Distance freestyler Thomas Bretzmann has made a verbal commitment to swim for the University of North Carolina beginning in the fall of 2018. Bretzmann is a rising senior at Chapel Hill High School, a mere 5 miles from his future college campus.
“I’m very excited to announce that I will be swimming with UNC next fall! I’ve looked up to them since I started at NCAC, and I couldn’t be more happy to finally be a part of the team”
Bretzmann is a rising star in the distance freestyle world; he has improved rather significantly over the past year. In high school swimming he is the reigning NCHSAA 3A state champion in the 500 free (4:31.90) and sixth-place finisher in the 200 free (1:43.01). As a sophomore at the 2016 NCHSAA 3A State Championships, he had been third and seventh in those same events, but with much different times (4:43.06 and 1:47.13, respectively). In club swimming, Bretzmann swims year-round with North Carolina Aquatic Club where he specializes mainly in events that aren’t part of the high school lineup. In March, he crashed the party on Day One at Greensboro Sectionals with an upset win in the 1000 free, dropping 13.2 seconds to win in 9:11.85. Bretzmann also won the 1650 free with a best-by-22 time of 15:25.88.
In May, Bretzmann participated in the 2017 Open Water Junior National Championship 5km, where he placed fourth, and in the 2017 Open Water National Championship 10km, where he finished 25th.
Top SCY times:
- 1650 free – 15:25.88
- 1000 free – 9:11.85
- 500 free – 4:30.23
- 200 free – 1:41.30
- 400 IM – 4:04.22
Bretzmann will join Norway’s Tomoe Zenimoto Hvas in the Tar Heels’ class of 2022.
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].
He’s an awesome guy and great teammate as we,l
Congratulations!