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Connecticut swimmer Charles Perks has announced his commitment to swim for Georgia Tech as a member of the team’s class of 2026.
“I’m very excited to announce my verbal commitment to continue my academic and athletic career at Georgia Tech! I’d like to thank all my friends, family, coaches, and teammates who have helped me along the way! Go Yellow Jackets!! 🐝🐝🐝”
Perks swims for the West Hartford Aquatic Team, based out of Hartford, Connecticut. Perks specializes in the distance freestyle events, where he holds Summer Junior National cuts in the 500, 1000, and 1650 freestyle. At the CPAC Senior Invite in May, Perks threw down best times in every race he swam, including the 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle, 1000 freestyle, 1650 freestyle, 100 butterfly, and 200 butterfly, indicating a very sharp improvement curve.
His best times in short course include:
- 500 freestyle: 4:25.55
- 1000 freestyle: 9:06.90
- 1650 freestyle: 15:17.18
- 50 freestyle: 22.67
- 100 freestyle: 48.53
- 200 freestyle: 1:39.73
- 100 butterfly: 51.69
- 200 butterfly: 1:52.02
With his best times in the 1000 freestyle and 1650 freestyle, Perks would have been the fastest distance swimmer on Georgia Tech’s roster last season, ahead of rising senior Clark Wakeland. In addition, Perks’ best time in the 500 freestyle would have put him as the 6th fastest swimmer on the Georgia Tech roster last season, with 3 out of the 5 swimmers ahead of him slated to graduate prior to his arrival on campus, Perks may provide significant relay impact as well, as his best time in the 200 freestyle ranks within Georgia Tech’s top-10 times from last season, with a full year left to improve prior to his arrival.
At the conference level, Perks should have an immediate impact in the 1650 freestyle, where his best time would have placed 14th overall at the 2021 ACC Championships. Although the 1000 is not contested at the Division I Championship level, Perks also would have been less than a second shy of scoring in the 500 freestyle as well. Georgia Tech finished 8th overall at the Championships, scoring a total of 639 points.
Perks will be joined by Christopher Richardson, Adam O’Brien, Stephen Jones, Will Coady, Ben Gerhard, Nils Bognar, Sean Santos, and Cade Martin in Georgia Tech’s class of 2026.
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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