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Alexander Rousseau has announced his commitment to continue his academic and athletic career at Northwestern University this fall. Rousseau is a native of Cary, North Carolina, and is a 2023 graduate of Cary Academy.
Rousseau, who only started swimming competitively in October of 2020, was not recruited coming out of high school. He opted to attend UNC this past year, while also continuing to train with his club team, the TAC Titans. He will arrive at Northwestern this fall as a sophomore academically, but still has four years of NCAA eligibility remaining.
Rousseau is the second member of his family to compete in his sport at the collegiate level. His father, Alex Rousseau, played water polo for UCLA. He went on to represent the United States at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics, and is now a member of the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame.
“I am excited to announce that I will be continuing my athletic and academic career at Northwestern University. Thank you to my coaches, family, and friends for their support on this journey. GO ‘CATS!”
Rousseau is a distance freestyle specialist with U.S. Open qualifying times in the 500 and 1650. At this spring’s TAC Titans States meet, he dropped almost 40 seconds in the 1650 to post a winning time of 15:19.84, as well as took He nearly five seconds off his best time in the 500 (4:25.19).
He kicked off his long course season this spring at Speedo Sectionals. His highest finish came in the 1500m, where he recorded a best time by over a minute en route to 5th (16:07.97). He also hit lifetime bests in the 200m free (1:55.71), 400m free (4:05.68), and 800m free (8:27.96).
Top SCY Times
- 200 free – 1:38.97
- 500 free – 4:25.19
- 1000 free – 9:27.73
- 1650 free – 15:19.84
The Wildcats finished 6th out of 8 teams at the 2024 Big Ten Championships this spring. Rousseau’s personal best in the 1650 as it stands now would have placed 16th at this year’s conference meet, putting him in a strong position to make an immediate impact at the conference level.
Andrew Martin was the Wildcats’ top finisher at Big Tens this year in the 1650. He finished 4th in 14:51.13, a time he later lowered to 14:47.66 at the NCAA Division I Championships (16th). Martin was a graduate student last season and will not overlap with Rousseau this fall.
Rousseau joins Wiley Spinner, Tristan Prizler, and Kyle Wang in Northwestern’s 2024 recruiting class.
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