Duke had a great year in the 2011-2012 season, where they finished in the top 30 at the NCAA Championships as a team, even with their Olympic diver Nick McCrory taking a redshirt. Head coach Dan Colella was first rewarded with an expanded coaching staff – after entering last year with only two assistants, he’s now added Ben Grafchik and Jesse Moore to his on-deck crew.
Now, he’s been rewarded again in recruiting thanks to a verbal commitment from Kaz Takabayashi out of the SONOCO Swim Club under Bill Ball in Connecticut: the same club that produced swimmers like Eric Ress and Alicia Mathieu.
Takabayashi comes to Duke with bests of 49.54 in the 100 fly and 1:48.78 in the 200 fly, both of which should put him at the top (or in the least close to it) of the Duke butterfly group after School Record holder, and first-team All-American, Ben Tuber graduated last season.
In long course, Takabayashi showed his big-meet abilities, as he was one of the few swimmers at the meet who really came through on the biggest stage. He had only one swim there, the 200 fly, but he shone with a 2:02.04 that was not only a best time, but it was good enough to win the 7th heat and place him 43rd overall. That win came despite being the youngest swimmer in that heat.
Takabayashi could ultimately end up on at least the 800 free relay too, with a best time already of 1:42.60 from his sophomore season. There might be some untapped potential there, given that in that same period, he dropped two seconds in the 200 fly (but didn’t swim a 200 free at a taper meet in 2012).
