Editorβs note: This is the fourth story in a series about the most underrated Arizona Wildcats athletes.
Noah Reid does it all, in and out of the pool.
When heβs not racing to a top finish in the Pac-12 Championships, the Arizona Wildcats junior is cheering on his teammates from the pool deck and making the Pac-12βs winter honor roll. And serving on the UAβs Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. And taking part in community service activities.
In the pool, Reid specializes in the 100- and 200-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly. Heβs also one of the Pac-12βs best in the 100 butterfly. It took his coach, Augie Busch, a few moments before he remembered that Reid would have made his first individual NCAA championships this year because βheβs become a huge part of our relays.β
Reidβs focus on the team makes him an easy fit.
βI think just knowing what you can accomplish as a collective group is always going to be greater than what someone can do by themselves,β Reid said. βItβs funny: I would watch βSportsCenterβ every morning while Iβd eat breakfast with my mom. Iβd hear LeBron James and all those famous people talk about β βThereβs the famous quote: thereβs no I in teamβ β and itβs just something that Iβve always strived to have and I never really had it in high school. I think being at Arizona has really just maximized the brothers I surround myself with and just the love I have for a collective group.β
Why heβs good: Heβs an All-American. The 22-year-old Missourian finished fifth in the 100 butterfly at this yearβs Pac-12 Championships, posting a time of 46.15 seconds. He added a third-place finish with the 400 freestyle relay team, swimming his leg in 42.44. As a result, the Wildcats finished second in the Pac-12 β their best result since 1996.
The 6-foot-7-inch swimmer has dropped his times dramatically every year heβs been at Arizona. He embraces the grind of getting better every day.
βPeople dread practice. They dread going through the pain of β¦ working really hard and being broken down, but itβs something I love,β he said.
βI love coming to practice and kind of getting beaten up, breaking down and everything. I love the trash talking that goes on during practice and just, like, hanging out with the guys. Itβs just the whole process is something that I just truly love.
βMy racing style is very aggressive. I like to take my races out really fast, and see how hard I can bring them home. And itβs been really interesting to train up the event, as my training partner β and probably my best friend β is (UA senior) Jorge Iga. He swims the complete opposite as me.
He likes to bring races home really hard. I like to take them out. Even during practice, my goal is to get as far ahead of him as I can the first half, and I know heβs coming for me the second half. I think that racing style has been a huge blessing for me is having Jorge always in the lane next to me, challenging me and pushing me to strive to make my weaknesses something better.β
Why heβs underrated: Reid is surrounded by All-Americans and future Olympians like Brooks Fail. And with Iga and fellow Wildcats Marin Ercegovic and Daniel Namir competing in his events, itβs easy to go unnoticed. Iga picked up bronze medals for Mexico at last summerβs Pan-American Games in the 4Γ100 free and 4Γ200 free and the mixed 4Γ100 free relays. Namir and Iga finished second and third in the 200 freestyle finals at the Pac-12 Championships. Ercegovic, who started the season with the seventh-best time in the nation in the 100 freestyle, finished third in the event.
Teammates trust Reid, so much so that they voted him captain.
Coachspeak: βHeβs as meticulous of a person Iβve ever seen in terms of film study. Iβve spent more hours watching film with him than anybody Iβve ever coached. He trains hard every day, never cheats the sport. And heβs just an incredible leader. Heβs just a guy that people want to battle for and battle with.β β Busch
He said it: βI think itβs kind of a blessing in disguise. Iβm not like someone whoβs all over the newspaper or the SwimSwam headlines, but Iβm fine with being called underrated. I know what I bring to the team. My coaches know what I bring to the team and so do my teammates. Thatβs whatβs important to me β just showing up every day for my teammates, my coaches.β β Reid
