WAY TOO EARLY NCAA RECRUIT RANKS: BOYS HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2020TOP 10 SWIMMERS FROM THE CLASS OF 20201.
Carson Foster Mason Manta Rays Sycamore High School Cincinnati, OH
**Verbally committed to Texas**Best Times: 200 IM 1:43.79, 400 IM 3:44.79, 200 free 1:33.76, 100 free 43.98, 50 free 20.28, 200 back 1:41.66, 100 back 47.07, 200 fly 1:46.87The younger Foster brother has the best 200 IM we've ranked since Andrew Seliskar (ranked as a junior). He's got the best 200 free in the class by a wide margin and would already be a plug-and-play prospect for almost any 800 free relay in the NCAA. Foster has strong times in literally every event he's a 56/2:02 breaststroker and a 4:20/15:29 distance swimmer. He projects as a blue-chip IMer who can also contribute on all three free relays and perhaps eventually lead off some medleys.
2.
Destin Lasco Pleasantville Aquatics Mainland Regional High School Pleasantville, NJ
Best Times: 100 back 45.93, 200 back 1:41.77, 100 free 43.62, 200 IM 1:44.59, 400 IM 3:48.22, 200 free 1:37.00, 50 free 20.72With Foster probably focusing on IMs, Lasco is the best primary backstroke option in this class. His 200 is comparable than the last crew of elite backstrokers in recruiting (Michael Taylor/Austin Katz) and his 100 blows that duo out. Lasco also has the best 100 free in the class, which should eventually transfer over better to his 50 and 200 frees. Though it's the 200 IM that seems like a natural third event, already just a half-second out of 2018 NCAA invite range.
3.
Jake Magahey Swim Atlanta Mill Creek High School Dacula, GA
Best Times: 500 free 4:16.88, 1000 free 8:55.33, 1650 free 14:52.85, 200 free 1:36.11Distance swimmers don't usually rank this highly, but Magahey is special. He's already among the best distance prospects we've ranked, a year earlier than any other class we've ranked. He's already under NCAA invite level in the mile and not far off of scoring pace in the 500. Magahey is also rising rapidly. In the past year or so, he's dropped his 500 from 4:26 to 4:16. His 200 is also dropping fast, and is already fast enough to give him potential relay value down the road.
4.
Gianluca Urlando Davis Aquadarts Racing Team CK McClatchy High School Sacramento, CA
Best Times: 100 fly 46.93, 200 fly 1:43.55, 200 IM 1:46.69, 400 IM 3:49.58, 200 back 1:43.37, 100 back 47.38, 200 free 1:37.50Urlando's ranking is equal parts production and relative value to the class. Urlando is the best flyer of the bunch and really the only flyer in the class who right now excels at both distances. Both of his butterfly lifetime-bests came from March of this year, and constituted significant drops from his best times as of early 2017. Urlando adds in some great IM potential, but could also be a fly/back type in the NCAA. His 200 free shows good potential, though his sprints (21.2/45.7) haven't quite caught up yet.
5.
Ethan Dang King Aquatic Club Hazen High School Seattle, WA
Best Times: 100 breast 53.65, 200 breast 1:55.56, 200 IM 1:49.9, 100 fly 49.85, 50 free 20.8Dang has very similar value to Urlando, checking in as the best two-distance breaststroker in the class by a wide margin. Breaststrokers seem to develop later, so Dang looks to have a huge ceiling in the NCAA. His 200 is improving by leaps and bounds, going from 1:58.0 in early 2017 to 1:55.5 this past March. Dang doesn't have a great third event yet, but there's certainly potential there in fly and IM. We've seen plenty of high-level teams struggle through breaststroke weaknesses in past years, so expect demand for Dang to be high.
6.
Ethan Heasley Hillsboro Heat Swim Team Faith Bible High School Hillsboro, OR
Best Times: 400 IM 3:45.56, 200 IM 1:47.86, 1650 free 15:06.12, 1000 free 8:59.64, 500 free 4:19.82, 200 free 1:38.19, 200 fly 1:45.93Heasley has impressive range between his strokes and his freestyle. He'd rank as the second-best pure distance swimmer in the class, but he's probably a better prospect as one of the class's elite IMers. His 400 has cut from 3:53 to 3:45 in the last year, and he only broke 1:50 in the 200 IM for the first time in March. In terms of freestyle, a sub-9:00 1000 is nothing to sneeze at, and he's also had huge drops in his 500.
7.
