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Joe Clark, a Winter Juniors qualifier and North Carolina High School State finalist, has announced his verbal commitment to NCAA Division I University of Delaware. Clark is expected to arrive in Newark ahead of the 2023-2024 season.
I’m so excited to announce my verbal commitment to continue my academic and athletic career at the University of Delaware! Thank you to all of my coaches past and present, my teammates for always being there to motivate me and support me everyday, most importantly my family for the overwhelming support throughout this entire process and everyone who believed in me and my potential in the sport from the start. I also want to say thank you to Coach Pablo and Coach Michael for believing in me and giving me this incredible opportunity. Can’t wait for the next chapter. Roll hens!
Clark currently attends Myers Park High School in Charlotte, North Carolina. He trains and competes with the Aquatic Team of Mecklenburg, also in Charlotte. One of Clark’s club coaches, Doug Miller, was on the University of Delaware team when they won their conference championship in 1988.
Best Times SCY:
- 200 free- 1:40.20
- 500 free- 4:34.28
- 100 breast- 57.44
- 200 breast- 2:04.86
- 100 fly- 50.24
At the 2022 Speedo Winter Junior Championships East, Clark competed in the 500 free, 200 breast, and 100 fly (all SCY). In the 500, he swam a season best of 4:37.73, just over 3 seconds away from his lifetime best. He came in 78th, which was his highest place of the meet.
Clark also achieved a season best in the 100 fly, clocking 50.61 for 102nd place. He was just .37 seconds off his best time from March.
In February, Clark competed at the 2022 North Carolina 4A HS State Championships. There, he swam the 200 free, 100 breast, and 200 free relay. In the 200 free, he qualified for finals by swimming a 1:42.26 in prelims and finishing 10th. In finals he dropped about a tenth of a second to go 1:42.15, ultimately finishing 12th. His best time of 1:40.20 was set a month later, at the 2022 Speedo Southern Premier meet.
The University of Delaware is a Division I Mid-Major program that competes in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Conference. At the 2022 Championships, the men’s team finished in 2nd out of 5 teams. This was their best CAA finish in program history.
Head coach Pablo Marmolejo has been leading the Blue Hens since 2018, and it was recently announced that his contract has been extended through 2025.
At the CAA Championships, the top 20 times in prelims advance to finals. Clark’s current best times place him just outside that range, generally coming in around 25th-30th.
Joining Clark in the recruiting class of 2023 are Ian Metzgar and Max Moen. Moen, a Delaware native, excels in an extremely versatile range of events, in which he is expected to qualify for CAA finals in several.
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