The SeaHawks received a verbal commitment from Zach Becouvarakis, a 5’11” fly specialist from the South Eastern Virginia Aquatics (SEVA) Seahawks and the Kecoughtan High School Warriors of Hampton, VA.
Coached by Dave Henderson, the recently turned 17-year-old and last year’s Virginia High School League 6A Conference 2 Champion in the 100-yard fly, will continue to develop his butterfly, plus the breaststroke and individual medley, which have been progressing with healthy drops over the last two years.
Becouvarakis has dropped a second a year in the 100-yard fly, six seconds in the 200-yard fly over the last two years, and has been on a four-seconds-a-year pace in the 200-yard breast. When combining strokes, he has been making bigger drops in the 400-yard individual medley with five seconds in the last year and 12 in the previous year.
Top SCY Times:
100-yard fly: 51.29
200-yard fly: 1:52.14
200-yard breaststroke: 2:09.41
400-yard IM: 4:04.76
Becouvarakis, who holds age-group club records for SEVA in the fly, made the USA Swimming Scholastic All-America Team as a junior last year by achieving a GPA higher than 3.5 and making a junior national qualifying time.
UNC-Wilmington head coach Jason Memont has seven seniors on his roster this year. Two put in regular fly duty and another puts in individual medley yards. Memont will look to Becouvarakis to contribute in the fly and potentially in the individual medley if he continues to progress in that discipline.
If Becouvarakis can improve his sprint form from 2012, when as a 14/15-year-old he posted his best times in the 50-yard free (23.57) and the 100-yard free (50.79), it could translate to quicker times in his primary events.