Steven Shek and Matt Grauslys have both verbally committed to the University of Notre Dame, beefing up an already-deep class of 2015 for the Irish. The two are equally-significant for first year head coach Matt Tallman, though Shek is primarily a breaststroker and Grauslys is a butterflier.
Shek has yards bests of 56.16 in the 100 breaststroke and 2:03.11 in the 200 breaststroke, both of which were done at the NCSA Junior Nationals in March. At that same meet, he also swam 1:50.56 in the 200 fly, 1:51.55 in the 200 IM, and 9:24.77 in the 1000 free. That’s a fairly unusual combination of events, but it shows that beyond his specialty stroke, Shek has very good versatility.
That fits in well at Notre Dame, where they’ve had success with versatile breaststrokers in the past. Senior Zach Stephens, for example, is expected to be the team’s best 100 breaststroker and 50 freestyler this season.
Shek trains with the Jersey Wahoos in New Jersey, as well as Lenape High School. He was 2nd in both the 100 breaststroke (tied) and 200 free at last year’s New Jersey High School State Championship meet.
Grauslys from the Executive Swim Club in New Hampshire has yards bests of 48.49 and 1:47.09 in the 100 and 200 yard butterflies.
The Fighting Irish have an aging butterfly group, with four of their five fastest in the 100 from last season being juniors and seniors. While they did a little bit to address that in the class of 2014 with swimmers like Justin Plaschka, Grauslys will have an opportunity to fight for spots on the team’s medley relays immediately upon arrival.
Grauslys is also quite versatile, bringing a yards best of 1:51.43 in the 200 IM.