SwimMAC’s Kensley Merritt Verbally Commits to Auburn for 2020

Huntersville, North Carolina’s Kensley Merritt has announced her verbal commitment to Auburn University for 2020-21. She will take the baton from her older sister Jessica Merritt, currently a junior on the Tigers’ roster and slated to graduate in the spring of 2020. Kensley and Jessica have an older sister, Heather Merritt, who swam at South Carolina; their mother swam at Penn State.

“I chose Auburn University because of the balance between academics and athletics along with the instant connection I felt with the coaches and team! I fell in love with the campus and town the first time I visited and can’t wait to carry on the traditions already built! War Eagle!!”

Merritt is a junior at William Amos Hough High School and is a year-round member of SwimMAC Carolina. A USA Swimming Scholastic All-American, she excels in back and free and was a two-time finalist at 2018 Winter Juniors East, finishing 19th in the 200 free and 23rd in the 100 back. She earned PBs in the 50/200 free and 50/100 back at the meet. Her best 100 free and 200 back times come from last spring’s Greensboro Sectionals. Merritt competed in the 200 free and 100/200 back at Speedo Junior Nationals in Irvine last summer. She finished the LCM season with improved PBs in the 50/100/200/400 free and 50/100/200 back. In high school swimming, she was runner-up in the 100 back (54.45) and took 4th in the 200 free (1:49.21) at the 2018 NCHSAA 4A State Championships.

Merritt would have scored in the C final of the 100 back at the 2018 SEC Championships. Current sophomore Sonnele Oeztuerk, with whom she will overlap one year, was an A finalist in the 200 back and a B finalist in the 100 back. Merritt’s top 200 free and 200 back times are just a tick outside of scoring range at the conference level (it took 1:48.04 in the free and 1:57.00 in the back to get a second swim in 2018). Current senior Erin Falconer was the lone Tiger finalist in the 200 free at SECs; she also scored in the 100/200 back.

Top SCY times:

  • 50 back – 25.62
  • 100 back – 54.20
  • 200 back – 1:57.89
  • 50 free – 23.45
  • 100 free – 50.71
  • 200 free – 1:48.30

Also committed to the Auburn class of 2024 are Brynn Curtis, Colby Hurt, and Hannah Ownbey.

If you have a commitment to report, please send an email with a photo (landscape, or horizontal, looks best) and a quote to [email protected].

 

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Sunshine
5 years ago

Congrats Kensley!

About Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant is the mother of four daughters, all of whom swam in college. With an undergraduate degree from Princeton (where she was an all-Ivy tennis player) and an MBA from INSEAD, she worked for many years in the financial industry, both in France and the U.S. Anne is currently …

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