Vincent Walden from Crownsville, Maryland has announced his verbal commitment to North Carolina’s Wingate University for the fall of 2018. Walden, who swims year-round for Severna Park Stingrays, is homeschooled and does not participate in high school swimming.
Walden is a relative newcomer to swimming, having taken it up at the age of 13. Since then, he has improved in leaps and bounds as seen in this chart of his progressions through high school:
50 free | 100 free | 100 back | 200 back | |
2017 | 21.87 | 49.15 | 52.99 | 1:57.13 |
2016 | 22.88 | 51.02 | 55.35 | 2:00.10 |
2015 | 23.84 | 51.55 | 57.52 | 2:04.18 |
2014 | 26.74 | 56.81 | 1:05.51 | 2:33.28 |
Walden has had an even better trajectory in long course meters. This past summer he dropped well over 1 second per 50 in just about everything he swam, vis-à-vis the previous summer. At the Maryland Swimming Long Course Championships he was an A finalist in the 50 free and 100 back, a B finalist in the 100 free, 200 back, and 200 fly; and a C finalist in the 400 free and 200 IM.
The Wingate men’s swimming and diving team finished 6th at the 2017 NCAA Division II Championships.
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