Swimmer Javier Quiñones has decided to transfer after 1 season at South Dakota, and will now head east to attend Division I Oakland University in suburban Detroit.
Last year, as part of South Dakota’s runner-up team at the Horizon League Championships, Quiñones scored 21.5 points individually and swam on the team’s scoring 200 and 400 yard free relays. His top individual swim came in the 100 breaststroke where he was 5th in 55.26. That made him the only freshman in the A-final.
He’ll join an Oakland team where he will make a 1-2 punch with fellow sophomore-to-be Andrew Evans, who was the Horizon’s 4th-best breaststroker last season in 55.30. Quiñones will be the top returning breaststroker in the conference next season as the top 2 (including Oakland’s Tony Eriksson, 54.16) both graduate. He’ll also have a likely slot on the Grizzlies’ 400 free relay to start the season.
The Oakland men dominated the 2019 Horizon League Championships, beating runners-up Cleveland State by 220.5 points.
Quiñones, who committed relatively-late in his high school career, entered South Dakota with a lifetime best of 59.09 in the 100 breaststroke, which he managed to undercut by almost 4 seconds as a freshman.
As for the team he’s leaving, South Dakota, they still have plenty of breaststroke depth. Last season, including Quiñones, the team had 5 of the top 10 finishers in the event at the Summit League Championships, including a pair of freshman Jacob Leichner and Caden DeLay who were 9th and 10th, respectively. The other 4 breaststrokers in that group, led by rising senior James Ryan (54.91), are all scheduled to return next season.
Quiñones’ family lives in Stuttgart, Germany, and he attended high school at Papillion La Vista High in Nebraska.
That’s my guy! So excited for you! Happy you will be closer to your family. Big shout out to USD for giving Javi a great year and sorry to have to go. Family first. USD will do amazing things in the near future I am sure.