Hannah Ownbey of Greer, South Carolina has announced her verbal commitment to Auburn University’s class of 2024. Ownbey will join fellow commits Brynn Curtis, Colby Hurt, and Kensley Merritt in the fall of 2020.
“SO excited and humbled to announce my verbal commitment to further my swimming and academic career at Auburn University! I can’t thank my parents, coaches, and teammates enough for the constant support and encouragement throughout this journey. I can’t wait to be a part of the #AUfamily! War Eagle! #ThePlains #WDE 🦅💙🧡”
Ownbey is a junior at Riverside High School in Greer, and in three years of high school swimming she already owns four individual state titles. Most recently, Ownbey won both the 200 IM (2:02.72) and the 100 breast (1:03.42) at the South Carolina High School 5A State Championships in October. She anchored the winning 200 free relay and the runner-up 400 free relay. Ownbey won the 200 IM (2:04.67) during her sophomore year campaign, and the 100 breast (1:05.00) as well as both freestyle relay, her freshman year.
Ownbey does her year-round swimming with Y-Spartaquatics Swim Club. A USA Swimming Scholastic All-America, she swam the 100/200 breast and 200/400 IM, finaling in all her events, at 2018 Winter Juniors East. She achieved lifetime bests in the IMs. Last summer, she updated her long-course PBs in all four events at Speedo Junior Nationals. Ownbey best SCY breaststroke times come from 2018 YMCA Short Course National Championships, where she was runner-up in the 100 breast and took 4th in the 200 breast. She was also 4th in the 200 IM and 9th in the 400 IM at YNats.
It took 1:02.09 in the 100 breast, 2:13.59 in the 200 breast, 1:59.12 in the 200 IM, and 4:14.96 in the 400 IM to earn a spot in finals at 2018 SEC Championships. Auburn lacked depth in the breast and IM events at conference last year. Carly Cummings, as a freshman, scored in the B finals of the 100/200 breaststrokes, while Breanna Roman, then a senior, was a B-finalist in the 100 breast and a C-finalist in the 200 breast. No one scored in the women’s 200 IM and only Cummings scored (in the C final) of the 400 IM. This season, freshman Valerie Tarazi and sophomore Mcauley Parker rank second and third, respectively, behind Cummings in breaststroke events for Auburn. Senior Bailey Nero and junior Jessica Merritt are the top 200 IMers, while Nero and freshman Emily Hetzer lead in the 400 IM.
Top SCY times:
- 200 IM – 2:00.39
- 400 IM – 4:18.58
- 100 breast – 1:02.72
- 200 breast – 2:13.85
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs-ilP4nBazZtKAJ2fdJEmZv1HxMAyRpZ_DuWU0/
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].
