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YMCA of Rock River Valley’s Camden Taylor has announced his commitment to the University of Texas via Instagram. He’s scheduled to arrive on campus in Austin in the fall of 2023. In his Instagram post announcing his commitment, he wrote:
The day has finally come…
I am honored to announce my verbal commitment to further my academic and athletic career at the University of Texas at Austin. First, I would like to thank Coach Wyatt and Eddie for giving me this opportunity. Additionally, I am grateful to my friends, family, and coaches who have supported me throughout my swimming journey. Special mention goes to Coach Dan who has helped me tremendously the past 3 years. Lastly, the biggest shoutout goes to my mom, who has not only been my coach but also my biggest supporter. HOOK’EM!!🤘🤘
In addition to representing the Rock River Valley Stingrays, Taylor also competes for his high school, Rockford East High School. At the Illinois Boys’ High School Swimming and Diving Championships, he broke Ryan Held‘s championship meet record by a hundredth, rocketing to a personal best 43.72. The swim makes him just the fourth swimmer to go sub-44 at the meet.
In the last calendar year, Taylor has swum lifetime bests in SCY for all events raced in the NCAA at the Division I level except the 1650 freestyle. At YMCA SCY Nationals, he finished 2nd in the 200 freestyle (1:37.16) and 200 IM (1:48.09).
His late development has led to him becoming one of the best-remaining recruits in the class of 2023.
In December 2022, he competed at the West edition of Speedo Winter Juniors, his first time swimming at the meet. There, he placed 24th in the 200 free (1:39.00), 27th in the 200 IM (1:48.85), 35th in the 100 free (45.15), 38th in the 100 back (49.81), and 55th in the 50 free (20.85). Since then he’s bettered all the times he swam at Winter Juniors, except his 100 back, where 49.81 remains his personal best.
Best SCY Times:
- 100 freestyle: 43.72
- 200 freestyle: 1:36.39
- 500 freestyle: 4:33.68
- 100 backstroke: 49.81
- 200 IM: 1:48.09
For the Longhorns, his 100 freestyle time is perhaps the most intriguing. It would have put him seventh on the roster this past year, and is third fastest in the incoming class, behind only ranked recruits #4 Will Modglin and #5 Nate Germonprez.
Texas’ 400 freestyle relay lineup has historically been a last-minute decision at NCAAs, and Taylor could be part of providing some stability to that relay. Given that the Longhorns are potentially losing two members of that NCAA relay (Danny Krueger who just used his fifth year of eligibility and Caspar Corbeau, who has not yet announced plans to take a fifth year), the arrival of these three recruits provides a plethora of options.
Additionally, Texas has a reputation for developing middle-distance swimmers–seen recently in Luke Hobson‘s 200 and 500 freestyle NCAA titles–so watch for Taylor’s 200 and 500 times to drop once he starts training with the Longhorns.
Taylor will join the Longhorns’ class of 2027 with Modglin, Germonprez, Logan Walker, Will Scholtz, Brayden Taivassalo, George Flanders, and Finn Winkler.
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let’s goooo #hookem
Camden is a very important recruit for Texas because he adds depth in Texas’ weakest area, the 50 and 100 Free. Texas has no NCAA level swimmers whose best event is the 50 or 100 Free and you can’t compete for the National title without great 200 & 400 Free Relays. We are thrilled to have Camden join the Texas Longhorns and are wishing him the very best as a Texas Longhorn.
“Taylor will join the Longhorns’ class of 2027 with Modglin, Germonprez, Logan Walker, Will Scholtz, Brayden Taivassalo, George Flanders, and Finn Winkler.”
The weather in Austin is just getting better and better as the week goes on!
#HOOKEM
Slightly unrelated but IHSA finalist and rapidly improving sprinter Max Lestina out of New Trier recently committed to swim for IU in the fall.
Congratulations Camden!
He split 19.6 at Y nats, flying start, so he might be a good candidate to develop his 50 free.Lord knows UT needs help there as well.
Congrats! Hook ‘em!