Top 20 NCAA Swimming Recruits in the Boys High School Class of 2020

It’s that time of year again where we at SwimSwam rank out the top 20 high school swimming prospects in the upcoming NCAA recruiting class.

As college recruiting has reached earlier and earlier into high school classes, we’ve continually expanded our recruiting ranks and coverage. Last spring, we ranked out the then-sophomore class for the first time. This is essentially a re-rank of that class, taking into account a year of improvements. Stay tuned to our recruiting channel for more additions to our yearly recruiting coverage:

  • Boys & Girls ranks for current juniors – high school class of 2020 (updated rankings from our “Way Too Early” rankings last spring)
  • Way Too Early ranks for current sophomore boys & girls – high school class of 2021
  • Re-Rank of outgoing senior boys & girls – high school class of 2019

Further reading:

So without further ado, let’s take a look at this class as a whole, then review our ranking methodology (please read it before you get upset about how low the top miler is ranked!) and get into our rankings.

THIS CLASS

  • Outstanding class at the top
  • Lots of international/long course experience
  • Great IM class
  • Sprint freestylers have taken huge steps forward since last year
  • Still a little thin at fly and breast, though it’s filling in
  • A lot of one-event standouts lower in the class

Last year, we called it a “spirited battle” for the #1 rank, and though the names have changed, that holds true this year. Carson Foster remains our #1, but Luca Urlando has made a massive charge to put the two in basically a dead heat for the top spot. When things get close, we like to lean on data to help us see differences more clearly; in this case, the data only made things fuzzier. With their best times in their top 3 events, each would have scored about 18 points individually at 2019 men’s NCAAs. As far as relay value goes, Foster has a slight edge in the 100/200 free, but Urlando is probably a slightly better value in the 50/100 fly than Foster is in the 50/100 back. They’re pretty much a wash in the 50 free.

Those two characterize the top of the class pretty well: big long course talents with international experience for Team USA. In fact, 8 of the 20 members of last summer’s 2018 Junior Pan Pacs team appear in our class ranks for this list. While our recruiting ranks do take long course times into account at some level, we’re projecting the best NCAA (aka short course yards) values, so all of these swimmers have transferred their speed over to the short course pool at least fairly well.

It’s hard to find high school IMers anywhere near striking distance of NCAA scoring times. For whatever reason, it feels like the IM events take a lot more development to become an NCAA contributor. This class is an anomaly. Foster and Urlando are both NCAA-scoring level IMers already, and there’s lots of depth and upside behind them.

Last year, we noted the depth across the board in all of the freestyle events. That remains true. In particular, the sprinters in this class have stepped up big, going from a class that was deep but without major standouts to a deep group headed by four or five guys who look like true NCAA stud sprinters in the making.

The class is very good at backstroke, but is a little more thin in fly and breast. The breaststrokers in particular are improving pretty fast, though.

Last year, we noted how many swimmers had one standout event, without a lot of range or versatility yet to back it up. At the time, we chalked it up to ranking sophomores who were younger than the recruits we typically rank. But a year later, it’s looking more like a specific characteristic of this class. There are a bunch of guys just off our list who have one true standout event, but not enough support events to make the list: Matthew Jensen is 43.8 in the 100 free but only 20.8/1:38 on either side of it; Justin Fleagle is 19.9 in the 50 free but only 45.1 in the 100; Holden Raffin is 1:43.3 in back, but only 48.0 in the 100; Sean Faikish is 1:44.8 in the 200 IM without any other really noteworthy times. For coaches, that means lots of opportunity for breakout college swimmers – these guys have all shown serious flashes of talent that should continue to come around with one more year of high school and four years of college swimming remaining, even if they don’t have a portfolio strong enough to crack the top 20 at this point.

Top Times in the Class of 2020
50 Free Matt Brownstead 19.55
100 Free Adam Chaney 43.00
200 Free Carson Foster 1:32.99
500 Free Jake Magahey 4:14.61
1000 Free** Ethan Heasley 8:50.51
1650 Free Jake Magahey 14:51.54
100 Back Luca Urlando 45.66
200 Back Carson Foster 1:40.07
100 Breast Forrest Frazier 52.51
200 Breast Ethan Dang 1:55.26
100 Fly Luca Urlando 45.62
200 Fly Luca Urlando 1:40.91
200 IM Carson Foster 1:42.54
400 IM Carson Foster 3:40.86

**The 1000 free isn’t an event at the Division I NCAA Championships, but is swum instead of the 1650 in many Division I dual meets and is part of the NCAA program in Division II.

