Aaron Apel of Scottsdale Aquatic Club in Arizona has announced that he is committing to the University of Georgia for 2017-18. Apel is a two-time USA Swimming Scholastic All-American from Pinnacle High School in Phoenix. As a freshman he placed fifth in the Arizona Division I State Meet, then came back to take third as both a sophomore and a junior, earning NISCA All-American honors each time.
Apel has been selected to the U.S. Junior National Team the last two years in a row, and was recently named to the USA Swimming 2016-17 18 & Under World 100 List for his 1500m free. He competed at U.S. Olympic Trials in the 400m and 1500m freestyle events and placed 50th and 33rd, respectively.
Apel capped off an excellent 2015-2016 swim year with personal-best times in the 800/1500m free at Speedo Junior Nationals, placing second in both events. He was fifth in the 400m free. The previous year he was national champion in the 1500m free, and top-5 in the 400/800. Apel has also competed three times at Open Water National Championships in both the 5K and 10K races.
His top times (SCY/LCM) are:
- 1650/1500 free – 15:13.28 / 15:17.60
- 1000/800 free – 9:09.28 / 8:04.75
- 500/400 free – 4:24.40 / 3:56.78
- 200 free – 1:40.27 / 1:54.26
- 400 IM – 3:59.55 / 4:40.62
- 200 IM – 1:53.74 / 2:09.83
Apel will head to Athens with the following Bulldog verbal commits: Camden Murphy, Greg Reed, Tal Davis, and Teagan Cheney.
Congrats to SAC senior Aaron Apel for committing to swim University of Georgia next fall! Go Bulldogs!! @UGASwimDive #SACNation pic.twitter.com/4LOFkg03S6
— Scottsdale Aquatic Club (@ScottsdaleSwim) October 26, 2016
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