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Benton Grutter, a 2023 Winter Juniors finalist, is headed to Chapel Hill next year, where he is set to compete for the University of North Carolina beginning in the fall of 2025.
“I am very excited to announce my verbal commitment to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill! Thank you to my family, friends, and coaches who supported me throughout my swim journey. GO HEELS!!!”
The Tennessee native currently swims year-round with McCallie GPS Aquatics, where he specializes in sprint free, fly and back.
A senior at McCallie School, a boys college-preparatory school in Chattanooga, Grutter has also been a key contributor for his school’s swim team for the past three years.
At the 2023 Speedo Winter Junior Championships, Grutter earned a second swim in both the 50 and 100 free. Posting personal best times in both races, he placed 17th in the 50 free (20.22) and 21st in the 100 free (44.73). Grutter also time-trialed the 100 fly, which saw him throw down a personal best time of 51.90.
Grutter wrapped up last year’s short course competition season with a strong showing at the Best of the South meet back in March. He placed 4th in the 100 back in a personal best time of 50.48, 5th in the 50 free in a time of 20.40 and 24th in the 100 fly in a new best time of 51.63.
Best Times SCY
- 50 free – 20.22
- 100 free – 44.73
- 100 back – 50.48
- 100 fly – 51.63
A Division I program led by head coach Mark Gangloff, UNC Chapel Hill competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference. At the 2024 ACC Championships, the Tarheels took 8th out of the 11 teams in attendance before sending six swimmers on to compete at the NCAA Division I Men’s Championships.
To make it back for finals at the 2024 ACC Championships, it took times of 19.68/43.31 in the 50/100 free, 47.19 in the 100 back and 46.76 in the 100 fly. Based on his current best times, Grutter would fall outside of these cutoff times, but he could still see improvement over the course of this year.
On UNC’s team itself, Grutter would have ranked 5th in the 50 free and 9th in the 100 free last season, although this will surely change some as we see how the roster shifts between last season and his arrival next fall.
Three other commits are currently set to join Grutter in Chapel Hill next season, as Granger Bartee, Sam Huggins and Julian Swiderski have also made their verbal commitments to join the Tarheels’ class of 2029.
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].
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