Dylan Carter this winter made probably the splashiest Junior Nationals debut that we’ve ever seen. The Davie Nadadores 16-year old was swimming his first career taper meet after moving to Florida earlier this year from his native Trinidad & Tobago, and proceeded to stamp his name on the National Age Group Record books in his first ever yards-course taper meet.
In his first race, the 50 free, he took 3rd overall in 19.94, which made him the third 16-year old to ever dip under 20 seconds. He missed the honor of becoming the second by mere minutes, as Bolles’ Caeleb Dressel was a 19.82 leading off their relay in the session’s opening event.
He then won the 200 free in 1:35.29, which is a new Winter Juniors record and broke the 15-16 National Age Group Record set earlier in 2012 by Michael Domagala, who will be a teammate of Carter’s at USC.
He was also a 43.83 in the 100 free, meaning he sits in the top-3 all-time in the age group in the 50-200 freestyles, plus has a 47.22 in the 100 backstroke! Only the great Ryan Murphy has been better in that race as a 16-year old!
Carter’s commitment is to arrive in January of 2014 for the Trojans. He will spend 2013 focusing on training for the Junior World Championships that will be held August 26th-31s in Dubai, UAE, and join USC mid-season next year.
How Dave Salo was able to squeeze another swimmer into this class and shift and dodge his scholarships around is a mystery only he may know. The Trojans only graduate 5 after this season, with the only real big star being Alex Lendrum; perhaps this is a sign that Vlad Morozov is thinking strongly about going pro after this season, which would free up a lot more money.
Peeling through the lists of swimmers who will join the USC roster in the 2013-2014 season shows that they’ve made a move from being a “very good, very top-heavy” team to a team with the depth to contend for national titles. Every single one of them is a bona-fied star, and they are all good to the point where if they’re not huge NCAA Championship meet contributors by the time they’re sophomores, at the latest, it would be shocking.
Santo Condorelli
Michael Domagala
Reed Malone
David Morgan
Steven Stumph
Dylan Carter
Yakov Toumarkin
Carter took visits to Arizona and USC, though he was also considering Michigan, Cal, and Louisville. He is coached by Alex Pussielidi, and is a dual United States/T&T citizen, though he competes for T&T internationally.
so what grade is he currently?
USC’s recruiting class is absolutely insane! Trojans will be competing for the National Championship Title next year…
IF, and I don’t know anything about his situation, he doesn’t have to worry about money, a semester without a scholarship (knowing $ is coming in the fall) would be an easy sell to me. Especially it I was swimming for someone like Salo, who has shown results over all courses, distances, and strokes. If you get to the core of a swimmer and they are all about team and team success, championships AND money isn’t an issue for a family, your job is a lot easier to get that kid. Getting a teenager to weigh the costs and benefits of future success is a tool I’m sure the best recruiters can and will use. I know I would have paid a semester or years worth of tuition knowing my future could be brighter. What’s a national championship worth to you? World championship roster spot or medal? Olympic roster spot or medal?
would it still be an easy sell when a semester of Tuition is $21k..plus room and board is over $30k total
Your math is off on the first 16 year old under 20 seconds. That title is held by none other than Vladimir Morozov. 19.96 (5/16/2009)
http://www.socalswim.org/records/recordslist.aspx?agegroup=4&ReturnUrl=/default.aspx
You’re right Chunks…guess I should’ve specified as being among American citizens. Vlad did it first though.
Am I the only one who thinks this kid (and the kid to his right) look more like 30 than 16? Heck, my adult sons (who are both older than 30) don’t have facial hair like that, particularly the kid with the full beard on the end. LOL!
I’d say that the guy on the left of the photo looks more like a prop in rugby than a swimmer. He is physically impressive and hasn’t the usual body of a swimmer. I presume he’s a sprinter. He remembers me Felipe Silva of Brazil, a little big man in the water.
That’s Roberto Gomez, 2012 Olympian for Venezuela and former Florida Gator.
I thought the exact same thing. Amazing how mature these “kids” look. Looks to me like their growth potential has pretty much already occured.
Agreed. I thnk Dylan looks like he’s 22 as well. Big boys
How many of those recruits are foreign?
Just Carter (kinda) and Toumarkin, and Carter is a dual citizen with T&T and the United States.
Dylan Carter is actually the second from the left (with the Davie Cap infront of him) 2nd from the right is Daniele Tirabassi. He is currently a senior.
I was actually referring to the kid with the beard, who is the “one to the right ” of Carter, not the one who is “on the right” OF the picture. And now we know who that is thanks to SwimPrincess.
And I agree with Bobo – looks more like a rugby player than a swimmer (or like one of those 13 yr. old Little League ball players from the Dominican Republic…….)
Tirabassi is like 25.
Just to be clear, Tiribassi is about 23 years old.
