Jordan Ross, Javi Barrena Head North With Michigan Verbal Commitments

A pair of swimmers from SEC country have verbally committed to the defending Big Ten champions the University of Michigan.

Jordan Ross from Swim Atlanta and Javi Barrena from Bolles will both be Michigan Wolverines in the fall of 2015, adding complimentary backstroke and butterfly threats to the Wolverines’ class.

Ross is a very good backstroker and a solid freestyler, and he tends toward the middle-distances His bests in yards:

• 50 free – 21.58
• 100 free – 46.50
• 200 free – 1:39.38
• 100 back – 49.33
• 200 back – 1:45.66

Barrena, meanwhile, is a Spanish national who has been training with Bolles in the U.S. since 2012. In yards, his bests are:

• 100 back – 51.32
• 200 back – 1:50.93
• 100 fly – 48.62
• 200 fly – 1:47.60
• 200 IM – 1:51.65

As an international, Barrena’s true skill is most obvious when looking at his long course times. In the backstrokes he’s been 57.5/2:04.8, and in the flys he’s been 55.4/2:01.6. He was the Spanish Junior National Champion in both the 100 back and the 100 fly in February of this year.

Michigan is connected to Spain through their success with the multi-national, but Spanish-representing Ortiz brothers, who have had great success as Wolverines and outside of their NCAA careers since coming to Michigan. Both of these swimmers, especially Barrena, fit the mold of being hop around to different events that Michigan has done so well with.

Further, Ross will help further solidify a Michigan backstroke group that was a weakness for years, but will be much-improved for the forseeable future with Ross in addition to 2014-2015 freshmen Tristan Sanders and Alex Katz.