Houston, Texas sprinter Clayton Bobo has announced via social media that he has committed to swim for Texas A&M University beginning in the fall of 2018.
“Extremely excited to announce that I will be continuing my academic and swimming career at Texas A&M University! ?Gig’em”
Bobo, the number 20 recruit on the SwimSwam list of top 20 high school swimming prospects, is a talented sprinter in a class that sports quite a lot of sprinting talent. He swims for Dad’s Club Swim Team and Stratford High School, where he is a USA Swimming Scholastic All-American. Bobo won the 50/100 sprint double at the 2017 Texas 6A state meet (with 19.95/43.56, respectively), and the 50 free (20.71) at the 5A state meet during his sophomore season. That year he was runner-up in the 100 free with 45.30.
Swimming with Dad’s Club Swim Team, Bobo has made great progress from sophomore to junior year. He knocked more than 2 seconds off his short course 100/200 free and 100 fly times, and showed significant improvement in long course meters as well. At 2016 Winter Juniors West, he finished top-8 in the 50 free (2nd), 100 free (3rd), and 100 fly (7th), earning PBs in the 50 free and 100 fly. Previously in 2016 he had wrapped up his LCM season with a win in the 100m free at 2016 NCSA Summer Championships, as well as A-final finishes in the 50m free, 100m back, and 50/100m fly, and a 9th in the 200m free.
In a conference that boasts a good chunk of the sprinters competing at FINA World Championships this summer (e.g., Caeleb Dressel, Michael Chadwick, and Zach Apple, and that’s just Team USA), Bobo’s 100 free would have scored in the B final and his 50 free in the C final, at 2017 SEC Championships.
With the graduation of top sprint scorers Cory Bolleter and Jacob Gonzales, the Aggies will rely on Bobo, together with rising sophomores Adam Koster and Raiz Tjon-A-Joe, who just finished outstanding freshman seasons, to form the nucleus of the A&M sprint crew.
Top times:
| SCY | LCM | |
| 50 free | 19.90 | 23.58 |
| 100 free | 43.56 | 50.83 |
| 200 free | 1:38.18 | 1:53.83 |
| 100 fly | 48.13 | 56.00 |
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWpz9lPFUwF/?taken-by=clayton_bobo
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Things are brewing for the Aggies. Watch A&M is coming with Coach Jay and Coach Jason leading the charge!
Super decision Clayton! Great school academically & athletically!! Enjoy your time in Aggieland. Welcome to the Aggie Family!!!
Congrats!! What a great addition and best of luck! Gig ‘Em!
Surprising
Guess he really wanted to stay in-state and be an Aggie or maybe Texas has nothing left to offer in terms of scholarship dollars. I am going to say it is a little bit of both.
That’s what I thought. I did notice Eddie joking with him on deck at Sectionals two weeks ago so they certainly weren’t strangers.
Texas is notiorious for not giving any athletic scholarship money before an athletes junior year of college.
Don’t forget that Texas A&M’s assistant Jason Calanog was the primary coach of a young swimmer who once went sub-19…in high school. And if the A&M men have a long history in anything, it’s sprinting.
I believe a baboon could have coached Caleb Dressel to swim fast. Athletes make the coach, right? I’m sure Jason is a great coach, but honestly…….
Bob – In trying to refute the point, you’ve actually validated it. If the coach matters, then it seems Jason knows what he’s doing. If the coach doesn’t matter, then Clayton should be just as successful at A&M as he is at Texas.
I don’t normally soak this bluntly, but that’s an ignorant statement. Dressel, Schooling, & Murphy all swam for Jason as high schoolers. Was that all coincidence? All of them still seem to hold Jason in high regard. When Dressel went 40.00, he gave the trophy to Jason. A&M athletes have seen tremendous success in the last few years, smashing records and dropping huge times. Jay Holmes made a brilliant hire with Jason. He’s innovative, friendly, creative and motivational and a strong recruiter. But thanks for giving him bulletin board material to make him work even harder.
*I don’t normally SPEAK this bluntly… *