Fitter and Faster Swim Camps is the proud sponsor of SwimSwam’s College Recruiting Channel and all commitment news. For many, swimming in college is a lifelong dream that is pursued with dedication and determination. Fitter and Faster is proud to honor these athletes and those who supported them on their journey.
Atlanta, Georgia’s Connor Christopherson has announced his verbal commitment to swim and study at Stanford University beginning in the 2027-28 school year. He wrote on social media:
“I am honored to announce my verbal commitment to continue my academic and athletic career at Stanford University. I appreciate everyone who helped me get here, including my family, friends, teammates, and coaches Caleb, Will, Mike, Zac, and Loughran. A big thank you to Coach Dan, Coach Mike, and the rest of the Stanford team for giving me this incredible opportunity. Go Card! 🌲🌲🌲”
A top-tier sprint freestyler, Christopherson comes in as the #15 recruit on our Way Too Early list of top boys’ swimmers in the high school class of 2027. That gives the Cardinal, profiting wildly from the lack of budget restrains in the post-House world, their fourth top 20 –and sixth overall– swimmer for the men’s class of 2031. So far, they’ve collected verbal commitment from #2 Luke Vatev, #10 Owen Ekk, #15 Christopherson, #19 Yi Zheng, “HM” Jacob Bougaieff, and Soren Carlson.
Christopherson swims for Westminster School, where he is a junior, and SwimAtlanta. Beginning with Bill Behren’s Invitational and continuing through to the Best Of The South, he swam PBs numerous times over the course of the 2024-25 short-course season. In December, at Winter Juniors East, Christopherson notched lifetime bests in the 50 free (20.70), 100 free (44.39), 200 free (1:37.21), and 500 free (4:23.91). He lowered his 200 time in high school season at the GHSA 4A State Championships, where he won the 200/500 double with 1:36.45/4:27.11.
He ended the season with new times in the 50 free (20.11), 100 free (44.24), and 200 free (1:35.55) at Best of the Rest, finishing 2nd in the 200 and 3rd in the 50/100.
Christopherson had a stellar long-course season, culminating in all best times in the 50 free (23.50), 100 free (51.31), 200 free (1:50.31), 400 free (3:55.83), and 800 free (8:21.13) at Ocala Futures.
While we consider him mostly a sprinter, his strongest event is arguably the 200 (“the longest sprint”), which gives him the flexibility to further develop either up or down the range. Either way, he will be of value to Stanford’s relays and is already very close to scoring range at the conference level. It took 19.51/42.78/1:34.41/4:20.80 to get second swims in the freestyle events at 2025 ACC Championships.
Best SCY times:
- 50 free – 20.11
- 10 free – 44.24
- 200 free – 1:35.55
- 500 free – 4:23.91
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].
About the Fitter and Faster Swim Tour
Fitter & Faster Swim Camps feature the most innovative teaching platforms for competitive swimmers of all levels. Camps are produced year-round throughout the USA and Canada. All camps are led by elite swimmers and coaches. Visit fitterandfaster.com to find or request a swim camp near you.
FFT SOCIAL
Instagram – @fitterandfasterswimtour
Facebook – @fitterandfastertour
Twitter – @fitterandfaster
FFT is a SwimSwam partner.
Mike Stephens effect is real.
Stanford outrecruiting Cal on the men’s side was not on my bingo card
They are putting together a VERY good class so far
Go Card!!
Stanford is who UVA wanted to be
Stanford has NIL money + is Stanford
Virginia definitely has NIL money.
https://swimswam.com/virginia-mens-swimming-receives-2-2-million-gift-largest-in-program-history/
I think most top 25 programs have some NIL money. There are definitely mid-majors that have it too. Not at the same scale, but I know of at least one who has $5,000 to give.
Any idea what the current NIL rate is for, let’s say, a top 20 recruit to a major college team? I understand that if they bring Olympic or WC experience right out of high school it would be different to someone who doesn’t, but just an idea for the average recruit?
Top 3s with that Olympic/World Championship experience are getting multiple 6-figure offers. Most of the NIL rumors revolve around them. Extrapolating, the numbers seems to tail off pretty quickly beyond the true superstars of the classes. I don’t have an esimtate for what you described that I’m confident in, but it feels like $15-$50k.
We’re still at the point where coaches are lying and denying that it’s happening. “No we just educated these swimmers about the opportunities presented by the University of ________ and they agreed that it was a world class institution blah blah blah.” It’s classic swimming “we’re too good to get into the mud with that stuff” attitude.
“6 figure offers” covers quite a range of possibilities. Are we talking about $100k over 4 years or $999k per year? I’m guessing it’s much closer to the former than the latter, but it’s useful to know the relative scale and whether these are annual deals or offers that cover all 4 years.
Stanford has zero NIL money
weird considering Katie Christopherson swims for UVA
My brother and I didn’t go to the same college. WBU?
I was replying to the comment that reads ‘Stanford is who UVA wanted to be’ by getting a Christopherson. Great for them and him. Is that not what your article is about?
UVA has a Christopherson, and she’s doing great, too.
Not sure what the problem is or why the original post even mentioned UVA…
Sorry, when I read the comments on the back end they don’t always thread and sometimes they come up out of context. That’s my bad.
no worries at all. You weren’t wrong in your observation, just didn’t see the context! You guys do a great job herding all the comments.
You don’t go to Stanford to get better at swimming. You go there cause it’s Stanford and the job opportunities
You have former Olympians doing things like getting involved in the Enhanced Games for the pay check because after college swimming there are very few ways to parlay that into something you can support yourself with. If you’re going to college to swim and NOT thinking about what that school can do for you after you leave career wise, you’re being incredibly short sighted.
This x 100000. When you’re 30 and looking for a job, people reading your resume will think it’s interesting that you swam D1, and that it means you’re athletic and hard-working. But they won’t know or care who was top 3 in the NCAA in 2027. The college you went to carries a lot more weight; a Stanford degree is transformative.
Dang, Stanford can’t let Tenn have all the fun with recruiting