2019 Men's Swimming Recruiting

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swimmer19
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Huge if true, visited alongside the original men's DT for 2020 (Urlando, Dang, Lasco), Matthew Jensen, and potentially Luke Maurer, per swan's report in the 2020 thread.

2020 already a bit of a dream team, though. Hopefully Dang and Adam Chaney (both known Cal visitors) end up all as Bears.

Dave's probably trying to get his hands on as many top recruits through 2020, since 2021 doesn't seem to showcase too much talent, apart from select swimmers like Tim Connery (SwimMAC), Joshua Matheny (Pittsburgh), Jack Alexy (NJ), with a handful of internationals.
OBear073akaSMFan
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UrsusArctosCalifornicus said:


Sebastian Somerset (#183 Nat, #1 AB) => Bears?

As reported by College Swimming - any other sources for confirmation of this verbal??

SEBASTIAN SOMERSET '19 RECRUITING PROFILE



(I do approve of his background lol - UK -> AUS -> CAN ---> Cal?)

Wonder which country will he be representing if he competes for a national team?
beaverbear
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Just noted a commitment from a c/o 2019 diver: Nick Hart, from Indianapolis. Welcome!

https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/college-bound-top-young-divers-announce-their-commitments/
UrsusArctosCalifornicus
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Cheers for the news on talented diver Nick Hart - and welcome back, beaverbear!

https://instagr.am/p/Bn40oxznMs_
https://instagr.am/p/BqLqcZflR67
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UrsusArctosCalifornicus said:

Sebastian Somerset (#183 Nat, #1 AB) => Bears?

As reported by College Swimming - any other sources for confirmation of this verbal??
swimmer19 said:

Huge if true, visited alongside the original men's DT for 2020 (Urlando, Dang, Lasco), Matthew Jensen, and potentially Luke Maurer, per swan's report in the 2020 thread.
swan said:

I also heard that high end recruits Luke Maurer (a double Stanford swimming legacy), and Canadian stand-out Sabastian Somerset were also on recuiting visits. Michael Jensen's younger brother, Matthew was also spotted. I was told by my source that they visited Cal during the same weekend Urlando and Destin Lasco.


Confirmed by Swimming World (& indirectly by Forrest Frazier) - yay!

Canadian Junior National Teamer Sebastian Somerset Commits to Cal



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https://instagr.am/p/Bu1jWJshFoU
swimmer19
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UrsusArctosCalifornicus said:

Confirmed by Swimming World (& indirectly by Forrest Frazier) - yay!

Canadian Junior National Teamer Sebastian Somerset Commits to Cal



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https://instagr.am/p/Bu1jWJshFoU


Also only took him almost two months to confirm this himself, and in the midst of celebrating our Bears' Natty Champs, welcome to Cal, Sebastian!

https://instagr.am/p/BvqDf2mB5D_
OBear073akaSMFan
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Forrest Frazier looks to be a 2020 recruit ranked #19 and not in the 2019 class.
UrsusArctosCalifornicus
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swimmer19 said:


The 2019 class is headlined with #13 Jason Louser, #18 Michael Petrides, and Calvin David, in addition to two legacies, an international and a few non-headliner guys.

Calvin David won both of his events @ CIF-NCS finals today, with a pair of new lifetime bests to go along with his titles!

200 Free: 1:36.21 ....prev PB = 1:36.89 (May 2018)
500 Free: 4:19.41 ....prev PB = 4:21.66 (May 2017)

Here's a summary from the Mercury:

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NCS swim championships: Monte Vista keeps its coach busy



Foothill's Cal-bound Calvin David was a double winner, taking first in the 200 freestyle in 1:36.21 and powering himself to victory in the 500 free in 4:19.41.

"Calvin's one heck of a swimmer," said Foothill coach Danny Weber, who has worked with David for years. "He's always had great control from the time he was 7. He's always had great body position. He's just developed to the point where he can feel the pace in his head, how fast he is going. Very talented. Very cerebral. That's how he continues to push himself to new levels."

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UrsusArctosCalifornicus said:


Preston Niayesh (#661 Nat, #80 CA) => Bears
Preston Niayesh (El Diamante) was the 100 Breast champion @ the CIF-CS A final today, recording a CIF Division 2 record of 56.57. His PB remains at 55.78 from 2018 Winter Jrs West.

Had also busted out a lifetime best of 51.30 @ prelims (51.31 @ finals to place 5th) in the 100 Fly. Preston's prev PR = 51.48 from 2018 Winter Jrs West.

