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Dan Ginaitis has announced his commitment to swim for West Virginia University beginning in the fall of 2026. He confirmed the commitment on SwimCloud, writing:
I’m beyond excited and grateful to announce my verbal commitment to continue my athletic and academic career at West Virginia University! Huge thank you to Coach Michael, Coach Brent, and the WVU staff for this amazing opportunity, and to Coach Todd and Coach Glenn. Most of all, thank you to my family for the constant support. Go Mountaineers!
Top SCY Times:
- 100 Butterfly: 49.00
- 200 Butterfly: 1:49.34
- 200 IM: 1:48.82
- 400 IM: 3:50.56
A senior at Marmion Academy in Aurora, Illinois, Ginaitis has been a member of the Cadets’ swimming and diving team since his freshman year. In addition to competing for his high school team, he currently trains year-round with the Academy Bullets, where he primarily specializes in butterfly and IM.
Ginaitis has dropped time each season of his career, and over the past 12 months has gone from 49.73 to 49.00 in the 100 fly, 1:50.92 to 1:49.34 in the 200 fly, 1:50.75 to 1:48.82 in the 200 IM, and 4:01.76 to 3:50.56 in the 400 IM.
All of his current best times stem from the Winter Junior Championships last week, where he finished 17th in the 400 IM, 24th in the 200 IM, 43rd in the 200 fly, and 48th in the 100 fly. It was his first time making a final at the meet, as in his debut in 2024 he touched 92nd in the 200 fly, 105th in the 200 IM, and 115th in the 100 fly.
Ginaitis has competed at the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) State Championships all three years of high school so far. His highest-placing individual performance came last year, when he finished seventh in the 100 fly (49.46). At the 2024 iteration of the meet, Ginaitis touched 10th in the 200 IM (1:50.75) and 14th in the 100 fly (50.15), a rise from his 21st-place (1:55.72) and 29th-place (52.33) finishes as a freshman. He has a chance to qualify for a fourth-straight year this February.
A Division I program, West Virginia competes in the Big 12 Conference, with the Mountaineer men placing seventh out of 10 teams at the 2025 Big 12 Conference Championships. The team sent one athlete, Owen Recker, to compete at the NCAA Division I Championships, where he finished 37th in the men’s 10-meter diving and 51st in the 3-meter diving.
At last season’s conference championship, Ginaitis’ personal best in the 400 IM would have ranked him 11th after prelims and into the ‘B’ final, just over two seconds shy of the 3:48.54 needed to make the top eight. It took times of 48.30/1:48.35 in the 100/200 fly and 1:48.08 in the 200 IM to qualify for the ‘C’ finals, meaning he’s less than a second shy in both the 200 fly and 200 IM.
With nine months to continue improving before arriving on campus, he could arrive as a triple threat for the conference meet. On the team itself, he would have ranked second in the 400 IM, fifth in both the 100 and 200 fly, and sixth in the 200 IM last season.
The team’s top 400 IMer, Danny Berlitz, has graduated, so Ginaitis and junior transfer Zsombor Bujdoso (3:50.53) will be pivotal for the team in both dual meet and post-season action.
The full list of recruits currently set to join Ginaitis in Morgantown next fall includes Jin Rossi, Jay Hickman, Rylan Sepulveda, Emre Zeytinoglu, Roman Torres, Carter Bradley, Kenneth McGlothen, and Owen Eisenhofer, all of whom should make for strong training partners over the next four years.
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