When I mention I had a swimmer on my podcast who is a 19.04 in the 50 Free, a 42.30 in the 100, and a 45.95 in the 100 back, one might assume he's swimming for one of the blue bloods in the sport, Cal, Texas, NC State? Nope. Lamar Taylor swims Division 2 for Henderson State. To understand how a guy from the Bahamas ended up at Henderson State and managed to post top-tier times across all of Collegiate Swimming, I invited Henderson State Senior Lamar Taylor on for an episode of the Last One Fast One Podcast. 0:00 Intro 0:56 Findings Henderson State/Recruiting 3:33 Bahamanian Swim Culture 5:33 Finding Swimming 7:28 Life in the Bahamas 8:58 Caribbean Swimming 11:29 Adjustments moving to Arkadelphia, Arkansas 15:36 Henderson State 18:04 Training 20:46 Training with Jack Armstrong 23:13 Why do swimmers pick Division 2? 23:31 Destro Machines 25:53 Going 3/3 at D2 National Championships and perfecting races 28:25 Staying Loyal to Henderson State 30:36 Olympics 36:06 Times this year at Henderson 38:00: Outro This episode is brought to you by Destro Machines go check out their products. https://www.destromachines.com/en_US/

World Junior champ and rising star Joshua Chen joins the Podcast. Chen shares his thoughts on his 100 Breaststroke World Junior title, his recent move to Texas, his commitment to swim at Harvard, and the leadup to Olympic trials. 0:00 Intro 0:30 Iowa 7:10 Destro Machines 7:50 Move to Texas 10:50 Texas Ford Aquatics training approach 15:10 Pro Group at TFA 16:37 Harvard Swimming Commitment 20:55 Junior Worlds 24:04 100 Breaststroke at JW 27:11 Future Improvements 29:50 Iconic Celebration 30:45 200 Breaststroke 32:32 50 Breaststroke 36:13 Olympic Trial's Leadup 41:31 Rapid Fire Fun Questions Go Checkout Destro Machines here https://www.destromachines.com

World Champ Hunter Armstrong joins the podcast. Armstrong does a full debrief on the Fukuoaka World Champs. Listen in to hear the remarkable story of how Armstrong won his first world title for his Grandfather, and the thrilling story of Armstrong's 100 backstroke bronze medal. This podcast is brought to you by Destro Machines. Go check out their products! https://www.destromachines.com/en_US/ 0:00 Intro 0:30 Scotland 2:08 Magic tricks 3:15 Fukuoka 3:30 100 Back 4:40 Coach going to Michigan 5:25 Training Camp 5:50 100 Back 7:15 Destro Machines 7:54 100 Back 11:28 New events for Paris 13:50 Winning a world title for his Grandpa 15:49 Handling adversity 17:40 50 Back breakdown 20:12 backstroke finish rule 21:25 Kolesnikov 23.55 23:00 Rapid fire questions

Stanford swimmer and the 100 fly bronze medalist at the 2023 world champs Torri Huske joins the show! Huske not only breaks down her swims from Fukuoka but also shares her thoughts on the upcoming Pac-12 realignment and much more! This podcast is brought to you by Destro Machines. Go check out their products https://www.destromachines.com/en_US/0:00 0:00 Intro 0:39 100 fly at Worlds2:31 Underwaters3:40 Advice for 100 Flyers4:09 Pac 12 Realignment5:06 Destro Machines 5:44 More on 12 Realignment 11:28 Redshirt Year16:49 Relays at Worlds20:03 upcoming meet schedule 21:01 Taper 22:13 Practice schedule23:02 Fun questions

World Record holder Summer McIntosh and Tokyo Olympic Champ Maggie Mac Neil join the show to discuss their performances at this year's world champs and share their thoughts on Canadian swimming!

16-year-old Thomas Heilman and 18-year-old Ilya Kharun join the show and discuss their experiences at this year's world championships. Heilman and Kharun dissect their fourth-place tie in the 200 fly and share their thoughts on the meet.

NC State rising sophomore Kyle Ponsler joins the Podcast. Ponsler shares his thoughts on Chengdu 2023 and his outlook on his first World University Games. Ponsler, a Fishers, Indiana native, also breaks down his experience growing up in Indiana, where swimming is essential to Indiana's high school sports culture.

Can Leon Marchand break 3:30? Will Carson Foster ever will an individual title? Can Jordan Crooks prevail when it matters most? Everything Men's NCAA's is unpacked in this episode.

