Colorado Backstroker Hennessey Stuart Verbally Commits to NC State

The men’s high school class of 2014 doesn’t have a backstroker who is quite at the level of Jack Conger or Ryan Murphy, but Hennessey Stuart of the Denver Swim Academy is one of the best there is, an elite level recruit, and he’s verbally committed to swim for North Carolina State.

Stuart has yards bests of 47.80 and 1:43.64 in the 100 and 200 backstrokes. That already puts him in the time-range he needs to be an NCAA qualifier as a freshman, something that the Wolfpack didn’t have last year, and by the time he graduates high school, he could already be in NCAA scoring territory.

Stuart has also been 21.3 and 45.9 in the 50 and 100 yard freestyles, plus a 1:48 in the 200 IM – which looks like it will be his third individual event on the NCAA schedule right now.

At last year’s Colorado 5A State Championship meet (big schools), Stuart took the top seed out of prelims in a new State Record of 47.80; current Minnesota freshman Daryl Turner matched that in finals, and took the title, but Stuart now has one more year to get it back.

Stuart attends the same Regis Jesuit High School that produced swimmers like Missy Franklin and Clark Smith in last year’s class.

He joins previous commitments Colin Ellington, Ryan Held, and Anton Ipsen in this class.