Jack Saunderson’s week began lazily. He slept in, enjoyed a relaxed dinner at Newport Beach, Calif., and dipped his feet in the Pacific Ocean.
It ended with the Towson University swimmer clinching a blazing time of 51.48 seconds in the 100-meter butterfly preliminaries July 27 at the Phillips 66 National Championships, where the 21-year-old Saunderson beat favorites such as Michael Andrew and Caeleb Dressel, often dubbed “the next Michael Phelps.”
It was a time that made Saunderson the fifth-fastest in the world in the men’s 100-meter fly this...