North Carolina may have taken a ‘pass’ on the All-North Carolina Invite this weekend, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t busy.
The Tar Heels added a verbal commitment from Ben Creekmore, a talented freestyler, butterflier from Wilmington, Delaware.
Creekmore, who up until his senior year trained at the Brandywine YMCA with Meredith Griffin, will now travel across the state line to the Upper Main Line YMCA in Pennsylvania with Glenn Neufield for his senior year.
Creekmore has an obvious standout time on his resume: the 200 free. There, his 1:36.86 from last April’s YMCA National Championship meet brought him home a gold, as did his 1:47.55 in the 200 fly.
Creekmore has been on top of a lot of podiums in the last year; in addition to that pair of YMCA National titles, he’s also the two-time defending Delaware state champion in the 100 fly, and the defending champion in the 200 IM. In those races, he has best times of 49.14 and 1:54.00, respectively.
Immediately, Creekmore’s 200 free will have the biggest impact on the Tar Heels. He should immediately be a part of their 800 free relay as a freshman, and an ACC scorer individually as well.
Given the success that the Tar Heels have had as of late with 200 butterfliers, don’t expect it to take long for him to have a conference, if not national, impact there as well. Among recent Tar Heels were 2013 USA Swimming National Champion Tom Luchsinger, who won that title the summer after his senior season; 2012-2013 freshman Ben Colley, who dropped three-and-a-half seconds in the event in his rookie campaign; and 2011-2012 freshman Dominick Glavich, who dropped three full seconds in his first year of college as well.
In addition to his work in the pool, Creekmore also currently serves as an athlete representative to USA Swimming from the Middle Atlantic LSC.
Congratulations Ben! Wishing you success!