Pierce O’Grady To Join Older Brother Chris At USC For 2024-2025

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Pierce O’Grady of La Canada, California, has announced his verbal commitment to further his education and swimming career at the University of Southern California. O’Grady, a three-time NISCA All-American and two-time USA Swimming Scholastic All-American, currently attends La Canada High School and will arrive at USC for the 2024-2025 season.

O’Grady follows in the footsteps of his older brother, Chris O’Grady, who is a rising junior at USC. Chris O’Grady specializes in breaststroke and IM events, while his younger brother leans more towards middle-distance freestyle and butterfly.

O’Grady trains year-round with the Spartans of La Canada. He recently wrapped up his long course season at Junior Nationals, where he recorded his best finish in the 400m freestyle at 62nd with a best time of 4:03.48. He also raced in the 200m free (1:54.33) and 200m fly (2:11.60), with his 200 freestyle also marking a personal best. 

O’Grady represented his high school this spring at the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State Championships. He advanced to the A-final in both the 200 free and 500 free, where he ultimately placed 6th (1:38.38) and 5th (4:26.89), respectively, with both swims establishing new best times. 

Top SCY Times:

• 200 free – 1:38.38
• 500 free – 4:26.89
• 100 fly – 49.95
• 200 fly – 1:46.58

The Trojans finished 5th out of 6 teams at the 2023 Pac-12 Championships and placed 22nd at the 2023 NCAA Championships. However, by the time O’Grady is a freshman at USC, the Trojans will instead be competing in the Big Ten conference. 

The team’s top performer in the 200 freestyle this past season was Max Saunders, who posted a 1:34.19 in prelims of the event at Pac-12s. Leading the way in the 500 with a season best time of 4:22.68 was Vaggelis Makrygiannis, who is a rising senior this fall. Neither will be on campus when O’Grady arrives unless Makrygiannis takes a 5th-year. 

With his commitment, O’Grady joins Sanberk Oktar, Thomas Olsen, Cole Ballard, and Nathan Wu in USC’s class of 2028.  Oktar is a World Junior Champion from Turkey, while Olsen, Ballard, and Wu hail from the west coast. 

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