THE METHODOLOGY

Our goal in these rankings is to reflect what college coaches look for in recruits, based on many years of conversations and coverage.

We focus only on American-based athletes, simply because there is so much uncertainty with international recruits – if they’ll come to the states, when they’ll come to the states and with what graduating class they should be ranked. Projecting international recruits often becomes more a discussion of when they’ll first join a college program and not which program they’ll join.

A few other factors that weigh heavily in our rankings:

  • Relay Value – Relay points count double in college swimming, and any program needs a strong stable of quality sprinters to fill out all 5 relays with studs. Obviously, a special distance swimmer can easily rank ahead of a very good 100 freestyler, but college swimming generally values a sprint freestyler over a distance swimmer, all other factors being equal.
  • Improvements – Actual times are a the trump card, but any big improvements in quality can make a difference as well. For example, a swimmer who only took up year-round swimming as a junior in high school going the same time as a swimmer whose been swimming year-round since they were 8 will probably get the edge in our rankings. Think Breeja Larson.
  • Short Course over Long Course – we recognize that some programs, many programs, put their focus with their high school aged swimmers on long course, especially depending on when the high school championships may fall. That said, college swimming is short course, so a swimmer who is great in short course but struggles in long course will have the advantage over the reverse.
  • NCAA scoring ability – NCAAs are the big show for college teams, so we’ve weighted NCAA scoring potential very highly. Swimmers who already have NCAA scoring times wind up mostly filling out the top our of rankings. Since college athletic directors – and by extension coaches – also place high value on conference championships, scoring ability at conference meets is also a factor in our rankings.
  • Relative depth in the NCAA and recruiting class – a wealth of elite depth nationwide in one stroke discipline makes a big difference in what times are considered more valuable in that event. Events rise at different rates in the NCAA, but when one event gets extremely deep and fast at the college level, it makes high school prospects in those events a little less valuable, relatively, with lots of other veteran options. In the same way, a recruiting class stacked with swimmers in butterfly, for example, would make each butterflyer a little less sought-after in the market, with lots of other recruiting options able to provide similar production.

Of course, there’s no way to predict the future, and the most concrete data we have to go on are cold, hard times. These rankings in no way mean that all of these 20 swimmers will be NCAA standouts, and they certainly don’t mean that no swimmer left off this list will make big contributions at the NCAA level.

With that out of the way, let’s get to our rankings.

Disclaimer: there are a lot of high school seniors in the country, and no really good, complete, 100% accurate listing of them all. If you don’t see your favorite swimmer on the list, feel free to politely point them out in the comments. There’s a chance that we disagree with your assessment of their spot in the top 20, and so long as it’s done civilly, there’s no problem with differences of opinions. There’s also a chance that we’ve simply missed a no-brainer (we’ve taken every precaution to avoid that), and if that happens, we want to make sure we correct it.

TOP 20 SWIMMERS FROM THE CLASS OF 2020

1. Carson Foster (Previous Rank: #1) – Mason Manta Rays – Sycamore High School – Cincinnati, OH **Verbally committed to Texas**
Best Times: 400 IM – 3:40.86, 200 IM – 1:42.54, 200 back – 1:40.07, 100 back – 46.28, 200 free – 1:32.99, 100 free – 43.61, 50 free – 20.11, 500 free – 4:20.21, 100 breast – 53.31, 200 breast – 1:56.53, 200 fly – 1:44.11, 100 fly – 48.39

A potentially sub-3:40 IMer out of high school is exceedingly rare, and Foster is a recruiting gem at the college level. He’s among the best in the class in almost every event and has a wealth of options to focus on at the college level. Foster is far from peaked, either: he dropped a ton of time since our last ranks, when he was 3:44/1:43 in the IMs. He’s also got the best 200 free in the class and projects as a multi-relay threat coming in the door as a freshman.

