University of Tennessee Athletics
Heron Heads to Hong Kong
October 16, 2014 | Swimming & Diving
Early in the 2014-15 season, redshirt freshman David Heron has already proven that he is one of the country's brightest distance freestyle stars. Already three meets in the young season, Heron has swam one of the country's top times, posting a career-high 9:11.21 in the 100-yard freestyle that not only broke UNC Wilmington's 19-year-old pool record, but also placed Heron eighth all-time in Tennessee history.
The Mission Viejo, Calif., native has also had some recent international success as well at both the Phillips 66 National Championships and some USA Swimming open water events. In Irvine, Heron earned a pair of top-15 finishes in both the 800-yard and 1500-yard freestyle competitions. Later in the summer, Heron took to Castaic Lake, Calif., where he placed fifth in both the 5k (55.38) and 10k (1:51.31). Back to the present time and Tennessee swimming and diving opens up the home portion of their schedule with the annual Orange and White Intrasquad Meet Thursday, but one team member (and one team coach) won't be in attendance. It'll be a little hard for Heron and Associate Head Coach Tyler Fenwick to make the trek.
The flight across the Pacific Ocean wouldn't get them back in time.
As of Tuesday, Heron and Fenwick have been in the urban jungle of Hong Kong, practicing and training for another notch on Heron's international resume. Saturday marks the final leg of the FINA 10-kilometer Marathon Swimming World Cup, a series of races which have spanned the globe, from Mexico to Portugal, Argentina to China. Because of its place in the schedule, this race will be the most attended. The 9 a.m. start time (Friday at 9 p.m. on the U.S. East Coast) in Repulse Bay will be a continuation of Heron's maturation and growing progress.
"The first stage of picking the U.S. Olympic Team will be in April (in a race in Fort Myers, Fla.)," said Fenwick. "The difference between David and the other top competitors is experience. He is very, very green on the international stage in terms of open water swimming. There are so many intricacies in terms of the international races. There's so much strategy to open water racing. Some of the guys in this race are in their 30s and they have 20 years of experiences racing at this level. When he gets to Fort Myers, he's (going to have) more experiences under his belt."
"I signed up to get more experience, trying to get as many international meets as I can," said Heron. "For this race, I think I can do pretty well. Training has been pretty hard the last couple months, and I think I can do better now." Even though this is such a high-profile race, Coach Fenwick realizes how much of a huge rung this is on the ladder of growth that Heron will climb as the season progresses.
"David's one of the youngest kids in the field, so this is part of that process," said Fenwick. "There's definitely things we're going to be working on both before the race and at the race."
Check FINA's website later this weekend for posted results, as well as any other information regarding this race and every other event under the swimming federation.