You are kidding about shifting schollies around right? It’s called private school, and just like at Stanford, if they want you there, then tuition is “waived,” aka academic and need-based scholarships. Many friends have taken advantage of such in swimming and water polo. As a high school and club coach of both sports I’ve sent boys to many private schools on that arrangement, including several to u$c and Stanford. I didn’t think this was a secret, much like federal and state grants cover many at public schools that are not on schollie – except those really are strictly enforced as need-based regardless of athletic ability, as well as being dependent on residency. This is why it’s always impressive to me to see the state schools compete and win, even dominate, in Olympic sports; where of course there are schollie limits far below roster size, unlike football and basketball. For example, $c is dominating polo with 40+ man rosters at the moment. Of course it doesn’t hurt that Jovan Vavic is an other-worldly coach. The Durden of NCAA water polo. Gotta give some respect where due, even if I don’t like that one particular part of his tactics
Hi PeeterDeeter,
Normally I wouldn’t comment in response to another person but you seem to be serious with your insinuations. I am a swimmer at USC and I can personally guarantee you that we are not “waiving” scholarships for anyone. We have 9.9 scholarships for men and 14 for women per year. Water polo has 4.5 scholarships for the men and 8 for the women. These statistics can be found at http://www.trojanathleticfund.com. I find it incredibly rude of you to insinuate that USC and Stanford are handing money under the table to student athletes. This is not only rude to the institutions but also takes away from the work that the aquatics participants at Stanford and USC put in each and every day. Perhaps it didn’t occur to you that some people would go to a school and play a varsity sport without a scholarship. I have a partial academic scholarship to the University of Southern California and am offended that you would imply I did not earn it. I also have many friends who are able to attend USC through financial aid. Financial aid is not a fund for athletes to get into schools – it is 100% the same process for all students. That you would imply that need-based financial aid is a sham is sickening. Instead of degrading schools, coaches, and student athletes on swimming networking sites you should just keep your untrue and detrimental opinions to yourself.
CaryWright,
I agree that many times PD can be a little inflammatory but I also think you might be a tad naive if you think that what he talks about doesn’t go on. Even in swimming.
“tad bit inflammatory” thanks Mark, that’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me
If anything USC is under more scrutiny by NCAA Compliance because of past football infractions. With Pat Haden as AD all the sports toe the line. As USC is private there’s no “in state ” tuition preference like at State schools so can’t go down that road.
You should bring this up with your coach, who offered exactly what I speak of to, yep you guessed it, yours truly. Congrats on snagging a partial, certainly isn’t easy, and all kidding and rivalry aside, I want to be clear that being a part of NCAA swimming is a huuge accomplishment in and of itself. It is a sport very far along in its evolution, and is as competitive – or more so – than any sport in the world. Just look at the numbers of participants(most populated sport in the world by comfortable margin; this has been debated many times before and numbers bare that out), and hang your hat on where you’ve gotten yourself. But don’t for one second close your eyes to the world around you. It’s not actually true that ignorance is bliss. thats a cruel joke. Answers and the search for and arrival at truth is bliss. Oh, so is putting down your rivals and defending your alma mater’s honor regardless of how or how often or how overboard! Cheers
And I hate to bring this up(no i dont), but if you normally “wouldn’t comment in response to another person,” who or what is it that you comment in response to? That kind of threw me for a loop right off the bat. People are your friend, and generally love commentary. I mean look how fun this board is, and hundreds and thousands of other online communities are, and blast some comments off! Or not, good luck at NCAAs either way Cary – you guys thinking top 5 this year?
Unless its changed since I went thru recruiting at Stan, if u are accepted there and ur family has income of certain lower levels u got tuition waived because they hv so much in endowments. There was no such program at USC. Kids want to go to USC because not only is it academically at a very high level as well as their sports but there also actually hv fun at USC. Ask anyone who goes to USC, they love it!
I can tell you with great certainty that USC has the same set up as Stanford. “Packages” which include all kinds of “aid” to offset tuition AND fees and the $$$ comes from all kinds of sources, including the Federal Government in the way of “grants” for need based reasons (which means lower income) are offered to recruitable athletes. Oftentimes, these “outside” sources of $$$ are much greater than the $$$ which is offered under the 9.9/14 scholarship structure as defined by the NCAA. This information was as of the 2012-2013 season.
Need based aid such as Pell Grants and Cal Grants are NOT countable per the NCAA, but many other “scholarships” and “grants” ARE countable against those 9.9/14 athletic scholarships available for use by schools to attract top-level athletes. The advantage USC/Stanford and other “private” schools have that the publics do not is just what PeeterDeeter described, AND they employ a lot more people on their finanical aid staff to “work the numbers” to get things to “fit”. If Carter’s family is on the lower-income side, they could virtually bring him in with NO athletic scholarship money and all financial aid, saving those 9.9 scholarship $$$s for his teammates which do not come from lower income families and he could go to USC and/or Stanford virtually “for free”. And, since every college athletic scholarship is renewable year by year, someone on a partial can lose some or all of their $$ in successive seasons if they are outperformed by someone such as Carter in-season after they arrive. These are the facts – pretty or not. It’s also about how “creative” a college coach can be and the resources they have available at their disposal to implement that “creativity”. This is where the private schools have the advantage.
Naïveté is fun, ignorance is bliss, I bet you’re so perfect, that you don’t piss
If it were true, youd never know it, you’re just too busy, pretending you don’t $***.
I couldn’t help noticing, a bit of commotioning, perhaps you should put your mind back, on your sun-tan lotioning
But if you insist, on chiming on this, I can chime back, your views are amiss.
Take hook line and sinker, no rules ever get tinkered, but don’t be surprised, when the stink gets called stinker.
The funding is there, don’t get it wrong, just follow the crumbs, try to put down the bong
Take a deep breath, earth to your mother, dont volunteer to pay, when the option is other.
So in the end, $c’s on the mend, and that’s great for swimming, both women and men
But don’t kid yourself, Ucla’s on the shelf, ’cause they can’t cook the books, and lie to themself.
Thought I’d go w Dr Seuss theme to get on the level of our tommy Trojan friends here. Didnt know how to impart “wise-ass-dom” in coloring book form.