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Badger Swim Club (NY)’s Jacob Kim will head across the country this fall (2026) to kick off his collegiate swimming career. The New Jersey native and recent Tappan Zee High School graduate — who signed with UC – San Diego last month — had initially committed to Carnegie Mellon University.
Several of Kim’s PBs come from last year’s Speedo Winter Junior Championships, as he posted times of 1:39.20 in the 200 free for 40th, 1:48.96 in the 200 IM for 33rd, and 48.74 in prelims of the 100 back before adding a tenth in finals (48.83) to place 21st overall. All three of those swims marked considerable drops, as heading into the meet his best times were 1:40.18/1:50.77/49.57, respectively. Kim also anchored all five of Badger Swim Club’s relays, posting splits of 19.99 (200 medley), 20.26 (200 free), 44.84 (400 free), 44.40 (400 medley), and 1:39.17 (800 free). His contributions in the sprint relays were especially remarkable considering his best flat-start times are 21.23/46.66.
However, rather than the sprint frees, it is the 200 back that has seen the most progress over Kim’s senior season; at those Winter Junior Championships six months ago, he swam a 1:50.01 — which marked a 2.41 second drop at the time. In March of 2026, Kim dropped to a 1:49.20 during prelims of the Speedo Southern Premier before obliterating that PB in finals with a 1:46.63 swim. From October to March, Kim shaved off a total of 5.49 seconds to develop the 200 back into one of his primary events.
Best times:
- 100 back: 48.74
- 200 back: 1:46.63
- 200 IM: 1:48.96
- 200 free: 1:39.20
- 500 free: 4:31.27
Kim’s progression over the past year enables him to make an immediate impact for the Tritons when he arrives in La Jolla: he would have ranked 4th in the 100 back, 5th in the 200 back, and 4th in the 200 IM on UCSD’s roster this past season. Notably however, at least two of the swimmers ranked ahead of him in all three events will graduate this June.
Further, Kim’s times are quick enough to score at the Big West Conference Championships. Based on last year’s meet, where UCSD finished 3rd with 571 points, Kim would have qualified for the championship final in the 200 IM and B-finaled in both backstroke events.
This fall, Kim will join Californians Darmen Yessengeldy (back), Andrew Vet (IM/distance free), Dash DeAnda (freestyle), along with Michigan native Henry Baumhover (sprint free) and Daniel King from San Antonio, Texas (breast/IM). Yessengeldy, who shares a similar profile with Kim, (48.2/1:46.0 in the backstrokes) will also add to the Tritons’ backstroke depth.
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