Distance Freestyler James Don (2021) Verbally Commits to Army West Point

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Closter, New Jersey’s James Don has announced his verbal commitment to Army West Point for the 2021-22 school year. A rising senior at Northern Valley Demarest Regional High School, Don swims year-round for Scarlet Aquatics BMS Division and specializes in distance free and IM.

“I’m beyond excited to announce my verbal commitment to continue my athletic and academic career at the United States Military Academy at West Point. I would like to thank my coaches, teammates, family, and friends. #beatnavy”

This past high school season, Don won the 200 IM (1:53.76) and 500 free (4:35.09) at the Bergen County Meet of Champions. He went PBs in the 500/1000/1650 free and 100/200 breast at the 2019 EEX Holiday Classic in December. He won all three distance free events and came in 9th in the 200 free, 17th in the 100 breast, and 8th in the 200 breast. In January, he swam at 2020 PSS Knoxville and clocked a PB of 1:57.43 in the 200m free.

Top SCY times:

  • 500 free – 4:30.53
  • 1000 free – 9:14.20
  • 1650 free – 15:29.97
  • 100 breast – 58.57
  • 200 breast – 2:05.61
  • 200 IM – 1:53.68
  • 400 IM – 4:03.06

Don’s best times would have scored for Army in the mile (4th), 500 free (B final), and 200 breast (B final) at 2020 Patriot League Championships. It took 1:52.27/4:02.02 in the IMs and 57.50 in the 100 breast to get second swims.

Don would have been one of Army West Point’s top distance freestylers in 2019-20. He will overlap with rising sophomores Ford Blaylock (4:27.16/15:28.35) and Sean Dwyer (4:25.84) and rising juniors Jack Venker (4:32.48/15:40.38) and Kevin Lin (4:28.30) when he suits up for the Black Knights. He will join Ian Shahan in the class of 2025.

If you have a commitment to report, please send an email with a photo (landscape, or horizontal, looks best) and a quote to [email protected].

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Swimfan
3 years ago

I posted this on another commitment article:

Former NC State assistant Brandt Nigro is starting to pull in some good swimmers to Army. Looks like he is using NC State’s recruiting playbook by going after slew of sprinters with 1 or 2 distance studs.

It will be interesting if Army can challenge Navy in the future.

Congrats James Don!

About Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant is the mother of four daughters, all of whom swam in college. With an undergraduate degree from Princeton (where she was an all-Ivy tennis player) and an MBA from INSEAD, she worked for many years in the financial industry, both in France and the U.S. Anne is currently …

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