As cross-town Cal loads up their distance freestyle group, Stanford has responded this week by way of a verbal commitment from Danny Thomson, the top recruit out of the state of Illinois and the Hindsdale Swim Club.
Thomson is already an excellent distance swimmer, even from the collegiate perspective, with a 1650 best of 14:57.66 from this year’s NCSA Junior Nationals that would have placed him 14th at NCAA’s. In that race, he won by a dominant 16 seconds over Cal freshman Adam Hinshaw.
He also has a great 500 time of 4:21.04, which is an Illinois High School Record, and is a solid IM’er with bests of 1:51/3:54.
But those distance freestyles, where he will serve as a superb replacement for the graduating Chad LaTourette, are where he’s truly a star. His best mile swim last year was actually 3 seconds faster than that of Florida commit Arthur Frayler, who is the gold standard for distance freestylers in this class.
Thomson was a member of the USA World Junior Championships squad this past year, where he swam the 800 and 1500 frees.
