According to a congratulatory tweet from his high school’s Twitter account, Xenia High School senior Hank Siefert has made a verbal commitment to swim for the University of Kentucky in 2017-18.
Siefert was the runner-up (to Grant House, who announced his intention to swim for ASU yesterday) in the 200 free at the 2016 Ohio State High School Division I Swimming and Diving Championships last February, although his best time in the event (1:37.84) comes from the Southwest District meet the previous week. Siefert also placed fourth in the 500 free at the State meet.
Siefert had an excellent long course season swimming for Coffman YMCA. He won a national title in the 100 meter backstroke (58.05) at 2016 Long Course YMCA Nationals and followed with a 27.04 leadoff for Coffman’s 200 medley relay. After having set the YMCA national record in the 400m free in 2015 with 3:58.37, he placed fourth this summer in a tightly-knit pack of five, just 1.2 seconds off his best time. Siefert showed off his range with a second-place finish in the 100 free (52.12) and a 23.43 anchor on Coffman’s 200 medley relay.
His best times are:
| SCY | LCM | |
| 50 free | 21.40 | 24.43 |
| 100 free | 45.65 | 51.96 |
| 200 free | 1:37.84 | 1:52.64 |
| 500/400 free | 4:24.03 | 3:58.37 |
| 1000/800 free | 9:16.36 | 8:31.09 |
| 50 back | 23.84 | 27.04 |
| 100 back | 50.09 | 58.05 |
Siefert’s times would already benefit Kentucky, who finished 2 points behind Texas A&M at 2016 SEC Championships. He would have scored in the C final of the 500 free and with a little improvement, in the 200 free and 100 back as well.
Congrats to SR. Hank Siefert on his commitment to @UKSwimDive He is good @ swimming! @XeniaBlueCrew17 @XeniaSchools pic.twitter.com/DZ4TVdsinb
— XeniaAthletics (@XeniaAthletics) September 12, 2016
If you have a commitment to report, please send an email to [email protected]
Hes sooooooo cute