  • UPDATE ->
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CLOVIS WEST GIRLS DEFEATS CLOVIS NORTH BY 1 POINT AT CIF CENTRAL SECTION

"El Diamente's Preston Niayesh chipped half a second off his 100 breast D2 record from Friday and won with a 56.57."

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UrsusArctosCalifornicus
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At a quick glance, 2019 Baby Bear Calvin David (Foothill), 2019 Preston Niayesh (El Diamante) & 2020 Dylan Hawk (Los Gatos) will all be competing @ CIF State this week.

On the women's side, no Ayla Spitz (her school, Newport Harbor, isn't listed)...but her fellow 2019 Bears Dani Carter (Los Altos) & Emma Davidson (Yorba Linda) will be racing, as will 2020 commit Nicole Oliva (Saint Francis MV).

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2019 CALIFORNIA STATE MEET PSYCH SHEETS ARE OUT

2019 CALIFORNIA INTERSCHOLASTIC FEDERATION SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
The boys' meet, while missing Gianluca Urlando, will have Hunter Ingram and Calvin David of Foothill, seeded 1-2 in the 200 free. David is also top seed in the 500 free by a margin of 4.5 seconds, while Ingram is the 3rd entrant in the 100 free. Bellarmine senior Max Saunders leads the field in the 100 free (43.52) by 8/10 and is seeded 3rd behind Ingram and David in the 200 free.

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UrsusArctosCalifornicus
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swimmer19 said:

Also only took him almost two months to confirm this himself, and in the midst of celebrating our Bears' Natty Champs, welcome to Cal, Sebastian!

Here's Swimswam's writeup which was published this evening:

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CANADIAN BACKSTROKER SEBASTIAN SOMERSET COMMITS TO CAL FOR 2019



Somerset joins Addie Laurencelle, Calvin David, Colby Mefford, Jacques Luffer, Jason Louser, Michael Petrides, Preston Niayesh, and Will Pelton in a large incoming class for the 2019 NCAA champions Cal.

Depending on how he converts, his backstroke looks to be in line with C. Mefford (22.1/48.2/1:44.4) and Pelton (22.8/48.7/1:45.5), two of the other strong backstrokers in the class.

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Schroeder71
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Thank you for summarizing the class of 2019. These nine will participate this coming swim season! How many seniors did the Bears graduate other than Seliskar, Norman, etc. Is this class finished now? Will a national class ranking of recruit classes be coming out soon by Swimswam or another service...GO BEARS!
UrsusArctosCalifornicus
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Schroeder71 said:

Will a national class ranking of recruit classes be coming out soon by Swimswam or another service...
I would not be surprised if Swimswam has already penned the bulk of their "Top 12 recruiting classes in the nation for 2019" writeups, but perhaps are waiting for CIF State Champs to conclude this Saturday before going to press, in order to be fair to all the recruits from CA.

SImilarly with their (final) re-rank of the Top 20 recruits in the HS class of 2019...
HBear
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Schroeder71 said:

How many seniors did the Bears graduate other than Seliskar, Norman, etc.
Graduating class, on the men's side = Seliskar, Norman, Thomas, Sand, Takahashi, and Puczkowski. Big shoes to fill with Seli, Norman, and Thomas in particular for their much-appreciated and highly valued points contributions at NCAAs (always fun to remember the trio of individual championships that Seliskar pulled off this year!), with Sand also putting up strong breaststroke duties, individually and in relays.
HBear
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An early look at the graduating (high school) class of 2021, or current sophomores, as published by SwimSwam:

WAY TOO EARLY RECRUIT RANKS: BOYS HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2021

(The class that will be replacing our current legion of top-20 studs from their respective rankings: Mefford, Julian, Carr, Hoffer, and Grieshop leading the pack, with Biondi, Hatch, Daugherty and divers Robinson and Kloos in the mix.)
Polodad
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Not one CA soph makes this list. That is very unlikely to be the ranking when this class reaches their senior year.
UrsusArctosCalifornicus
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UrsusArctosCalifornicus said:


USA SWIMMING ANNOUNCES WHITLEY, FOSTER AMONG JUNIORS FOR MARE NOSTRUM



USA Swimming has announced the rosters of juniors who will travel internationally to both the Mare Nostrum tour in June and the Mel Zajac Jr. International meet this weekend.

You can view the full release with both rosters here.

