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Las Vegas, Nevada’s Gabriel Manteufel has announced his intention to swim and study at Indiana University beginning in the 2026-27 school year.
“After careful consideration, I am ecstatic to announce my verbal commitment to Indiana University. First and foremost, I would like to thank God. I would also like to thank my family, my coaches on the Sandpipers of Nevada, and my friends; none of this would be possible without all of your support. I would like to give a special shout out to the Indiana coaching staff for such an amazing opportunity to be a part of the Indiana Swimming Legacy. Go Hoosiers!”
Manteufel is homeschooled and trains year-round with Sandpipers of Nevada. He is, by a large margin, the fastest distance freestyler in the cohort, and for that, we ranked him #2 on our Way Too Early list of top recruits from the high school class of 2026. He will join #14 Sam Wolf and “Best of the Rest” freestylers Brody Engelstad (sprint) and Cooper Zakorchemny (distance) in Bloomington in the fall of 2026.
Manteufel had a huge meet at California/Nevada Sectionals in December 2023, finishing 2nd in the 200 free and 1650 free and 4th in the 500 free, 1000 free, and 400 IM. He scored lifetime bests in the 200 free (1:36.64), 500 free (4:18.91), 1000 free (8:51.54), 1650 free (14:41.11), 100 fly (53.84), and 400 IM (3:51.11). His 1650 performance was the 2nd-fastest all-time among 15-16 boys in the U.S., and it would have been fast enough to score points for the Hoosiers at the 2024 NCAA Championships. Winning that mile, in 14:29.48 (which in fact would have won NCAAs), was his Sandpipers teammate Luke Ellis, an Indiana commit for the fall of 2025.
He later lowered his 100 fly time to 51.25 and picked up a new 100 back time (51.69) in February at the 2024 SAND Desert Committee Championships.
In long course season, Manteufel qualified for 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in the 400/800/1500 freestyle events (3:54.30/8:04.13/15:17.47) in the spring at PSS Westmont and MVN’s Swim Meet of Champions. At Trials, he placed 41st, 21st, and 18th in the respective events. He closed the summer with new PBs in the LCM 100 free (51.87), 200 free (1:50.01), 200 breast (2:21.83), 200 IM (2:08.88), and 400 IM (4:21.93).
Best SCY times:
- 1650 free – 14:41.11 (best in class)
- 1000 free – 8:51.54 (best in class)
- 500 free – 4:18.91 (best in class)
- 200 free – 1:36.64
- 200 IM – 1:49.90
- 400 IM – 3:51.11
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Guerra and hoosierdaddy died for Indiana swimming to succeed
If you weren’t a fan of Indiana when they got 4th at NCAAs, DON’T become a fan when they get 3rd 😈🔥😤
They’re not NC state though
Not just scoring points at NCAA’s, that 1650 time would have been 7th
That’s a Nasty 1650 time
on a side note: #5 Jason Zhao of the class of 2025 committed to Stanford a bit ago, he’s the 3rd top recruit from his club to commit there
Thought for sure he’d choose to go where no other Sandpipers have committed.And, hopefully he’ll do okay in a school setting given he’s homeschooled.
I think your concern is misplaced. There are about *4 million* homeschooled kids in the U.S. right now. Millions of homeschooled kids have succeeded in a collegiate “school setting” – including lots of college swimmers.
The data on homeschool kids in college is actually pretty positive. You could make a comment about every kid coming from a public school that would have more statistical justification. But then you’d look like a bigot.
Really seemed like he was gonna be a Longhorn, but congrats!
I think there are only two kids in Swimswam’s top 10 on the guy’s side that haven’t committed yet, that seems so wild to me. This has got to be the quickest class to commit to a program in recent years.
My bad, forgot about Tim Wu. So it’s Baylor Stanton, Tim Wu, and Albert Smelzer.
Not everyone has a fundamental obligation to become a Texas longhorn, goodness me Texas fans are giving cal fans a run for their money for being the most insufferable fanbase in college swimming
When Cal gets Baylor Stanton, surely their fans will retake the lead 🙂
and why not?
with likely looming cutbacks in the overall number of male swimming scholarships (thank you Grant House), wise for swimmers to secure their position sooner rather than later, even if only verbal at this time, rather than risk being caught without, with less aid, or having to go to a school not their first or second choice because the coach got tier of waiting and gave the scholarship to firm early commits.
If scholarships and/or roster cuts truly happen, these non-binding verbal commitments aren’t going to me much.
Agree, but, I assume a verbal non-binding commitment means more than no non-binding verbal commitment.
IU = Distance U in the late 2020s? Rapidly assembling a filthy distance/OW crew.
IU is probably the favorite to win a hypothetical NCAA OW title (Cross Country is an NCAA sport but OW isn’t? ok). Impressive pickups from Looze, Chitwood, and co
XC is different than just long track. “Track” goes up to 10K, which is the XC NCAA length as well. It’s probably comparable to a two mile/3300 in SCY, and if swimming added another D event it’d be the 1000. If anything, OW would compare to road races, and in that comparison it makes sense that NCAA has neither.
Open water swimming is also different than just long swimming. Like XC has hills and the like, OW can have currents, sighting, physical contact, drafting, etc.
and poo