Saint Louis, Missouri’s Phillip Willett has made a verbal commitment to University of South Carolina for the 2015-16 season. Willett wrote on social media:
“I went from that little Ozark kid who always wanted to race the biggest and fastest even if it meant losing, that kid who thought the 50 fly was a distance event, that kid who ate hotdogs and Doritos seconds before he stepped up on the blocks, that kid who was underestimated, the one who has been injured countless times, the one that has failed more than he’s won, and the one who never stopped trying. So here’s to all the tears cried in my goggles in the warm-down pool, all the laughs with all my friends regardless of where they are now, all the goals I’ve made, and all the goals I hope to achieve. This can be the last four years of my swimming career or the beginning of something bigger. Thank you to everyone who has helped me get to where I am. Excited to see what I can achieve as a Gamecock!!!!!!!”
Willett is a national-level breaststroker /IMer whose best times over the last two seasons include:
100 breast: 57.43 100m breast: 1:04.98
200y breast: 2:02.23 200m breast: 2:19.20
200y IM: 1:51.38 200m IM: 1:09.32
400y IM: 4:00.97 400m IM: 4:39.79
Willett is currently just outside of scoring range at SECs in his top events but given the drops he had in long course season, he is likely to be a great asset to the Gamecocks by the time he arrives on campus. Willett will join fellow commits Cody Bekemeyer and Jack Smith in the class of 2019.
