Gunnar Bentz, who we ranked as the #6 recruit in the class of 2014, has made his verbal commitment to Dynamo East the Georgia Bulldogs this evening. He is at least the 6th Dynamo Swim Club senior to choose Georgia in the class of 2014.
Bentz should be a great fit at Georgia. On the one hand, he’s the type of IM’er/200 stroker that Georgia has been awesome with in the past few seasons, with NCAA Champions Chase Kalisz (2013 – 400 IM), Mark Dylla (2011 – 200 fly), and Bill Cregar (2011 – 400 IM). Going back further, Robert Margalis was a 2003 NCAA Champion in that same 400 IM).
Bentz, meanwhile, is the best long course IM’er in the class of 2014, and second only to Stanford commit Curtis Ogren in yards.
Bentz has been 1:45.17/3:45.80 in the 200 and 400 yard IM’s. That 400 IM time would have made him the first swimmer out of the B-Final at last year’s NCAA Championship meet, so two seasons later, he’ll surely be a freshman scorer.
Bentz’s success in the 400 IM is no secret. In yards, he has a US Open cut (the highest available) in the 200 fly (1:45.66), 200 breast (1:56.59), and the 200 yard back (1:46.05).
But his potential relay contributions are what make him even better for Georgia, given that despite their individual success, the Dogs are just now starting to put together really good men’s relays.
Bentz has been 55.0 in the 100 breast, 48.5 in the 100 fly, and 45.3 in the 100 free.
If that weren’t enough, he’s also been 1:37.0 in the 200 yard free and 4:26.8 in the 500 yard free; and as a sophomore in high school, he went a 16:27 in his mile freestyle at a meet that had no real focus or taper.
Simply put: the 6’4, well-built Bentz is a star, and has the potential to be an All-American in just about any event he chooses.
The IM’s, though, seem to be his real future. He was the Junior World Champion in both the 200 IM and 400 IM in long course this summer, including a championship record of 4:14.97 in the longer event. With the older generation of American swimmers starting to shy away from the 400 IM, Bentz and Kalisz could, as training partners, be the American representatives at the 2015 World Championships and/or the 2016 Olympics. Bentz’s time ranked him 19th in the world in 2013.
Among other programs Bentz visited included USC and Cal.
GO DAWGS! 4x200s relay will be sick fast for UGA men’s team like current women’s team. I also can see at least 3 guys making top 8 in men’s 400IM at the NCAAs near future. Coach Jack and coach Harvey will make that happen for sure.
The Hope scholarship is alive and very well. If you are a Georgia resident and meet certain criteria you, you can attend UGA free of any tuition expense. There are other state schools that are exceedingly cheap in-state on a relative scale — UT Austin for one. But no state has this overbroad free pass like Georgia. We have friends who moved to Atlanta in part because of this. On a relative scale you are right…this is a huge financial advantage over others, particularly private schools like USC or Stanford. Of course this says nothing more than a financial advantage…there are certainly other factors like the wow factor of a Stanford degree.
I remember one of the reasons UGA would be able to pull in a lot of the in state recruits was due to the Hope scholarship. Does anyone know if this is still in effect? If so, I’m sure it has an impact on how UGA can pull in so many of the best Dynamo swimmers with less money.
Ryan – the HOPE Scholarship is still in effect. Reports I’ve gotten are that many of these Dynamo swimmers that they’re getting are very, very good students, and so HOPE scholarships are probably playing a big factor.
Have to imagine that’s part of the reason why UGA’s swim team always ranks so high academically, in addition to athletically. It probably puts some schools at a disadvantage, but on the other hand, it rewards Georgia for recruiting high academic achievers, which to me seems like a good thing.
I write for 3 years that Gunnar Bentz is a future swimming star.
Georgia is a great choice.
He will have Chase Kalisz to push him in training.
Both will be ready for big things in 2016.
No way he is number 6. In terms of value, I’d put him at #2 behind Caeleb Dressel.
Klorn8D..,what?
Good idea, develop his long course potential at Georgia with Chase Kalisz, because he totally trains at UGA during the summer…lolz? Of course he’ll be at NBAC
I think swimming is a year round sport. I bet they train long course some at uga during the fall, winter and spring. Training well ALL YEAR will help anyone’s summer performance.
If I remember correctly, UGA put more undergrads on the World Champ team than any other team! That was long course. They probably have more on the National team too than any other undergrad program. That is based on long course too! Ha HA?
I’m speaking about the mens team?
they had 3 on the men’s team on world champs….any other undergrads have more HA?
Wait, SSwam has Mr. Bentz as the 6th ranked recruit? Sorry – he’s a tie for 1 with Dressel.
While I agree he is one of the three best swimmers in the class (with Schooling and Dressel) he is maybe not as useful as some other recruits in a college perspective as his events aren’t conducive to being a great relay swimmer