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Freestyler/IMer Aleksa Bobar of Serbia has committed to Northwestern University. He’ll join the program mid-year next season in January of 2020 and will be a freshman with the class of 2023.
I am honored and proud to announce my verbal commitment to Northwestern University. First of all, I would like to thank all the people who have supported me throughout the recruiting process and my whole swimming career – my family, coaches and friends. Secondly, I would like to express my gratitude to the incredible people from a world-class institution such as Northwestern who gave me a chance to live the dream of being able to train and compete at the highest level while getting the best possible education. NU′s swimming program, led by phenomenal coaching staff, is surely moving in the right direction and I will do my best to help this team flourish even more. No words can explain how excited I am to see what the future brings. Go ′Cats!
TOP TIMES (LCM/SCY converted)
- 50m free – 23.70 / 20.33
- 100m free – 50.12 / 43.11
- 200m free – 1:50.39 / 1:34.85
- 200m IM – 2:05.61 / 1:46.68
- 400m IM – 4:31.93 / 3:52.96
Bobar anchored the Serbian 4×100 medley relay at the 2018 Mediterranean Games in 50.09, helping them break the national record and win the silver medal. He also holds several Serbian age records, including the 18 & under 400 IM record.
At those Mediterranean Games last summer, Bobar was part of the silver medal-winning 4×200 free relay. He won bronze in the 100 free at the 2015 European Youth Olympics Festival and has won six bronze medals at the Balkan Championships.
Bobar is a great sprint free pickup, and he has potential in the IM’s as well. NU was led in the sprints by freshman Andrew Zhang (20.09/44.23), while sophomore Liam Gately led the way in the 200 free (1:35.17). Gately was NU’s only individual scorer in the 50, 100, and 200 free combined at the 2019 B1G Championships, but Bobar looks like he might be able to score in the 100 and 200 next season. His converted times would’ve landed him in the 200 free A final and 100 free B final, while he would’ve made the 200 IM C final.
Bobar is the latest in a huge class for the Wildcats. He will join fellow Europeans Sam Dailley (GBR) and Alessandro and Federico Burdisso (Italy), along with the rest of the class: Ben Forbes, Ben Miller, Ethan Churilla, Kevin Houseman, Marcus Mok, and Ryan King.
This class will have a huge impact on the 50 through 200 freestyle, where NU has needed to bulk up. Here’s a quick look at their sprint free talent incoming:
- F. Burdisso – 22.7/49.9/1:48.9 LCM
- Dailley – 24.0/51.3 LCM
- Forbes – 20.9/44.9/1:36.4 SCY
- Churilla – 20.3/44.8 SCY
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Federico Burdisso will be a huge factor, northeless not a SC specialist. But his main characteristic is that he’s fast, eager for PBs, every time he dives in the pool.
This class definitely seems better than OSU, Purdue and Michigan’s. Maybe even in contention with Indiana. Top 5 class and a team to watch out in the future.
Putting together one of the stronger classes in the Big10, no?
I would say so. They go fairly toe-to-toe with Michigan, OSU, and IU, and no B1G class has more than one of our top-20s. Michigan and IU are probably the top two, with NU and OSU not far behind.
Hard to gauge some of their LCM prospects, but Burdisso and Bobar are great snags (Burdisso is faster than Luca Urlando in the 200 fly LCM).
Houseman is the 5th-best 100 breaststroker in the entire NCAA incoming class in yards, by my count. Forbes had a nice 200 free drop recently.
No B1G class is really impeccable this time around, compared to previous years, or UVA/UT/Cal/NCSU. But for a team that is regularly ninth out of ten teams in… Read more »
Ya I would assume Burdisso is a top 20 guy. Other guys give them pieces for a good 400fr relay and 800 free relay. Houseman is a great get on breast… seems like they are really needing a backstroker. Mok is the Swiss Army knife, and King is their distance recruit. Top five class for sure, could be top four if they get a 48 backstroker? I’m with Braden, haven’t looked at OSU/Indiana/Purdue very hard, yet 😉
They turned down Jack Warden, a 48 backstroker who is going Ivy League.
Articuno — definitely. A great sprint breaststroker can be hard for a lot of times to find, and Houseman hit lifetime bests this past season I believe.
I think the additions to their sprint/mid-distance free will go a very long way, as the NCAA is all about relays as we all know. Without that base, you can have a few great individual swimmers but relays will lose points and there will be teams like Michigan/IU/OSU who have 2-3 guys each in A/B/C finals in the free events.
I wouldn’t be too worried about backstrokes yet. Ryan Gridley was 21.5/47.0 leading off medleys and had big drops as a freshman, so he could be better next year. They have… Read more »
He’s baaaaaack