Wyatt Davis Carmel Swim Club Carmel High School Carmel, IN
Best Times: 100 back 47.12, 200 back 1:44.37, 200 IM 1:47.95, 200 free 1:37.00Davis heads the next tier of backstrokers in this deep class, with 100 back speed that would make him one of the best non-Ryan Hoffer recruits in years. He's had great time improvements, and those excellent 200 IM and 200 free times are just bonus. A 1:37.0 in the 200 also feels a lot better than 21.0/47.0 sprint speed, so keep an eye on Davis there for some potential big drops coming to make him a multi-distance relay prospect.
8.
Rick Mihm Allegheny North Swim Club North Allegheny Senior High School Wexford, PA
Best Times: 200 IM 1:46.09, 100 fly 48.74, 50 free 20.64, 100 free 45.04, 200 free 1:38.35, 500 free 4:24.02It's hard to say where Mihm projects best long-term. That 200 IM is easily his best event, and is among the best in the class. But he doesn't yet have the 400 (4:03) to be a pure IMer. He's good in sprint butterfly and very rangy in the freestyles, so he'll certainly find some place to fit in a college lineup. Mihm should be way better relay prospect than his individual times suggest, having split
at least 19.5 and
a blazing 43.0 before. If he can back up those times individually, he'll be in the mix to be the best sprinter in the class to pair with his high-caliber 200 IM.
9.
Adam Chaney Mason Manta Rays Bishop Fenwick High School Mason, OH
Best Times: 50 free 20.21, 100 free 44.26, 200 free 1:39.67, 100 back 48.73Chaney leads a mob of high-ceiling sprinters. He's got one of the best 50s in the class with a very good 100, and so part of this rank hinges on the idea that he can improve his 200 as he develops. Chaney has had good drops in the sprints, and his 200 cut from 1:46 to 1:39 in early 2017, though he hasn't been close to that time since. That 48.7 backstroke is some insurance if he never develops much endurance he's dropped from 51.8 to 48.7 in the past year. Chaney also split 19.2 on a NAG record-setting relay that was at the TYR Cup meet where a timing error subtracted .3 seconds from some swims. The error, though, appeared to only affect lead-off legs, and
a look at race video definitely shows Chaney in the 19-mid-to-low range.10.
Preston Forst Enfinity Aquatic Club Northern Guilford High School Greensboro, NC
Best Times: 200 free 1:37.33, 100 free 44.85, 50 free 20.87, 100 fly 48.37, 200 fly 1:48.43, 200 back 1:46.82, 100 back 49.16Forst is almost the inverse of Chaney, more slanted toward the 200 with slightly less speed. We'll rank them in this order for now given how much the NCAA format values the 50 and 100, but Forst has more versatility and would leapfrog Chaney with good improvements in his 50 or 100. He's improving well his first sub-1:40 in the 200 free came last December and he's already well under that mark. He dropped almost two full seconds in his 100 over the past year along with nearly a full second in his 50. Those butterflys are also decent value in a thin class, though they aren't central to his event spread right now.
HONORABLE MENTIONS11. Matt Brownstead Unattached State College Area High School Port Matlida, PA
Best Times: 50 free 20.08, 100 free 45.23, 200 free 1:39.42, 100 fly 49.25If you value pure speed and think endurance can come around with training, this is the prospect for you. Brownstead has the class's best 50 and dropped about half a second in the past year there. He's got work to do in the 100 and 200, though. His 100 didn't drop much last year, but his 200 went from 1:42 to 1:39.
12. Harrison Lierz Front Range Barracudas Broomfield High School Westminster, CO
Best Times: 200 back 1:43.76, 100 back 48.61, 100 fly 49.23, 400 IM 3:57.98Lierz has got one of the best 200 backs in the class, but his 100 speed hasn't come around quite as much. He's had a very steady improvement curve in both and looks like a great prospect reminiscent of two of the last Coloradoans to make this list: Gavin Olson (48/1:43, class of 2019) and Daniel Carr (48/1:43, class of 2017, All-American as a freshman at Cal).
13. Ethan Hu Peak Swimming Harker School Cupertino, CA
Best Times: 100 fly 47.14, 200 fly 1:46.71, 100 free 45.85Not a lot of range yet, but the only flyer in this class that can challenge Urlando in either distance. His 100 is right around the best in the class, with great natural speed and relay potential. He's a very fast riser who hadn't broken 50 seconds or
2:00 in the butterflys heading into the year 2017. He dropped his 200 fly from 2:02 to 1:46 in November, so it's safe to say his range is still improving by leaps and bounds.
