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Winter U.S. Open qualifier Cole Firlie has verbally committed to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for the fall of 2022.
“My official visit in the fall convinced me MIT was the right school for me. The campus was beautiful, the facilities were astonishing, and most importantly the people I interacted with on the team and in the classroom were wonderful. I could immediately see myself fitting into this amazing culture and made my decision shortly after! (Of course, being the #1 STEM university in the world didn’t hurt either…)
“…MIT will absolutely provide the rigorous academic challenges I am looking for in my collegiate education, for which I am very excited!
“…A fun fact about me is that I am known infamously among my friends and team for my ability to perform extremely well at unofficial time trials at practice where I throw on a tech suit and race – a highlight being a unofficial Summer Jr cut in the 500 FR from a 4:27.1 in practice. Nevertheless, I am very excited for my swimming career to continue at MIT, and I look forward to achieving my goals of a Olympic Trials cut this summer and DIII NCAA champion in the 500 FR by next spring!”
Firlie is a current senior at Pine View High School in Florida who was the first student in school history to pass Calculus III and Differential Equations as a sophomore.
He trains with Sarasota Tsunami Swim Team and he recently swam lifetime best times in the 1000 free, 500 free, and 400 IM at the Florida Swimming Spring Senior Championships in March. He placed 4th, 5th, and 12th, respectively.
Top SCY times:
- 1000 free – 9:12.00
- 500 free – 4:27.37
- 200 free – 1:39.66 (Nov 2021)
- 1650 free – 15:48.99
- 400 IM – 3:59.22
Firlie is a Winter U.S. Open qualifier in the 1000 free and has a Summer Juniors cut in the 500 free. His best 200 free time is from the Florida High School Athletic Association 4A State Championships in November 2021 where he placed 6th in the event.
He is set to improve the Engineers’ already-dominant distance group; his lifetime best time would have won the 1650 free by nearly 2 seconds at the 2022 New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference Championships. He also would have placed 3rd in the 500 free, 3rd in the 400 IM, and 4th in the 200 free.
At the 2022 NEWMAC Championships, the Engineers placed 2-3-4-5 in the 500 free led by sophomore Jaden Luo. In the 1650 free, MIT secured 2nd, 3rd, and 6th place led by sophomore Brian Li. Luo also won the 200 free and was followed by his sophomore teammate Tobe Obochi in 2nd place.
Firlie’s fellow class of 2026 commits Eugene Jiang and Evan Liu are also 200 freestylers who have lifetime best times of mid-to-low 1:40’s.
Current MIT freshman Roderick Huang leads the 400 IM group; he won the event at this season’s conference championships and spearheaded a 1-2-3 finish for the Engineers.
MIT’s men’s program is coming off their 13th consecutive NEWMAC Conference Championship title win this season under head coach Meg French.
Firlie also joins Zach West, Theo Chen, and Michael Peng in the Engineers’ class of 2026 verbal commitments.
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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FFT is a SwimSwam partner.
people are allowed to have goals. 6 seconds separate his current best time in the 500 from 1st place at NCAAs. i don’t know about you but that doesn’t sound too unreasonable of a drop.
sheesh go easy on the kid, he’s just making banter about being a hard worker and fast practice swimmer. You know who cares about that? teammates. I bet each commenter here can think of a specific teammate (past or present) who fits that description and pushed you in practice. Also, FWIW, 4:27.3 (his official PR) is just about the fastest 500 free time ever recruited to D3 (I believe second or third). All of the past winners got into the 4:18-4:23 range through time drops in college, not because they were that fast in HS. Fitzgerald was 4:28.3 in high school and won in 4:21 this year. So it’s totally reasonable for this kid to want to win.
U guys think that someone involved with sussy swim and going to mit would put something in there like that unironically 💀. Use ur heads damn
He’s a graphic designer who provides free labor to sussy. Yes, I think it was put in there unironically.
That would be cringe.
Sounds like he’s going to the first school
Clicked on the article to see why there were so many comments. Was not disappointed
WE. DO. NOT. CARE.
En route to 6th place in the 500
Which is still a great accomplishment
you’re assuming he won’t drop tho?
A fun fact about the NCAA…no one cares how fast you swim in practice! You have to bring it at the actual meet for it to count! Sounds like you’re trying to get people to believe you’re faster than your official times. MIT is a great school and the 4th best swim team in Boston! Welcome to the greatest city on earth!
He described this as “infamously,” which means he understands that this isn’t something for which you want be known. MIT students = words matter.
Down vote percentage close to MIT rejection percentage. Not a coincidence.
If he doesn’t want to be known for it he shouldnt have included a paragraph about it in his commitment statement
I’m pretty sure he’s joking?
if you actually read the article you would see his official best time is 4:27, he just also did it in practice once as well. but nice try ripping on someone just to inflate your own ego.