Shadow Hills, California native Dane Bell has made a verbal agreement to swim for the Drexel Dragons in 2015-16. Bell swims under Terry Stoddard at Swim Pasadena and for La Canada High School in La Canada, California. He is a member of the USA Swimming Scholastic All-America Team for 2013-14.
Bell is a six-time Rio Hondo League champion, having won the 200 free and 500 free all three years of his high school career thus far. At the 2014 CIF-Southern Section Division I Championships, he finished fifth in the 500 free (4:30.75), led off La Canada’s 200 medley relay (25.07), and anchored their 400 free relay (46.97).
His top short course times over the last two seasons are:
500y free: 4:30.40
1000y free: 9:28.46
1650y free: 15:51.35
100y back: 54.11
200y back: 1:52.83
400y IM: 4:07.48
The Dragons’ head coach Adam Braun has done a good job with recruiting over the last couple of years. School records are falling left and right and with the addition of Bell and Luke Hanner, more should follow. Bell’s 500 time would already top Drexel’s top-five list, while his 1000 would be second and his mile, third. Bell will join a training group that will include Zoltan Gercsak, who set the school record in the 1650 as a freshman last year, at the longer range, and Hanner at the shorter end, amongst others.
Bell is a great pickup for the Dragons, and will surely have a big impact beginning with his first days in uniform.