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Nathan Wu, a junior at Santa Margarita Catholic High School in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, has committed to swim for the University of Southern California starting in the fall of 2024.
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Wu is primarily a breaststroker, holding Summer Juniors cuts in both the 100 and 200-yard distances, and also owns Winter Junior cuts in the 200 and 400 IM. He represents Evolution Racing Club out of Southern California swimming under Jeff Natalizio year-round.
Recently competing at the Pro Swim Series stop in Mission Viejo, Wu was a ‘C’ finalist in the 200 breaststroke, placing 21st in a time of 2:23.80. Two weeks later he dropped that time down to a 2:22.06 at the NOVA Speedo Grand Challenge, improving on his previous lifetime best of 2:22.28 set last summer.
At the 2023 CIF Swimming & Diving Championship, Wu teamed up with Humberto Najera, Daniel Verdolaga and Ramon Jiang to break the state meet record in the 200 medley relay in both the heats and final. Wu recorded back-to-back breaststroke splits of 25.23 and 25.31 as Santa Margarita ultimately finished in a time of 1:29.01.
In his individual events, he finished fourth in the 100 breast, touching in a time of 55.53. His prelim swim, the day before, was a 55.15. In the 200 IM he placed 10th, stopping the clock in 1:50.20.
Best SCY times:
- 100 Breast – 55.15
- 200 Breast – 1:58.94
- 200 I.M. – 1:50.17
- 400 I.M. – 3:57.28
At the 2023 Pac-12 Championships, Wu’s best times would have earned him spots in the C-finals of both breaststroke events. The Trojan’s top breaststroker, sophomore Chris O’Grady, placed eighth and fifth in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, respectively. Wu and O’Grady will overlap for one year at USC.
The Trojans finished fifth out of six teams at the Pac-12s and at NCAAs they finished 22nd with 31 points, albeit all from diving. In 2024, Wu’s freshman year, USC and fellow Pac-12 school UCLA will be joining the Big Ten conference.
Wu joins a 2028 class with fellow commits, World Junior Champ Sanberk Yigit Oktar, and fellow west coasters Cole Ballard and Thomas Olsen.
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Where is Ronald dalmacio?!