2. Luca Urlando (Previous Rank: #4) – Davis Aquadarts Racing Team – CK McClatchy High School – Sacramento, CA **Verbally committed to Georgia**
Best Times: 200 fly – 1:40.91, 100 fly – 45.62, 200 IM – 1:42.99, 100 back – 45.66, 200 back – 1:42.11, 200 free – 1:34.38, 100 free – 44.47, 50 free – 20.01, 400 IM – 3:49.58

Urlando was relatively unknown to most fans when we ranked him #4 last spring. He proceeded to become one of the biggest names in youth swimming with a massive U.S. National Championships with some gargantuan long course time drops (from 54/1:58 in the butterflys to 52.4/1:55), and he’s already transferred those improvements over to short course. He’s got the only NCAA “A” final time in the class right now, courtesy of his 1:40.91 in the 200 fly, and he’s got the best 100 fly and 100 back in the class. Urlando still has California’s high school postseason to come this month, and if he can improve his 100/200 frees, he might have a real argument to leapfrog Foster for the #1 spot.

3. Destin Lasco (Previous Rank: #2) – Salvation Army Kroc Aquatics – Mainland Regional High School – Pleasantville, NJ **Verbally committed to Cal**
Best Times: 100 back – 45.93, 200 free – 1:35.17, 100 free – 43.44, 200 back – 1:41.77, 200 IM – 1:44.59, 400 IM – 3:48.22, 500 free – 4:23.77

So far over his junior year, Lasco has improved his freestyles, but his calling-card backstrokes have stalled, as have his IMs. Still, 45-second backstrokers out of high school are rare – we haven’t had a junior at that level since Ryan Hoffer in the class of 2017 – and Lasco has a lot of range and versatility to back it up. 43.4/1:35.1 are going to go a long ways in earning free relay spots down the road, and Lasco may wind up projecting best as an IMer, where high school prospects seem to have some of the bigger drops as they move into the college ranks.

4. Adam Chaney (Previous Rank: #9) – Mason Manta Rays – Bishop Fenwick High School – Mason, OH
Best Times: 50 free – 19.64, 100 free – 43.00, 200 free – 1:35.99, 100 back – 47.10, 100 fly – 48.14

We ranked Chaney fairly high on perceived upside last time around, and he’s making us look good for it. The Ohio high schooler cut from 20.2 and 44.2 last time around to 19.6 and 43.0 in the freestyles, the latter being the fastest time in the entire class. Maybe more exciting is his 200 free. As of last year, he’d cut from 1:46 to 1:39, and kept that momentum moving down to a 1:35.9 in his junior year. Chaney is also an outstanding long course swimmer, and after a 22.5/49.9 summer in meters, you knew big things were in store. His backstroke speed is a nice bonus, and that time has come down more than a second and half since last year. Chaney has pretty consistently been great on relays, which is a big boost in the college format. Most notably, Chaney split 19.0 anchoring a 200 medley relay at Winter Juniors. That would’ve beaten 21 of the 48 non-leadoff legs in the 200 free relay A and B finals at men’s NCAAs this spring.

5. Jake Magahey (Previous Rank: #3) – Swim Atlanta – Mill Creek High School – Dacula, GA **Verbally committed to Georgia**
Best Times: 1650 free – 14:51.54, 1000 free – 8:55.33, 500 free – 4:14.61, 200 free – 1:35.13, 400 IM – 3:47.43, 200 back – 1:45.73, 200 fly – 1:47.12, 100 free – 44.95

Magahey is far-and-away the best distance swimmer in the class, and this isn’t a weak class by any means. He’s got mile and 500 free times that would’ve earned NCAA invites in 2019; only five swimmers in this class can say that about any of their events. His drop from 4:16 to 4:14 is a nice one in the 500, where we don’t see many high schoolers around NCAA scoring range. In fact, Magahey broke the oldest national high school record on the books this season in that event. Magahey’s got a lot of power in his stroke for a distance guy, and that allows him to come down to 1:35, 44.9 and 20.7 in the relay-distances – he should be a factor on 800 free relays nearly his entire NCAA career.