MEL ZAJAC JR. INTERNATIONAL (MAY 24-26)

NAME | CLUB | COACH
Jason Louser | Long Island Aquatic Club | Dave Ferris/Ginny Nussbaum

Live results for the 2019 Mel Zajac Jr meet (not exactly live unfortunately, since finals results not updated as of now): http://results.teamunify.com/cavpsc/2019/zajac/

Anyway, #13 Jason Louser claimed runner-up in the *400m IM* A final @ tonight with his 4:27.02 (best = 4:18.59 from 2018), and 8th in the *100m Breast* A final, 1:04.66 (best = 1:03.14 from 2018).

  • UPDATE ->
LUCA URLANDO DOUBLES UP IN WINS ON DAY 1 OF 2019 MEL ZAJAC INTERNATIONAL MEET

MEN'S 400M IM FINALS
[ol]
  • Tristan Cote, UCSC 4:21.60
  • Jason Louser, USA Junior Team 4:27.02
  • Josh Zakala, ISC 4:28.16
  • [/ol]
    Running second was 17-year-old Jason Louser, thanks to an impressive breaststroke leg. The Cal commitfinished the race in 4:27.02, slightly ahead of Island Swim Club's Josh Zakala, who picked up third with a 4:28.16.
    UrsusArctosCalifornicus
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    swimmer19 said:


    Speaking of this class, the SwimSwam 2019 Men's rankings have been dropped.

    TOP 20 NCAA SWIMMING RECRUITS IN THE BOYS HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2019

    13. Jason Louser Long Island Aquatic Club Shoreham Wading River High School Shoreham, NY
    Best Times: 400 IM 3:47.70, 200 IM 1:48.20, 100 breast 55.07, 200 breast 1:59.32

    18. Michael Petrides Kamehameha Swim Club Mid Pacific Institute Honolulu, HI
    Best Times: 200 free 1:36.25, 100 free 44.36, 500 free 4:20.07, 1000 free 9:13.13, 200 IM 1:48.73, 400 IM 3:55.42

    RE-RANK: TOP 20 BOYS NCAA SWIMMING RECRUITS, CLASS OF 2019

    12. Jason Louser (Previous Rank: #13) - Long Island Aquatic Club - Shoreham Wading River High School - Shoreham, NY **Verbally committed to Cal**
    Best Times: 400 IM - 3:45.87, 200 IM - 1:46.00, 100 breast - 53.94, 200 breast - 1:57.04, 500 free - 4:23.32

    Louser was our fast riser the last time around, having cut 10 seconds off his 400 IM as a junior. We mentioned at the time that he needed to come around in other events to justify that ranking, but his improvement curve suggested that was likely - and it sure was. Louser cut another two seconds in his 400 IM, two more in his 200 IM, two in his 200 breast and about one in his 100 breast. Now the intriguing drop is in the 500, where Louser went from 4:30 to 4:23 in his senior year. He's a huge, lanky swimmer whose body type might be better suited for the mid-distances. His breaststroke is outstanding, and the way he brings home this 400 IM (not even his lifetime-best) has to have Cal coach Dave Durden thinking Louser could be a beast through a 500 free/400 IM/200 breast combination. Louser also had a heck of a summer in long course, dropping from 4:27 to 4:18 in the 400 meter IM.
    swan
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    swimmer19 said:

    swan said:


    I certainly am not getting any Cal recruiting vibe on Concord Terrapin stud Minakov and news of his visiting Florida may well be a clue into his recruitment objectives. Former Terrapin teammate Moldovian Alexei Sancov is a frosh at USC and I believe was never a serious consideration for Durden ("fit"?).



    "Gators have done very well with their international recruits (Szaranek, Switowski etc), and given that they're lacking on recruits with Dressel et al gone, they may have more to offer Minakov. We'd have to pay extra for Minakov as he is an international and only swimming in the states in the summer, unlike his buddy Sancov who now has a permanent resident card and is here to stay."

    Andrei Minakov is listed on the roster of Energy Standard (Turkey), one of the eight founding clubs of the recently formed International Swimming League. This is a pro swimming league so it appears young Andrei has decided to forego college.

    The LA-based LA Current features a host of former Bears including Nathan Adrian, Andrew Seliskar, Josh Prenot, Tom Shields, Kathleen Baker, Amy Bilquist, Katie McLaughlin, Farida Osman and Ryan Murphy but several other teams also have former Bears as well, e.g. Jacob Pebley and Justin Lynch swim for the New York Breakers while Natalie Coughlin is on the DC Trident roster. Somewhat ironically, the SF-based Cali Condors have zero former Bears, but mainly former Georgia, Florida and Texas athletes.