United States world record holder and 2021 US Olympian Hunter Armstrong joins the podcast.  From a near-death experience in the water as a kid to his journey to an Olympic gold medal, Hunter fills us in on everything in-between.   Also, listen to get an inside look at what it's like being a swimming pro as Hunter unpacks the details of swimming with the Cal pro group.  Hunter is living proof it's never too late to start. In this podcast, you'll also hear the story of a kid who placed 13th at state in his junior year of high school to the same 21-year-old who would break the world record four years later.

Returning guest Rush Clark joins the Podcast. This time, Rush Clark shares the story of his mental health journey. Rush shares his own struggles and gives insight into the mental health struggles athletes face across the country.   Disclaimer: This episode does discuss very sensitive topics that surround mental health.

Kennedy Noble joins the Podcast. As one of the country's most sought-after recruits, Kennedy shares her story of how she landed in Raleigh. Kennedy breaks down her season thus far, talks about the NC-State backstroke group, and gives her thoughts on the rest of the season. Listen in to get a window seat to Division 1 swimming.

Former University of Iowa swimmer Jackson Allmon joins the podcast. Jackson speaks on swimming for a small club team in Council Bluffs and his career at the University of Iowa that was eventually cut short due to Gary Barta cutting the swim program. Jackson has a great story and interesting insight on what it was like to be on that team 2020-2021 university of Iowa swim team.

Northwestern swimmer Jasmine Nocentini comes onto the podcast. Jasmine is an international student athlete. She was born in Italy, moved to Panama, and wound up at Florida International before transferring to Northwestern. This year Jasmine has yet to lose a race. Listen in to hear what Jasmine has thought of her performances so far and what her thoughts are on the rest of the season are.

Nebraska native and current Arizona Wildcat joins the podcast. We talk Tommy's freshman year at Arizona, his breakout swims at the Minnesota invite, and what he's looking forward to for the rest of the season. Go check it out!!

Liberty Williams joins the podcast. Liberty is a Junior at the University of Louisville. She's had great success in the swimming world, a few of her accomplishments are ACC Champ, NCAA qualifier, and Olympic Trials qualifier. This podcasts unpacks Liberty's journey from a kid from California to now of the nations best distance swimmers, 2,000 miles from home in Louisville. Liberty currently ranks 7th in the 500 this year and 11th in the 1650.

Former Arizona State swimmer (2013-2016) and notable twitter user joins the Podcast. Kyle tells us what it was like to get coached by Bob Bowman (Michael phelps coach), and explains what it was like to share the pool with Michael Phelps as he prepared for Rio in 2016 at ASU.  However, this episode has so much more that. Kyle goes into a deep dive into how he became the swimming guy on twitter with 34,000 followers, and Kyle unpacks his most recent decision to make a comeback and chase an Olympic trials cut.   Kyle's got an interesting story, and his recent endeavors are super exciting!

Current World Record Holder and two time Olympic Gold Medalist Garrett Weber-Gale joined the Podcast. Garrett won 2 gold medals at the Beijing olympics, and swam on the World Record setting 400 freestyle relay The 400 free relay in Beijing is undeniably the greatest swimming relay of all time. Garrett went second on the relay,  jumping off Michael Phelps, splitting a blistering 47.02 and watching Jason Lezak chase down Alain Bernard as the Americans touched first for gold. The Americans had upset the French, and Michael Phelps' quest for 8 gold medals was still alive. Garrett talks about what it takes to be a World Record holder, his greatest failures and greatest triumphs, and the little things Garrett did to improve while his teammates were sleeping. Garrett's story was thrilling and inspiring, and to cap things off Garrett commentates some of his favorite races for us on the podcast. From the start to the finish, get a front row seat of Garrett's greatest moments.

Two-time, 2022 World Champ comes onto the podcast and talks about why the sport of swimming needs the ISL and what makes the ISL so darn special. Any question you've ever had about the ISL is answered in this podcast. Justin talks about the future of swimming and his experience at the 2022 World Champs, in which he took home not 1 but 2 gold medals.

If you are from Grand Island chances are you know Chris. Chris is the most positive person I have ever met, and a person I'm proud to call my friend. Chris talks high school swimming, his time with special olympics, and his favorite stories from high school!! You don't wanna miss this one!

Arizona commit, and Hawaii's top recruit for the 2023 class comes on the podcast. From racing with sharks, to racing Bella Sims in practice this podcast has it all. If you're genuinely interested in what it's like to be an elite swimmer on an island in the pacific this is the podcast for you!!