USC Adds Distance Recruit to Improve Balance

For the past few seasons, Dave Salo’s recruiting strategy seems to have been to just pick up the best swimmers of any specialty that he could, put together some very good relays, and get the team into the top 6-or-7 in the country where they can get some serious buzz. Bringing in swimmers like Vlad Morozov and Dmitri Colupaev have been examples.

This year, his tact has changed a little bit, and he’s really rounding out the roster to have a complete team. He added two outstanding butterfliers (Maclin Davis through verbal commitment, and Dakota Hodgson through transfer), and a great backstroker (Tony Cox, another Auburn transfer).

Now, with the addition of collegeswimming.com’s #18-ranked recruit, Ted Singley, they’ve filled another big hole on the team in the distance freestyles, which was left by the graduation of Richard Charlesworth.

Singley can swim a lot of events very well, but his primary focus is likely going to be the distance freestyles, where he has bests of 4:26.3/15:27.40. Singley, in the long run, might actually project as an open water swimmer. He and his sister, Claire (who swims at Penn State), have been huge factors in the Texas High School State Open Water Championships every year, where their Southlake Carroll program has dominated the team battle.

Singley is also a very good 200 backstroker (1:49.5) and 200 butterflier (1:50.35), though out of those two, USC’s greater need will probably be as a 200 butterflier.