Casey Cullen Commits to Auburn; Becomes 3rd Cullen Sibling to Commit to D1

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High school senior Casey Cullen from suburban Philadelphia has committed to swim for the Auburn Tigers next fall. She is the third Cullen sibling to commit to swim collegiately: her old brother Patrick committed to Boston College, though it appears that he never actually swam for the Eagles; and older sister Julia swam at Auburn’s rival school the University of Alabama, swimming her last meet in February 2019.

Cullen is a State Championship qualifier in high school swimming, having placed 4th in the 200 free and 5th in the 100 fly at the most recent AAA (big schools) championship in March.

Her best events, though, are not high school events. In May, she won the 200 fly at the Richmond Sectional Championships (2:14.18), and in August, she was an Eastern Zones champion in both the 200 fly (2:14.46) and 400 IM (4:59.36).

She raced in the 200 fly at the Olympic Trials Wave I meet in June, placing 5th in 2:13.38. That put her in 5th place and just-missed qualifying her through to the Wave II meet.

Besides the 200 fly, she also has Winter Juniors standards in both the 100 fly (1:02.74) and 400 IM (4:59.36) in long course.

Best Times in Yards:

• 100 free – 52.98
• 200 free – 1:50.65
• 500 free – 5:05.79
• 100 fly – 55.28
• 200 fly – 1:58.20
• 200 IM – 2:03.87
• 400 IM – 4:28.35

Cullen trains at Plymouth Whitemarsh Aquatics under Dick Shoulberg, who has trained a number of US Olympians – especially in the 200 fly/distance free/400 IM events where Cullen specializes.

Auburn is in rebuilding mode after having no NCAA Championship qualifiers on the women’s team last year. The program hired a new head coach, Ryan Wochomurka, in the offseason, who was a member of the team at Auburn during its heyday in the 2000s.

Cullen will be a significant contributor to that rebuilding effort, as she slots into races where the Tigers still have gaps. Her best time in the 200 fly is only .01 seconds behind Auburn freshman Avery Bargeron, who is the team’s fastest swimmer so far this season, for example. If she can continue to improve in short course the way she did in long course in events like the 400 IM over the summer (5 second improvement), that makes her an even-bigger asset to th Tigers.

She joins a nationally-recruited Auburn class of 2022 that includes Morgan Gore from California, Kyla Malone from Georgia, Ainsley Jones from Georgia, and Carly Sebring from Maryland. While Wochomurka has focused his men’s recruiting more regionally in the Southeastern U.S., including from the state of Alabama, he has reached to all corners of the country to assemble his next crop of women’s swimmers.

The class has been butterfly-heavy for the Auburn women. Gore (54.59/1:57.91) and Sebring (53.90) both count butterfly races as their best events, with Sebring specializing more as a butterfly/sprinter and Gore as a butterfly/IMer like Cullen. Maloney brings some versatility to that group as a primary backstroker (54.3/1:57.3), as does Jones (1:02.6/2:12.8 breaststroker).

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