6. Matt Brownstead (Previous Rank: #11) – State College Area Y Aqualions – State College Area High School – Port Matilda, PA **Verbally committed to Virginia**
Best Times: 50 free – 19.55, 100 free – 43.71, 100 fly – 47.87, 100 back – 48.00

Brownstead is a true drop-dead sprinter, though his range is starting to come around. He’s got the best 50 free in the class at 19.5, and improved his 100 free from 45.2 to 43.7 since we ranked this class last year. He’s a tremendous relay option with free/fly/back chops in the shorter distances. Brownstead has risen from a more developmental sprinter to a top-tier recruit, and if his times keep dropping, he’ll be a massive scoring weapon from the moment he steps on campus in the fall of 2020.

7. Forrest Frazier (Previous Rank: #18) – Eastern Iowa Swim Federation – Iowa City High School – Iowa City High School, IA **Verbally committed to Cal**
Best Times: 100 breast – 52.51, 200 breast – 1:55.33, 200 IM – 1:47.61

Frazier got lost in the shuffle of breaststrokers a bit last time around, but by this spring, he’s established himself as the best breaststroker in the class. Dropping more than a second and a half in the 100 since last spring, Frazier has the best 100 breast in the class and is a few hundredths back of the best 200 as well after dropping a whopping five seconds since our last ranks. He’s got good pullouts and good strength for a high school breaststroker, and his 1:47 IM gives him a very solid third event, even if it’ll need some improvement to score at NCAAs.

8. Jake Mitchell (Previous Rank: N/A) – Carmel Swim Club – Carmel High School – Carmel, IN **Verbally committed to Michigan**
Best Times: 200 free – 1:34.24, 500 free – 4:16.72, 1650 free – 15:09.39, 100 free – 44.04

Mitchell rockets up our ranks with a huge junior season that saw him drop eight seconds in the 500 free and three in the 200. He’s within hundredths of NCAA invite level in the 200 and within tenths in the 500. It’s hard to say if he projects better as a true distance man or a mid-range 100/200/500 type. He’s got really impressive range, and showed a lot of endurance hitting his bests in the 100/200/500 free on the same day at Indiana’s high school state meet.

9. Coby Carrozza (Previous Rank: #14) – Longhorn Aquatics – St. Stephen’s Episcopal High School – Austin, TX **Verbally committed to Texas**
Best Times: 200 free – 1:34.67, 500 free – 4:16.95, 100 free – 43.57, 200 fly – 1:45.34, 200 back – 1:45.59, 50 free – 20.58

Another monster of the middle distances here. Carrozza projected better as a two-distance backstroker when we ranked this class last year, but has made his biggest strides in freestyle since. Most impressive is that 4:16, which dropped from a lifetime-best 4:31 as of last spring. Carrozza was also 45.2 and 1:37.0 in freestyle at this time last year, showing marked improvement there. His backstrokes haven’t improved from last year, but it’s hard to fault a guy for focusing elsewhere in his event repertoire. He could also develop as a flyer, where he’s had a lot of long course success – he’s been 2:00 and 55.1 in long course meters fly.

10. Ethan Heasley (Previous Rank: #6) – Hillsboro Heat Swim Team– Faith Bible High School – Hillsboro, OR **Verbally committed to Texas**
Best Times: 400 IM – 3:44.25, 1650 free – 15:03.24, 1000 free – 8:50.51, 500 free – 4:19.82, 200 IM – 1:47.86, 200 fly – 1:45.76, 200 free – 1:38.19

Heasley has had solid drops in his mile and 400 IM as a junior, and remains in our top 10. That 3:44 IM gets too underrated by Foster’s outstanding speed – without Foster in the mix, Heasley would’ve been the fastest junior we’ve ranked in this event since Andrew Seliskar in the class of 2015. That’s faster than 2019’s Jake Foster, 2018’s Keith Myburgh and even 2017’s Sean Grieshop. One of the class’s better miles is a solid second event, and Heasley has pretty good options for a third event between 200 IM, 500 free or even a 200 fly. His 200/500 free and 200 IM haven’t improved since spring 2018, though, so he’ll need a bit of a breakthrough somewhere to move back up in the class.

11. Ethan Hu (Previous Rank: #13) – Peak Swimming – Harker School – Cupertino, CA **Verbally committed to Stanford**
Best Times: 100 fly – 46.25, 200 fly – 1:45.11, 200 IM – 1:46.53, 50 free – 20.25

A few days after we ranked this class last spring, Hu cut his 100 fly from 47.1 to 46.8, and he’s already taken it down six more tenths over his junior year. Stay tuned for another potentially big drop this month. His 200 fly makes a very good second event, but where the real excitement comes is in those final two events. Hu has dropped from 1:53 to 1:46 in the IM since last year, and from 21.0 to 20.2 in the 50 free. That 50 free could really up his relay value down the road.

