Delaware high school swimmer Tanner Kurz has been breaking records most of his life. He still holds two National Age Group Records in the 11-12 division in the 200 yard breaststroke and 100 yard IM. At one point, he held the 400 IM Record as well. In his three seasons of high school swimming, he has three Delaware HS Swimmer of the Year awards. He has at least four state high school records in – get this combination – the 50 free, 100 free, 100 breast, and 100 backstroke. And he’s got one more year left to see what else he can come up with.
Next fall, Kurz will hope to continue his record-breaking ways at Indiana after making a verbal commitment. CollegeSwimming.com ranks him as the 27th-best recruit in the country, though even that might undersell his versatility.
On the surface, he’s going to be a good freestyler (20.40/45.69) for Indiana, who is looking to add some more talent to the sprint relays, and a great breaststroker (54.64/2:02.13) who will push last year’s double Big Ten Champion Cody Miller in practice.
But realistically, he could swim about anywhere for the Hoosiers. He’s got a 50.29 in the 100 back, done as only a sophomore, and a 49.46 in the 100 fly, which was done mid-season. At last year’s Sectionals meet in Virginia, he swam a 1:51.23 in the 200 IM, but given his ability to rip each of the four strokes, one has to imagine that with some focus he could surely cut huge chunks off of that time as well.
Beyond that, this quote by highschoolsports.net, sums up the character that Indiana is getting in Kurz, who attends Delaware Military Academy, after last year’s State Championship meet: “I’m happy we did well as a team…I want to do everything I can to help my teammates in a meet.” That’s the sort of attitude that thrives in college programs.
