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Alex Ochsenbein from Lexington, Kentucky, has announced a change in commitment from Kentucky, to whom he had originally made a verbal pledge, to Missouri, for 2023-24.
According to his father, “Alex had some significant drops in time after his verbal to swim for UK and decided to de-commit and open up his recruiting again. After official visits to Missouri, Auburn, Miami of Ohio, and Cincinnati he signed his letter of intent to swim for Missouri.”
Ochsenbein wrote on social media: “Super excited to announce my verbal commitment to continue my career both in and out of the pool at Mizzou! I thank God, my family, coaches, and teammates for pushing me to become the athlete I am today. And with that said, Go Tigers!!!🐯”
A senior at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, Ochsenbein does his club swimming for Kentucky Aquatics and specializes mainly in breaststroke and IM. Six months ago, many of his lifetime bests came from the 2022 Southern Premier meet. At that meet, he qualified for the B finals in the 100 breast, 200 breast, and 200 IM and finished the meet with times of 55.17/2:01.55/1:51.51 in the respective events. At Winter Juniors East in December, he competed in the 50/100 free, 100/200 breast, and 200 IM. He finaled in the 100 breast (sixth) and 200 breast (tenth) and lowered his PBs to:
| Event | June 2022 | December 2022 |
| 100 breast | 55.17 | 54.41 |
| 200 breast | 2:01.18 | 1:58.98 |
| 200 IM | 1:51.51 | 1:50.20 |
| 50 free | 21.27 | 21.19 |
| 100 free | 46.67 | 45.66 |
| 200 free | 1:42.52 | 1:42.52 |
Ochsenbein had a big long course season, too, wrapping up at NCSA Summer Championships where he was runner-up in both the 100/200 breast (1:03.29/2:18.22) and placed fourth in the 50 breast (29.33), 12th in the 200 IM (2:08.75), and 21st in the 100 free (53.04). He earned a Summer Nationals qualification in the 100 breast, a Winter U.S. Open cut in the 200 breast, and a Winter Juniors cut in the 200 IM.
His best 100 breast would have scored in the C final of the 100 breast at 2022 SEC Championships but it took 1:58.13 in the 200 breast and 1:46.08 in the 200 IM to get second swims.
Ochsenbein will join the Tigers’ class of 2027 with Jaden Pospihil and John Watson.
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Arex is fast
i have no idea who this kid is but i think he’s going places. i can’t wait to see him winning NCAAs
As a witness to his greatness. This kid is something special and can do anything he puts his mind to. Congratulations!!!
The negativity towards the commitment change makes no sense. As a college athlete he should be wanting to go to a college that’s the most like family to him. Negativity towards someone who’s leaving his family to go to college and is looking to find a new one with the swim team is wrong. He simply found a better home at mizzou
It feels like just yesterday that I was beating him in the 25 backstroke and now he’s off to swim at Mizzou
To think yesterday my breaststroke was faster
I am Alex’s friend and there were many other factors that led to his switch. Other people de-committing from Kentucky and financials are some of them. He realized that Kentucky was no longer the best place for him, and I don’t think we should blame Alex for making the best choice for him.
To all the people talking negatively about the reason for the commitment change being time drops I just want to say a few things. for starters I believe the article was worded poorly. After dropping time Alex pulled his verbal to go see schools that didn’t give him a chance before hand to try and find a better fit. After visiting several schools he clearly found a better team and environment for his family at Mizzou. The commitment change wasn’t due to time drops, the drops simply allowed him to have more options than he had at the time of his original commitment. That is all.
Y’all acting like they made it up. It’s a quote from his dad.
Neither program is blazing. The Kentucky men are really rough right now. The women do great but the men are not good. It’s not like it was a huge upgrade. Probably just got more money.
I have a feeling this kid is gonna be great and is going places.
I agree