12. Wyatt Davis (Previous Rank: #7) – Carmel Swim Club – Carmel High School – Carmel, IN **Verbally committed to Michigan**
Best Times: 100 back – 46.66, 200 back – 1:43.84, 200 IM – 1:45.63, 200 free – 1:37.00

Our first true backstroker on the list since the Foster/Lasco duo at the top, Davis is only about six tenths out of NCAA scoring range in the 100 back. He’s also got a pretty compelling 200 IM time, and his top three events fit together extremely well in the NCAA lineup. Davis doesn’t yet have a lot of relay value outside of the medleys, but that might be due to change after he went long course times of 1:49.4 and 50.7 in freestyle this past March. Those project much better than his current lifetime-bests of 47.0 and 1:37.0 in short course, and both of those times are well over a year old.

13. Ethan Dang (Previous Rank: #5) – Bellevue Club Swim Team – Hazen High School – Renton, WA **Committed to Stanford**
Best Times: 100 breast – 53.48, 200 breast – 1:55.26, 200 IM – 1:48.91

Dang was the undisputed top breaststroker in the class last spring, and though he didn’t have any major drops as a junior, he’s still among the best options. The former age group standout has the best 200 breast in the class and isn’t too far off in the 100. He only dropped a couple tenths in each this year and had a similar drop in the 100 fly (49.8 to 49.6). His 200 IM has cut a second since last year, but Dang will need a lot more than that to make it a viable tertiary event at the college level. One thing he does have going for him is his stroke though. He’s an outstanding long course swimmer (2:15 in the 200 and 1:03 in the 100) with a very efficient breaststroke.

14. Rick Mihm (Previous Rank: #8) – Allegheny North Swim Club – North Allegheny Senior High School – Wexford, PA **Verbally committed to Stanford**
Best Times: 200 IM – 1:44.97, 200 free – 1:36.79, 100 free – 43.88, 400 IM – 3:50.59, 500 free – 4:23.48

Mihm remains a guy whose best events are tricky to project. He’s got an outstanding 200 IM, down more than a second from his 1:46.0 lifetime-best as of last year’s ranks. He’s also taken about a second and a half off his 200 free and is getting into big league territory there. His 100 free is great, and relay value looks solid moving forward, especially since he’s been a relay force for North Allegheny High over the past few years.

15. Bence Szabados (Previous Rank: N/A) – Chicago Wolfpack – Whitney Young High School – Chicago, IL **Verbally committed to Michigan**
Best Times: 50 free – 19.97, 100 free – 44.39, 100 fly – 47.35, 200 fly – 1:44.84, 200 free – 1:37.46

Szabados is maybe the fastest riser on this list. His 19.9 50 free is the eye-catcher off the bat – he’s one of five boys to break 20 in this class already, a pretty impressive feat for a group of high school juniors. But the real reason to be excited about Szabados is that he’s just started figuring out the butterflys. He dropped from 49.5 to 47.3 in the 100 over the past year, and had a mind-blowing drop from 1:50.2 to 1:44.8 in the 200 fly over that same time frame. The son of a Hungarian Olympian, Szabados is a potentially huge relay ‘get’ in recruiting, with an improvement curve to rocket into the top 10 by next year if all goes well.

16. Preston Forst (Previous Rank: #10) – Enfinity Aquatic Club – Northern Guilford High School – Greensboro, NC **Verbally committed to Stanford**
Best Times: 200 fly – 1:43.53, 100 fly – 47.40, 100 free – 44.85, 200 free – 1:37.13, 50 free – 20.65, 500 free – 4:24.50, 200 back – 1:46.82

North Carolina’s Forst fits a similar mold to Szabados – a fly/free combo through the relay distances. Forst has a little more range up into the 200 with about equal 100 speed in the fly, and his 100/200 free times match up really similarly to Szabados as well. His sprint freetstyles haven’t changed much since last year, but Forst has had nice drops in his 500 and 1000 frees, suggesting that he might be focusing in on his endurance as a junior.

