Litherland Triplets Commit to Georgia

The Litherland triplets, Jay Litherland, Mick Litherland, and Kevin Litherland, from the Dynamo Swim Club and Chattahoochee High School have all verbally committed to the University of Georgia.

All three are generally pretty good middle-distance freestylers, though all three have slight specialties. They did, however, combine with teammate, and fellow senior, Gunnar Bentz to win the 800 free relay at Junior Nationals.

Jay Litherland has done the most during his junior year of high school. He was 3rd at the summer Junior National Championships in the 400 meter IM to qualify for the United States’ Junior World Championship team; there he earned a bronze medal as a prelims swimmer on the 800 free relay, and also finished 6th individually in the 400 meter IM with a 4:19.

In yards, he has bests of 1:39.78 and 4:24.31 in the 200 and 500 yard freestyles, and he’s also been 3:49.33 in the 400 yard IM.

That 400 IM time puts him just about three seconds off of what it might take to score at NCAA’s as a freshman, keeping in mind that Georgia has won that event twice in the last few seasons.

Kevin Litherland also has a good 200 (1:40.31), but tends a little bit longer than his brothers. He’s been 4:23.30 in the 500 yard free and 15:20.32 in the mile. He’s also been a 1:49.20 in the 200 yard fly.

Mick Litherland is the best sprinter of the group. He has lifetime bests of 21.58 and 46.80 in the 50 and 100 yard freestyles, plus a 49.98 and 1:48.74 in the 100 and 200 yard butterflies.

The trio were all born in Japan; their father is a New Zealand-born chef, and their mother is Japanese. Though they moved here at three years old, they just became citizens this past summer, which allowed Jay to represent the United States at the Junior World Championships.