Wichita Swim Club’s Ben Patton has sent a verbal commitment to Missouri’s class of 2023. A senior at Trinity Academy, Patton is the defending Kansas HS champ in the 200 IM and the 2018 runner-up in the 100 back.
I’m excited to announce my commitment to continue my academic and athletic career at University of Missouri! With the incredible coaches, amazing team culture, and great academics, I knew it was a perfect fit for me. I’m so blessed to have had the coaches friends and family who have helped me along the way. GO TIGERS!!
TOP TIMES
- 200y IM – 1:47.84
- 100y back – 49.28
- 200y back – 1:46.77
- 100y breast – 55.45
- 200y breast – 2:00.44
- 100y fly – 49.49
Patton is impressively versatile, making it no surprise that he excels most at the 200 IM. He’s also a strong sprint freestyler, having been 46.0 and 1:40.0 in the 100 and 200, respectively. In addition to his 2018 Kansas HS title in the 200 IM, he won the 100 back in 2017 as a sophomore and both the 200 IM and 100 back in 2016 as a freshman.
Missouri placed 5th in the cutthroat SEC at last year’s conference championships. Patton is currently less than a second off of the 1:46.99 it took to C final in the 200 IM at SECs last year. He will get a year of overlap with both Nick Alexander, an SEC A finalist in the 200 back and a B finalist in both IMs, and Daniel Hein, who made the 100 back A final and 200 back B final at SECs last year.
Distance freestyler Joseph Gutierrez and breaststroker/IMer Will Goodwin are both verbally committed to the Tigers’ class of 2023, too.
If you have a commitment to report, please send an email with a photo (landscape, or horizontal, looks best) and a quote to [email protected].
