Regan Smith, leaving school and now a pro, seeks more swimming honors this week at U.S. national championships

For one year, Regan Smith lived the life of a high-profile athlete at a prestigious university, a star of the women's swim team at Stanford. Then she swapped it all for an apartment in Arizona, where she cooks her own meals, scrubs the kitchen sink and makes sure the fridge is stocked.

"It's a very different lifestyle, and a big adjustment," the Olympian from Lakeville said. "But I couldn't be happier."

Though she won two NCAA titles as a freshman at Stanford, Smith, 21, felt that college swimming wasn't building her into a better athlete. With the Paris Olympics only two years away, that hard truth led her to a life-changing decision last August. She left Stanford to turn pro, move to Arizona and train with renowned coach Bob Bowman, who developed Michael Phelps into the greatest swimmer of all time.

Her instincts were spot-on. Smith enters the USA Swimming national championships as the top-ranked American woman in five events, which could set her up for a very busy schedule at next month's world championships.

At the Sun Devil Open earlier this month, Smith broke the American record in the 200-meter butterfly, taking down a 14-year-old mark. She also won the 200 individual medley in a personal-best time and added victories in the 100 fly and 100 backstroke.

Smith has the fastest time among American women in those four events this season, as well as the 200 back, an event in which she held the world record until last March. At the national championships, which run through Saturday in Indianapolis, she will compete in the 50, 100 and 200 backstrokes, plus the 200 fly and 200 IM.

Most elite American swimmers — and many others from around the globe — follow a development path that includes multiple NCAA seasons. Smith's choice to buck tradition came as a surprise, but she's clearly landed in the right place.

"It just wasn't the right fit," she said of Stanford, where she enrolled shortly after the Tokyo Games in 2021. "Coming out of that year, I knew in my heart that I needed a change.

"Going from Stanford to being in Arizona, I feel like I've done a 180 in terms of confidence and physical preparation. I'm in the best shape of my life. I just feel so much more confident. I enjoy swimming so much every day, and I've found a new appreciation for the sport."

A needed change

Smith is part of a group of Olympians training at Arizona State University, where Bowman also coaches the Sun Devils' swim teams. Tokyo Olympics medalists Hali Flickinger, Chase Kalisz and Jay Litherland are among her training partners in Tempe.

Living on her own for the first time, Smith is taking time off from college to focus solely on swimming. She's paying the bills with prize money and sponsorships. It's a "very chill lifestyle," she said, one that revolves around her sport.

Her lone season at Stanford appeared successful from the outside. In 2022, Smith won NCAA titles in the 200 back and 800 free relay, plus six Pac-12 championships and the league's swimmer of the year crown. She followed up with gold medals in the 100 back and 400 medley relay at last summer's world championships.

But the college training regimen did not match what Smith was used to, or what she believed she needed to continue her rise on the world stage. The workouts were less rigorous than the ones designed by Mike Parratto, her longtime coach with Riptide Swim Team in Apple Valley.

She also felt that NCAA competition, conducted in short-course yards, wasn't setting her up for success in the long-course meters used in international swimming.

"It was just the wrong environment for me," said Smith, who won two silvers and a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics. "I was struggling, and it affected my confidence.

"I knew what worked for me. Coach Mike and I worked so well together, and he and Coach Bob have pretty similar training philosophies. Once I started with Coach Bob, everything really fell into place."

Brimming confidence

Her training with Bowman is "uncomplicated," Smith said, focusing mainly on high-volume workouts. Once considered a backstroke specialist, she has continued her progress in the butterfly and added the 200 IM, a favorite Bowman event.

She said she wasn't shooting for records at the Sun Devil Open, but she broke the American mark in the 200 fly with a time of 2 minutes, 3.87 seconds. Her 200 IM was nearly as impressive, with a personal-best time of 2:08.48. Smith is among the top three in the world this year in the two backstroke events and the 200 fly.

The goal at nationals is to qualify for the world championships team in as many events as possible, while continuing to show she made the right — if unorthodox — choice.

"I feel like I'm really coming into my own," Smith said. "I've put in the work. I'm excited and motivated, and I've never felt so confident. I'm really looking forward to seeing what I can do."