- Noah Henry, the #13 recruit in the high school class of 2018, has verbally committed to Arizona State University. Henry swims for his father, Patrick Henry, at both Belton High School and the Tiger Shark Swim Team in Belton, Texas, which lies about midway between Austin and Dallas.
In February, Henry placed 3rd as a junior in the 100 fly (48.27) and 2nd in the 100 back (48.20) at the Texas 6A High School State Championship meet (large schools). In the 100 back, he was the top-finishing underclassmen, though there were two juniors who went 47s in the 100 fly.
He also finished 2nd in the 200 back and 3rd in the 100 back at the 2016 USA Swimming Winter Jr. Championships – West meet.
Henry’s best times in yards:
- 50 free – 21.16
- 100 free – 44.87
- 200 free – 1:37.92
- 100 back – 47.15
- 200 back – 1:44.81
- 100 fly – 48.13
- 200 fly – 1:55.82
In long course, Henry also has Olympic Trials cuts in both the 100 back (56.68) and 100 fly (54.69).
Primarily a pure sprinter, aside from the 200 free (in yards) and 200 back, Henry rarely goes much beyond 200s. His best long course 200 IM, for example, is a 2:25 done in April of his sophomore season. The backstrokes are where he best-projects for the collegiate level, though he’s a likely 100 back/100 fly candidate on day 3 of the NCAA Championship meet.
He joins a high school class of 2018 that so far includes (at least) Ethan Luc, Cody Bybee, Eddie Michael, Jakob Icimsoy, and Khalil Fonder – all of whom have committed before even starting their senior seasons. Henry is the second top-20 commit in the class for the Sun Devils – Bybee ranks #4 nationally.
Arizona State is rebuilding under new head coach Bob Bowman, who was also the head coach for the 2016 U.S. Men’s Olympic Swim Team, and is the personal coach to Michael Phelps. They placed 4th at the 2017 Pac-12 Championships and 14th at the NCAA Championships – both of which were remarkably-fast turnarounds for the program which had relied heavily on diving for most of its national success in recent years. That included Cameron Craig, one of the best freshmen in the country last year who set school records in the 100 free (41.92) and 200 free (1:31.20) last season. While they won’t overlap, Henry will go a long way toward replacing outgoing-senior Richard Bohus, who last season had the 9 fastest times in program history in the 100 back and the 5 fastest times in program history in the 200 back.
Noah’s older brother Hayden Henry recently completed his collegiate eligibility at Texas.
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I know that Bowman is personally involved in the recruitment process. He is currently recruiting my Grandson for ASU’s Class of 2023 & has talked with him via phone on multiple occasions & the fact that he himself versus an assistant is making a big impression on my Grandson.
Puppy Brother
Wow what are they feeding Coach B? He is turning into a recruiting machine. We know the man can coach. Can ASU move into the top 4 and get a trophy? Heck yes it is only a matter of when. At this rate it will be in 2 or 3 seasons!
Money. They are feeding him money. It is great to see a program get more funds instead of less!
Which is crazy considering this program was on the block just a decade or so ago.
ASU is recruiting well, no doubt, but it’s more likely that one of the assistants handles the bulk of the recruiting. Nothing against Bob, that’s just usually how these things work.
I think much of the recruiting is being done by Bob himself. I know he had a lot of involvement with at least 4 of his 2018 commitments.
ASU seems to be out recruiting Cal in the PAC. Granted Cal had a monster class and probably are saving everything they have left for a shot at Whitley but this is odd. Not one early signee!! I am interested to see what the early signings translate to in the pool for the SC season. 5 weekends away for recruiting trips is distracting no matter how dialed in you are as a student athlete.
I think that’s a little hasty. If you had to re-rank the 2017 recruiting class now Cal probably got three top 5 guys (I’d put Mefford up there somewhere near Taylor). I think they’re doing pretty well recruiting wise.
Don’t disagree on 2017. Like I said above, they had a monster class for 2017 but seem to be left in the cold on 2018. Not one!! NCState, Texas, Florida, USC, ASU, Minnesota have all picked up swimmers and some programs have picked up multiple top 25 swimmers. Cal has taken early signees in the past. Just interesting to see they aren’t snagging any for 2018 as of yet.
Not for the class of 2018
I think Cal has a different recruiting strategy than most. And I dont think it’s a smart move being that almost half of the top 20 have already verbally comitted.
Cal got a freshmen who can score in 4 different events, I think the only other freshmen who entered with the ability to score in 4 events also went to Cal and Seliskar is doing good
This Bob Bowman guy was a pretty good hire