14. Coby Carrozza Longhorn Aquatics St. Stephen's Episcopal High School Austin, TX
Best Times: 200 back 1:45.59, 100 back 48.81, 100 fly 48.50, 200 free 1:37.04, 100 free 45.28, 50 free 20.93Good at a lot of things, not great at any one. The 200 back is probably his best event right now after a drop from 1:50.2 to 1:45.5 in March. He also broke 50 in the 100 back for the first time in February and broke 50 in the 100 fly for the first time in November. Carrozza has an awesome event range and tremendous potential in a bunch of events. One big breakthrough in any of them and he's a top-10 guy instantly.
15. Luke Maurer NASA Wildcat Aquatics Loyola Academy Wilmette, IL
Best Times: 50 free 20.67, 100 free 45.14, 200 free 1:38.08Good range across the free relay distances, and an excellent improvement curve. Went from 22.5/49.8/1:46.0 in November 2016 to 21.4/46.2/1:39.6 in November 2017 to 20.6/45.1/1:38.0 already in 2018. None of his times really light up the list yet, but one more year with anywhere near those improvements and he'll be a massively valuable prospect.
16. Jack Moore Snow Swimming Briar Woods High School Ashburn, VA
Best Times: 200 free 1:37.40, 100 free 45.33, 50 free 20.89Another great relay prospect centered more around the 200, where he hadn't broken 1:41 until last November. He's dropped about a full second in his 50 since late 2016 as well, so the improvement trajectory is very good.
17. Ben Dillard Sierra Marlins Swim Team Oak Ridge High School Folsom, CA
Best Times: 100 breast 54.33, 200 breast 1:58.08, 400 IM 3:55.97, 200 IM 1:50.07Breaststrokers and IMers seem to develop a little bit later, so there's a good chance Dillard makes strides in his best events over the next few years. He's the clear-cut #2 breaststroker in the class and dropping fast (56.1 to 54.3 since May 2017, 2:02.8 to 1:58.0 since March 2017).
18. Forrest Frazier Eastern Iowa Swimming Federation Iowa City High School Iowa City High School, IA
Best Times: 100 breast 54.16, 200 breast 2:00.03, 200 IM 1:49.67, 100 fly 49.10Another good breaststroker, a little sprintier than Dillard. He's got some talent into the IM and butterfly, too, though it'll take a lot of development to be at an NCAA level. Great drops in his 100 over the last year (57.1 in March 2017, 55.3 in December 2017, 54.1 in February 2018).
19. Owen Conley Dayton Raiders Waynesville High School Waynesville, OH
Best Times:200 back 1:44.77, 200 IM 1:48.94, 400 IM 3:51.72, 100 back 50.00Conley has a great 200 back that gets crowded out in a really good backstroke class, and he just doesn't have the 100 speed yet to stand out. His 200 dropped from 1:49 to 1:44 from March 2017 to March 2018, though, while his 100 went from 53.2 to 50.0, so there are probably drops still to come. His IM times are good and also dropping fast.
20. Will Rose Canton City Schools Alliance High School Alliance, OH
**Verbally committed to Arizona State**Best Times: 50 free 20.52, 100 free 44.42, 200 free 1:40.47, 100 back 49.35Rose is an interesting prospect, because the record of his times in USA Swimming's database seems to show more focus on long course than short course, which is opposite of most young swimmers. Rose doesn't have a single short course swim logged in the SWIMS database before October 2016 despite long course times back to May of 2013 (though it's certainly possible he has previous yards swims that, for whatever reason, aren't appearing). In that brief time, he's become one of the better sprinters in his class through the 50 and the 100 free. His 100 and 200 dropped almost a full second in the last year, and he's also dropped about two seconds in that time in the 100 back.
ONES TO WATCHDare Rose (Scarlet Aquatics / Piscatawny, NJ) Rose is really good at a lot of things, but not good enough at one thing in short course to make this list. On the other hand, he's far, far more accomplished in long course, so there's chance his short course makes a big leap to catch up throughout high school. He's a 48.5/1:46.5 butterflyer and a 1:48.8/3:55 IMer short course, compared to 54.7/1:59.7 in the long course fly races. But his 21.8/46.0/1:38.1/4:24.5 short course freestyles are nowhere near his excellent 24.0/50.8/1:51.0/3:57.6 prowess in long course meters.
Kyle Adams (Munster Swim Club / Munster High School / Munster, IN) Adams is one of two breaststrokers just off our list with great 100 times and a lot of work to do in the 200. He's 54.7 in the 100 but only 2:05 in the 200, though he cut that from 2:12 since last November.
Antonio Octaviano (Radnor Aquatic Club / The Haverford School / Downington, PA) Another 54.5 breaststroker who only has 2:05.0 range. Octaviano doesn't have as much versatility as Adams and has plateaued in his 200 breast since 2016. But he does have great natural speed and is one to watch moving forward.
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