#5 Recruit Camille Spink Swims 6 Lifetime Bests, Commits to Tennessee

NOVA Senior Classic Invitational

• October 29-31, 2021
• Regency Square Aquatics Center, Henrico County, Virginia
• Short Course Yards (25 yards), timed finals
• Results (PDF)

High school junior Camille Spink, the #5 recruit in the high school class of 2023, lifted her already-soaring recruiting stock even higher over the weekend at NOVA of Virginia’s invitational meet.

On Wednesday, days after her outburst, Spink committed to the University of Tennessee – though we don’t know in which order her private commitment came.

Author’s note: Spink announced her commitment after I started writing this article but before I finished it. Her formal recruiting announcement article is coming soon.

Spink was already the fastest 50 and 100 yard freestyler in the class. Now her best time in one of those races is even faster: In the 50, she dropped from 22.55 to 22.38 over the weekend. That time would have qualified for last year’s NCAA Championship meet and tied for 26th place at that meet.

But beyond the 50 and the 100 (where her 48.93 tied her lifetime best), Spink’s swimming also enhanced the depth of her resume.

Spink’s Weekend Results:

Notably, she dropped two seconds in her 100 yard breaststroke. Not by coincidence, she improved her 200 IM best time by two seconds as well – with 1.45 seconds of that difference coming on the breaststroke leg.

Spink wasn’t the only swimmer who put up best times at what turned out to be a very fast meet.

Other Highlights:

• 13-year old Allison Vernon, a middle-schooler at Quest Swimming, swam 5 lifetime bests of her own. That includes a 23.98 in the 50 free, 52.54 in the 100 free, and 1:54.57 in the 200 free. Those times rank her #2, #4, and #4, respectively, in the country among 13-year olds this season. She also swam best times of 58.51 in the 100 back and 58.56 in the 100 fly.
• High school senior Zoe Dixon, a Florida commit, swam best times in the 100 free (50.80), 500 free (4:51.47), and 1000 free (10:12.84). Dixon didn’t win any of those races, but did pick up victories in her specialties the 100 fly (54.56) and 200 fly (1:58.28). This is her first meet back from competing with the U.S. Junior Team at the World Cup stops in Berlin and Budapest in October.
• NOVA’s Elle Scott, a high school freshman, swam a whopping 6 best times at the meet: 1:53.78 in the 200 free, 10:49.66 in the 1000 free, 57.66 in the 100 back, 1:03.25 in the 100 breast, 56.45 in the 100 fly, and 2:05.74 in the 200 fly. She’s always been a good breaststroker, but this takes her versatility to a new level – especially in the 200 free, where the swim was 7.5 seconds better than she was at this same meet last year (which was her previous personal best).
• Stanford commit Sophie Duncan swam best times in some off events: 1:04.94 in the 100 breaststroke and 2:18.86 in the 200 breaststroke.