    The league's primary financial sponsor is Konstantin Grigorishin, the father of former Cal swimmer Ivan Grigorishin, a very nice kid and well-liked teammate.
    bearz012
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    RANKING THE 2019 MEN'S RECRUITING CLASSES: #1-4

    #4: CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS

    Top-tier additions: #12 Jason Louser (NY IM/breast), Hugo Gonzalez (Auburn transfer IM/back), Jacques Lauffer (Switzerland breast/IM), Nick Hart (IN diving), Michael Petrides (HI free), Calvin David (CA distance), Colby Mefford (CA free/back), Will Pelton (MD fly/back), Sebastian Somerset (Canada back)
    The rest:
    Addie Laurencelle (SC sprint free), Preston Niayesh (CA breast)

    Cal has had the #1-ranked class two of the past three years, but last year checked in at just #8. This year's group splits the difference between those two levels. The Golden Bears didn't pull in a ton of top-20 recruits, but got a high-impact transfer, a great international and then a bunch of guys likely in the 21-50 range domestically.

    Hugo Gonzalez was the big get. A freshman standout for Auburn back in 2017, Gonzalez sat out last season, but plans to resurface for Cal this season. His production is elite: NCAA A final times in both IMs (3:35.7/1:40.6) and the 200 back (1:39.0). During his Auburn season, Gonzalez was great at conference but awful at NCAAs. He'll have to level that out to be the kind of scoring threat we're projecting him to be, but that's probably much easier to do in the Pac-12, where teams seem to care very little about the conference championships compared to the rough-and-tumble SEC.

    The best part about Gonzalez: he should have three full years of college eligibility remaining, making him closer to a true college freshman than a typical upperclassmen transfer.
    Domestically, Cal got #12 Jason Louser, a fast-rising IMer from New York with massive potential. Louser has a huge frame, long arms and an excellent improvement curve in the IMs. He's not far off of NCAA invite status in the 400 IM (he was 3:45.87 last year), and is one of the class's better 200 IMers (1:46.00). Louser is also 53.9/1:57.0 in breaststroke, and should help ease the loss of former IM/breast standout Andrew Seliskar.

    Adding to perhaps the nation's toughest breaststroke group is Swiss import Jacques Lauffer. A national teamer for Switzerland, Lauffer has been 1:01.6 and 2:11.4 in the long course breaststrokers. The latter, in particular, converts close to NCAA invite range. Long course to short course conversions are always difficult to project, but Lauffer has a chance to be a freshman scorer, especially with a lot of the top NCAA breaststrokers graduating.

    And a surprise: Cal got a top dive recruit. That's been rare for Cal, but they're hoping to make it the norm with the completion of their on-campus platform diving facility in 2016. Nick Hart has represented Team USA at World Juniors, and has been top 20 at USA Diving Senior Nationals. Getting the Lafayette, Indiana prospect to leave Indiana a hotbed of diving and also home of Cal competitor Indiana University is a major get.

    The rest of the class are high-end developmental guys. Calvin David is a 15:12 miler with great range down to a 1:36 200 free. He overlaps there with Hawaii's Michael Petrides, who is 1:35.2 and 44.3 in the 100 good relay depth. There are a couple of legacy commits that might excite fans with their names: Colby Mefford is a 1:35.5 freestyler and 1:44.4/48.2 backstroker, reminiscent of his older brother Bryce, now a Cal junior and key scorer at the last two NCAAs. Will Pelton is a 47.9 flyer and 48.7/1:45.5 backstroker, who follows former women's NCAA champ and older sister Elizabeth to Berkeley.

    Then there's one more international: Sebastian Somerset out of Canada is a 55.9/2:00.1 backstroker in long course meters. He joins the burgeoning Cal backstroke factory, and brings in a 200 back time that could put him near NCAA invite status if it transfers over well from long course.

    FAST RISER TO WATCH: Colby Mefford might not be as early a scorer as older brother Bryce was, but his improvement curve is excellent. Most notably, Colby went from 1:47.8 to 1:44.4 in the 200 back as a senior, and also from 1:37.2 to 1:35.5 in the 200 free.

    #3: VIRGINIA CAVAILERS
    #2: NC STATE WOLFPACK
    #1: TEXAS LONGHORNS

    MEN'S CLASSES 5-8
    MEN'S CLASSES 9-12

     
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