 11th place 400-yard medley relay teams.
2019
[edit]During his last season at Alabama, Howard had his highest finishes at both SEC and NCAA Championships. He gained the victory in both the 50 (18.74) and 100-yard freestyle (41.57), and placed fourth in the 200 freestyle (1:32.76) at the 2019 SEC Championships. He was also part of the first place 200-yard medley and freestyle relays, both setting conference and pool records, and contributed to the runner-up 400-yard medley relay team. He finished his college career placing third in the 50-yard freestyle (18.80), fifth in the 100-yard freestyle (41.75) and 19th in the 200-yard freestyle (1:33.37) at the 2019 Men's NCAA Division I Championships.[10] Howard was also a member of the NCAA champion 200-yard medley relay team which set a pool record, the sixth place 200-yard freestyle relay as well as of the ninth place 400-yard medley and freestyle relays.
International career
[edit]2018 Summer Nationals
[edit]At the 2018 USA Swimming Championships in Irvine, California Howard placed eighth in the 50m freestyle with a new best time of 22.17 (22.18 in finals) and 11th in the 100m freestyle with a 48.67.[11] His performance gave him a spot on the 2019 World University Games roster.[12]
2019 World University Games
[edit]At the 2019 World University Games in Napoli, Italy, he won a gold medal as part of the 4x100m freestyle relay.[13]
International Swimming League
[edit]Howard was a member of the inaugural International Swimming League (ISL) representing DC Trident.[14] He competed at the first two matches held in Indianapolis, Indiana, and Naples, Italy, respectively.
References
[edit]- ^ Gibbs, Robert (June 11, 2019). "natalie-coughlin-to-return-to-competition-with-the-dc-tridentfor-2019-international-swimming-league-finale". SwimSwam.
- ^ Hart, Torrey (May 21, 2019). "ncaa-champion-robert-howard-to-join-pro-group-after-summer-nationals". SwimSwam.
- ^ Lohn, John (July 30, 2019). "d-c-trident-nails-down-sprint-speed-of-robert-howard". Swimming World.
- ^ "2018-2019 Swimming & Diving Roster". Alabama Crimson Tide. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
- ^ "2016 SEC Swim & Dive Championships". SEC Sports. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
- ^ Neidigh, Lauren (February 17, 2017). "2017-sec-championships-day-5-prelims-live-recap/". SwimSwam.
- ^ Ogletree, James (February 17, 2017). "alabama-swimming-and-diving-breaks-three-school-records-on-day-two-of-2017-sec-championships/". The Crimson White.
- ^ Ogletree, James (March 22, 2017). "alabama-mens-swimming-starts-ncaa-championships-2/". The Crimson White.
- ^ Neidigh, Lauren (February 15, 2018). "2018-sec-championships-day-2-finals-live-recap/". SwimSwam.
- ^ Sports, Tide (March 28, 2019). "alabama-swimmer-robert-howard-earns-bronze-at-ncaa-championships/". Tide Sports.
- ^ "2018 Phillips 66 National Champs - 07/25/2018 to 07/29/2018 Results" (PDF). USA Swimming. October 5, 2019. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
- ^ Anderson, Jared (October 18, 2018). "eastin-apple-head-usa-swimmings-2019-world-university-games-roster/". SwimSwam.
- ^ Swimming & Diving, Men's (July 5, 2019). "farris-helps-U-S-win-gold-in-4-x-100-free-relay-at-world-university-games/". Harvard Athletics.
- ^ D'Addona, Dan (June 11, 2019). "Katie Ledecky Cody Miller Lead DC Trident Roster for International Swimming League". Swimming World Magazine.
External links
[edit]- Robert Howard at the International Swimming League (archived)
- Robert Howard at Swimrankings.net
- 1996 births
- Living people
- American male freestyle swimmers
- Sportspeople from Alabama
- People from Alexander City, Alabama
- Alabama Crimson Tide men's swimmers
- FISU World University Games gold medalists for the United States
- Summer World University Games medalists in swimming
- Medalists at the 2019 Summer Universiade
- 21st-century American sportsmen