17. Matt King (Previous Rank: N/A) – Bellevue Club Swim Team – Glacier Peak High School – Snohomish, WA **Verbally committed to Indiana** **Recommitted to Alabama**
Best Times: 50 free – 19.83, 100 free – 43.62, 200 free – 1:38.03

This feels pretty far back to have a 19.8/43.6 freestyler. But this is a pretty deep class, and King doesn’t yet have much in the way of complementary events. That’s going to change in a hurry if his improvement keeps up at its current rate. King wasn’t really even in the mix for our list last spring, sitting at 20.5/44.5/1:41.3 in the freestyles, But he’s now among the class’s best in the 50 and 100 frees and surging after a banner end of 2018. He hit bests in all three of those freestyles in December, and five months earlier went 22.9 and 50.5 in long course meters.

18. Luke Miller (Previous Rank: N/A) – Elevation Athletics – Legacy High School – Broomfield, CO **Verbally committed to NC State**
Best Times: 200 free – 1:35.87, 100 free – 44.54, 50 free – 20.96, 200 IM – 1:48.95

We’ve got a lot of good freestylers rising into the tail end of our top 20 this time around. Miller is another, and has a pretty extraordinary resume of improvement. He was 22.2/46.3/1:40 in freestyle and 1:56 in the 200 IM as of our rankings last year. Those times have been blown out of the water during his junior year, and Miller now projects as one of the better 200 freestlyers in the class, though he needs to keep improving in his 50 and 100 to differentiate himself from a lot of other good sprinters in this class.

19. Luke Maurer (Previous Rank: #15) – NASA Wildcat Aquatics – Loyola Academy – Wilmette, IL **Verbally committed to Stanford**
Best Times: 200 free – 1:36.33, 100 free – 44.00, 50 free – 20.29, 500 free – 4:21.05, 200 back – 1:46.62

Another solid freestyle prospect. Maurer has a little bit more pure speed than Miller, but more endurance than guys like King or Szabados. The 500 free is becoming a great event for Maurer, with a drop of six seconds since last spring. Maurer has a huge, 6-foot-7 frame with long arms that move a lot of water with every stroke. That keeps him efficient even as the distance goes up, and he has a chance to be a really rangy free talent with great speed from 50 to 500.

20. Dare Rose (Previous Rank: “Ones to Watch”) – Scarlet Aquatics –  Piscataway, NJ **Verbally committed to Cal**
Best Times: 200 free – 1:36.84, 500 free – 4:24.55, 200 fly – 1:46.55, 200 IM – 1:48.88

I know, I know. Rose is a lot more recognizable name than many ahead of him, and he was a controversial topic in our last ranks. But even though he cracks the top 20 this time, there’s just no reasonable rationale (based on actual times swum) to rank him ahead of any of the last few guys. Rose almost certainly fits the category we reference a lot in these rankings: a better swimmer than an NCAA prospect. His long course times are eye-popping: 53.9/1:58.9 in butterfly, 1:49, 3:51 and 50.6 in freestyle. He’s had some success transferring that talent to yards compared to last year, when he was just 1:38.1 and 46.0 in short course freestyle. Still, his short course butterflys and 500 free have gone backwards during his junior year. It remains to be seen whether he’s an athlete who’s just focused more on long course, or one who genuinely doesn’t fit well in the short course format. Either way, he’ll be a hot commodity for college coaches, because he’s got serious upside and, at the very least, national team potential in long course meters.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Paring the list down to 20 always feels like pulling teeth. This isn’t an exhaustive list of others we considered, but the top few left off the list who made the decisions on 18-20 very difficult.

