Austrian freestyler Felix Auböck has given a verbal commitment to swim for the Indiana Hoosiers starting next fall.
Auböck at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan.
The 18-year-old swam at the 2015 Kazan World Championships, where he finished 29th in the 200m free and 20th in the 400m free. Auböck also led off the Austrian 800 free relay in 1:48.30 at those Championships, their fastest split, helping them to a 17th place finish.
Auböck was the fastest Austrian in both the 200 and 400 meter freestyle races this year, having put down respective lifetime bests of 1:47.60 in April at the International Strock ATUS Graz Trophy and 3:50.04 in August at the World Champs. In addition to those world-class times, Auböck boasts lifetime bests of 51.22 in the 100 free, 7:57.33 in the 800 free and 15:05.48 in the 1500, demonstrating a wicked range that the Hoosiers will largely benefit from.
Auböck brings to the table freestyle excellence across pretty much any distance, and his ability to swim distance races as well as amp it up in more sprint-oriented races gives him the coveted versatility in the NCAA to score big points individually as well as bulk up free relays.
When looking at his 1:47.60 best in the 200 free, it’s hard to keep the name Blake Pieroni out of your mind. Pieroni is now a sophomore at IU who came into the NCAA sphere with a best of 1:48.85 in the 200m free and chopped it down to 1:47.30 last summer. This came after an immensely successful freshman season which saw him slip into the 200 free A final at NCAAs and then muscle his way to a 4th place finish, almost cracking 1:33 in the process. As Indiana looks to build up a new core of talented NCAA scorers around Pieroni after losing a dominant contingent made up of names like Cody Miller, James Wells, Steve Schmuhl, and Eric Ress, Auböck is the perfect start for head coach Ray Looze.
The Hoosiers finished 10th in 2012, 9th in 2013, 10th in 2014, then fell to 12th last season, and will try to crack back into the top 10 this season with Pieroni at the head of the program. The combination of Pieroni and Auböck should be a huge force in Indiana’s favor come 2016.
Here’s a look at Auböck’s times in LCM and then converted SCY.
100 free – 51.22/44.70
200 free – 1:47.60/1:34.05
400/500 free – 3:50.04/4:17.74
1500 free – 15:05.48/14:47.72
These converted times would put him 2nd on Indiana’s top times list in the 200 and 500 free last year, and his 1650 converted time would be a school record by over six seconds. Yes, there’s always the big question mark surrounding the extent to which foreign athletes can convert their long course talent into the small pool, but the talent is certainly plentiful in Auböck. With his converted times, he would’ve placed 8th at NCAAs last year in the mile, 12th in the 200 free (though would have been tied for 16th in prelims, so there’s that) and 16th in the 500 free (again, would have been 24th in prelims). He should also be a quick-n-easy fix for the hole left behind by Steve Schmuhl in the 800 free relay (Schmuhl swam a 1:34.15 on the 2nd leg of IU’s 5th place relay at NCAAs).
“I am really looking forward to… Indiana because of the good combination of education and swimming, but also the perspective this team will have in the next years with these coaches, swimmers and facility and I want to be a part of that!”
While we don’t yet know how Auböck will adjust to NCAA training, he’s already qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics, and has proven in the big pool that he can put up some elite times. Indiana will likely benefit hugely from this rangy freestyler who should certainly pull his weight on the 800 relay as well as lead the Hoosier distance group.
If you have a commitment to report, please send an email to [email protected]
Looks like he switched his commitment to the Wolverines last minute. What a coup. Very deep class for the University of Michigan.
HUGE pickup for the Hoosiers!