As the regular signing period for National Letters of Intent opens on Wednesday, Logan Graumann of the Blount Area Swim Team (BLAST) in Maryville, Tennessee has committed to Western Kentucky University.
Graumann comes from an area that has served the Hilltoppers well in the past – Maryville is only about a 20 minute drive from Lenoir City, which gave Western Kentucky their most famous swimmer, 2012 U.S. Olympian Claire Donahue.
Graumann is a swimmer who served her stock well by waiting until the spring to make a decision. After a lackluster junior season, she came back as a senior to drop half-a-second from her best time in the 50 free, where she placed 2nd (by .01 seconds) in a 23.46 at the Tennessee State Championship meet.
The next day, she took the state title in the 100 free with a 51.17, which marked a total of a one-and-a-half second improvement from her best time coming into her senior year.
Graumann should have an immediate impact on Western Kentucky in Conference USA. The Hilltoppers had a very young sprint group last year, but she’ll have an opportunity to swim on their “A” 200 and 400 freestyle relays from day 1.
Graumann is also a solid backstroker, with a 100 yard best of 56.79.
She swims for Maryville High School under coach Keith Lambert, and at BLAST under former Tennessee All-American Nolan Morrell.
Western Kentucky coach Bruce Marchionda is assembling another solid class for himself. Among the highlights in that group include Hannah Musser, a 51.0 sprint freestyler and a 55.1 100 yard butterflier; Canadian Haley Black, who is a 1:01.5 butterflier in long course; and Sydney King, who is a good middle-distance swimmer having been sub-1:50 in the 200 yard free. Black is a Canadian Junior National Teamer who toured to Australia with the squad earlier this year.
Logan Graumann accepts her gold medal in the 100 free at the 2014 Tennessee High School State Championship meet. Courtesy: Tom Graumann
WAY TO GO LOGAN – KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK !!!