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Granger Bartee, a junior at Providence Day School in Charlotte, North Carolina, has elected to remain in-state for his collegiate swimming and diving career. He announced his verbal commitment to the University of North Carolina’s class of 2029, telling SwimSwam:
“UNC is a place that I know will be a family to me, and I’m excited to see what the future holds with the program.”
Bartee is our #18 recruit from the class of 2025, which we ranked as sophomores on our “Way Too Early” list of top-20 boys. He boasts the cohort’s second-fastest 100 back time (47.6) and has a pretty good 100 free (44.78), to boot. At the North Carolina Independent Schools Division 1 State Championships last February, he won the 100 back (48.11) and was runner-up in the 100 free (44.78). His winning backstroke time took .80 off Cam Abaqueta’s 2020 meet record. He also led off the medley relay with a 22.73 backstroke (the quartet was later DQd) and anchored the 3rd-place 200 free relay with 20.10.
With his club team SwimMAC Carolina, Bartee had a good summer. Between Greensboro Sectionals and Summer Junior Nationals, he clocked LCM lifetime bests in the 100 free (51.55), 200 free (1:55.10), 100 back (57.84), and 100 fly (57.31). The 100 free was a PB by 1.5 seconds.
Best SCY times:
- 100 back – 47.68
- 200 back – 1:48.31
- 100 free – 44.78
- 200 free – 1:39.14
- 100 fly – 49.66
Bartee will be an immediate impact player when he arrives in Chapel Hill in the fall of 2025. His 100 back time would have made him a top-5 performer at UNC last year, while his 100 free time would have placed him among the top-8. Bartee will arrive just as Walker Davis, the highest-scoring Tar Heel in the 100 back at 2023 ACC Championships, graduates. UNC finished 8th of 12 teams at the conference meet.
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Look for great things from this kid. Quality of character and work ethic is off the charts. A student of the sport himself, Granger is a key pickup for the Heels. Has always produced excellent swims when he’s had a high quality coach, so the fact that he’ll be with Gangloff is very promising.
Great pick up for UNC. There is a tremendous amount of talent coming out of NC and they would do well recruiting hard in state.
Braden punching air rn in his office full of 4th place trophies
i legit thought this was high school class of 2029 for a second
Granger Bartee just sounds like a kid from North Carolina….
Or Hogwarts
Two years of development (physical and cognitive) yet for this student athlete with a non-binding verbal commitment.
So swimming is becoming soccer in presuming a sophomore high school student athlete has the ability to continue to improve, grow (both mentally and physically and meet the admission standards) by giving a verbal commitment which is not binding……
Who is harmed by this? (other than sensitive SwimSwam readers) I’m sure the university has enough info to judge his swimming and academic record at this point to make a high probability guess. Do you really think a kid with those times as a sophomore isn’t going to be UNC quality? And the swimmer isn’t obligated to anything. I’m not a fan of taking verbal commitments from middle schoolers which often just seems silly but this seems perfectly fine.
We work with Granger and his parents and I am confident he will honor his word.
Not a fan of seeing “2029” already
SwimSwam – might be nice to pick one graduating year reference for consistency. Either high school class or college class. Perhaps high school year when doing such a nice job profiling recruits?