ASU Gains Class of ’22 Verbals from Khalil Fonder, Eddie Michael

Arizona State has brought its total incoming class of 2022 to three with the additions of Virginia Gators’ Khalil Fonder and Ohio State Swim Club’s Eddie Michael.

KHALIL FONDER

Fonder hails from Virginia, a current junior at William Byrd High School in Vinton, VA. He trains club with the Virginia Gators, and was quoted in an article with The Roanoke Times saying that ASU was “always the No. 1 school” that he wanted to attend.

A double Virginia 4A HS State champion this past February, Fonder excels in sprint butterfly and backstroke. He was 48.41 in the 100 fly and 49.52 in the 100 back to win those 4A titles earlier this year.

Top Times

  • 100 fly – 47.63
  • 100 back – 48.46
  • 200 fly – 1:47.13
  • 50 free – 20.71
  • 100 free – 44.57
  • 200 free – 1:39.20

The Sun Devils, who have gained legitimacy as a program since Bob Bowman’s arrival as head coach, are certainly in need of sprint speed as a heavy senior class just exhausted its eligibility. Fonder will address that need immediately, especially with his butterfly speed.

EDDIE MICHAEL

Coming out of Ohio is Eddie Michael, a junior at Dublin Coffman High School in Dublin, OH. Michael is a sprint freestyler who trains with the Ohio State Swim Club.

“I am beyond excited to announce that I have committed to Arizona State University to further my academic and athletic career! Can’t wait to be a Sun Devil.”

Michael finished 3rd in the 100 back and 4th in the 100 free at the 2017 Ohio D1 HS State Championships. He also led off Dublin’s 200 free relay (21.07) and anchored their 400 free relay (44.62)

Top Times

  • 50 free – 21.07
  • 100 free – 45.35
  • 100 back – 50.40
  • 200 back – 1:50.47
  • 100 fly – 50.96

Michael will add depth to the ASU program, which has many swimmers who excel at free, back, and fly simultaneously.

Those three strokes are common in ASU’s class of 2022, as the other member besides Fonder and Michael is Cody Bybee, a fantastic sprint freestyler and butterflier who is also solid at backstroke. Bybee also hails from Ohio, like Michael, along with incoming ASU freshman Grant House.

 

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Swim Fan
6 years ago

Keep in mind that full ride can also mean a combination of athletic AND academic scholarships.

Dawgpaddle
6 years ago

Full ride can mean; Tuition and fees, Room, Board and Books. It can also mean Full Tuition scholarship. It can also mean “Full Ride as determined by coach speak”. Some programs define full ride for their program as Tuition and Books. Regardless this young man is excited about his choice and it is always great to see the print media give some press to our sport and athletes.

Swim Fan
Reply to  Dawgpaddle
6 years ago

Keep in mind that full ride can also mean a combination of athletic AND academic scholarships.

SpeedRacer
6 years ago

The rest of the comments Fonder made to the Roanoke Times are slight cringe worthy. Not sure any coach wants dollar amounts to be publicly discussed. Makes negotiations a bit more difficult when the assumption is you are willing to allot X for such and such times. Finally anyone already on the team but is getting less might not have open arms for the kid once he gets there. Happy for you but man those comments were not smart.

Uberfan
Reply to  SpeedRacer
6 years ago

Sauce?

Watcher
Reply to  SpeedRacer
6 years ago

More than slightly cringe worthy. Not the most intelligent things to say once let alone two or three times.

Caleb
Reply to  SpeedRacer
6 years ago

I do not understand this line of thinking at all. The kid said he got a full scholarship. What’s cringe-worthy about that? Persionally, I appreciate his straightforwardness. He didn’t say anything critical or embarrassing about himself, Bowman or ASU.

Sccoach
Reply to  Caleb
6 years ago

I agree with this, all kids talk about their scholarship whether or not it’s to a newspaper. It doesn’t effect ASU’s negotiations at all. If Bob doesn’t want to give a kid with similar times a full scholarship then he doesn’t have to. Scholarships are offers, not negotiations

Admin
Reply to  Sccoach
6 years ago

I think it’s also important to point out that transparency in most parts of the world is seen as a good thing – no reason scholarship negotiations should be any different. Why shouldn’t a kid with better times know that he’s getting an inferior offer? Not fair to the athletes to be operating in a black box when the coaches already hold most of the cards.

Uberfan
6 years ago

That 47 fly is pretty darn good

Dr. Knowles
6 years ago

You put some more lean muscle and get a little better technique and he’ll be a 42 low

About Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon studied sociology at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, graduating in May of 2018. He began swimming on a club team in first grade and swam four years for Wesleyan.

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