Bowen Becker of the Sandpipers of Nevada verbally committed to swim for the Minnesota Gophers for the 2015-2016 season.
Becker, a sprint freestyle specialist who also dabbles in the 100m fly event, hails from the same team multi-time NCAA champion Cody Miller comes from. There, Becker has produced some solid times in the sprints which include a 24.67 50m freestyle and a 53.66 100m freestyle. Becker also swims the 200 and 400/500 freestyles, although producing better times in the sprints. His current 200 sits at 1:59.18.
Arguably, Becker is better in the long course pool although his 21.37 short course yards 50m freestyle is a good argument to say otherwise. He swims a 47.14 100 yard freestyle as well, a time which with some development can begin to be competitive at a collegiate level.
Becker’s Best Times
Event Yards Meters
50 Free 21.37 24.67
100 Free 47.14 53.66
200 Free 1:46.81 1:59.81
Becker is a promising swimmer who shows a lot of promise due to his abilities to improve on his times.
Following the 2012-2013 season, Becker’s personal best in the 50 yard freestyle stood at 22.76, a mark that he set in February of 2013. Now entering the 2014-2015 season Becker has dropped over a second on that time with his 21.37. With a drop like that there’s indications that Becker could be swimming 20-point this season, and will be able to break the 20 second barrier during his time at Minnesota.
Becker also showed great improvement in his 100 freestyle where he was a 49.68 for the 2012-2013 season, and now sits over two seconds faster at 47.14. He saw similar time drops in meters as well.
Minnesota should be a good fit for Becker as they’ve got a steady amount of freestyle swimmers in the program where he should be able to enter a very competitive training environment. With some work on his times, he could be an important asset on the relays, an area where he has plenty of experience holding multiple relay club records with the Sandpipers of Nevada.