  • Arik Katz (Sarasota Tsunami Swim Team – Venice Senior High – Sarasota, FL) **Verbally committed to Harvard** Katz is a talented miler (15:01/8:57) who just doesn’t have a lot of relay value yet. He’s gone from 1:39.3 to 1:37.9 in the 200 over the past year, and a 4:23 500 free is a great starting point.
  • Ben Dillard (Previous Rank: #17) – (Sierra Marlins – Oak Ridge High – Folsom, CA) **Verbally committed to USC** Dillard is a very good breaststroker (53.9/1:56.2) who had pretty good improvements from last year (54.3/1:58.0). The trending arrow is pointing in a good direction, too, after he blasted long course times of 1:02 and 2:16 last summer. He does still have California’s high school postseason upcoming, where he could improve his 100 time.
  • Tristan Dewitt (Fort Wayne Swim Team – Fort Wayne Carroll High – Fort Wayne, IN) **Verbally committed to Indiana** Dewitt has a really intriguing breast/fly combo, with lifetime-bests of 54.9 and 47.5. That’s not a great NCAA combo, but not totally out of the question, either. His 200 breast has stalled at 2:00, but his 200 IM is down to 1:47.2, a very solid tertiary event.
  • Will Cole (Lakeside Swim Team – Saint Xavier High – Louisville, KY) **Verbally committed to Virginia** Cole has 47-second speed in both back and fly (47.2 back, 47.9 fly) with pretty good freestyles, too (1:36.9/44.3/20.3). He’d be a very worthy addition to the top 20 if there weren’t so many 20-point/43-or-44-point guys stacked up in this class.
  • Sean Faikish (North Penn Aquatic Club – North Penn Senior High – Lansdale, PA) **Verbally committed to Notre Dame** Faikish basically makes this group by virtue of a huge drop from 1:48 to 1:44.8 in the 200 IM. He did most of that between December 2018 and March 2019, so it’s worth wondering if he’s got even more time to drop. There’s not much in the way of support events, but they could rise up. Faikish is 55.4 in the 100 breast and 48.1 in the 100 back, along with 3:54 in the 400 IM.

BONUS LOOKBACK:

Feeling nostalgic? Here’s a look back at our recruiting class rankings over the past 6 recruiting classes, plus our retrospective of the first class we ranked after 4 years in the NCAA:

Boys
Recruiting Class
High School Class of 2021 Way Too Early Ranks As Sophomores
High School Class of 2020 Way Too Early Ranks As Sophomores Ranks as Juniors
High School Class of 2019 Ranks as Juniors Re-Rank As Seniors
High School Class of 2018 Ranks as Juniors Re-Rank As Seniors
High School Class of 2017 Ranks as Juniors
High School Class of 2016 Ranks as Juniors
High School Class of 2015 Ranks as Juniors Post-college retrospective
High School Class of 2014 Ranks as Juniors Post-college retrospective
High School Class of 2013 Ranks as Juniors Post-college retrospective

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swimfan210_
4 years ago

Someone has to update. Matt King switched his verbal to Alabama.

WannabeSwimmer
4 years ago

Can we please get a rerank for the Cali kids. The States meet was filled with amazing swims.

Admin
4 years ago

Seems like by proving that they can make guys swim very fast (and not just Dean, but a group of athletes) while getting a Harvard education, they should be on a lot of lists. But…Ivy League coaches are very adamant about when they let athletes make verbal commitments so we won’t know that until the fall, most likely.

Swimmer100
4 years ago

What about andrew benson out of new Hampshire? 20.0 50 free. 44.0 100, 48 100 fly, 1:47 2 fly, 55.2 100 breast, 1:39 2 free, 1:49 2IM

Admin
Reply to  Swimmer100
4 years ago

It sound crazy, but even as a junior, 20.08 in the 50 free and 44.0 in the 100 free only rank about 14th or 15th in the class, and those are his highest-ranked events. This is a really fast, and really deep class. Andrew’s times will definitely make him an impact contributor at any program in the country, and if his progression continues he’ll probably be an NCAA qualifier, and maybe even an NCAA scorer. But, I’d probably put him in the first few spots right after this list cuts off – maybe in the 30-40 range – just thinking high level and without actually going through and ranking it.

GogoSwimming
Reply to  Braden Keith
4 years ago

Although I see what you mean, I feel like there are a lot of swimmers on that list that are quite quick, but if you look back on Benson’s times, he hasn’t swum the 200 in over a year and all of his times in every event seem to be up there. I feel like him and Dare Rose definitely deserve higher rankings

aDude
4 years ago

Will they update this list after the California State Championships? since they are just finishing their high school swimming.

Butler Buck
4 years ago

Adam Chaney no longer attends Bishop Fenwick. He is now attending Mason HS in Mason, OH.

Mellon
4 years ago
SwammerCoach
4 years ago

T-Dew to IU. Watch out!!!

About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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