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Evan Petty, who has been one of the hottest names in the early returns to racing after the coronavirus pandemic, has verbally committed to the defending NCAA Champion Cal Golden Bears.
A senior at Ensworth High School, Petty is expected to join the Golden Bears in the fall of 2021, and was one of the top remaining recruits in the class to commit.
As a sophomore, Petty was 4th in the 200 IM and 5th in the 100 back at the Tennessee High School State Championship meet, but didn’t swim at the state meet as a junior in February.
In 2019, he won 3 Southeastern Swimming LSC titles, topping the 50 yard back, 100 yard back, and 200 yard backstrokes. He was also a Winter Juniors – East finalist in the 100 yard backstroke last December, swimming 48.79.
Petty celebrated his commitment, announced last Tuesday, with two more best times over the weekend at a Nashville Aquatic Club intrasquad. There he posted best times in the 50 yard free and 200 yard back.
Best Times in Yards:
- 50 free – 20.74*
- 100 free – 46.06
- 100 back – 47.99*
- 200 back – 1:46.35*
- 100 fly – 50.01
- 200 fly – 2:04.38
- 200 IM – 1:50.63*
* – Best times swum since meets resumed this summer after coronavirus quarantines.
Cal had one of the best backstroke programs in the country last season, though they didn’t get to see that come to fruition at the NCAA Championship meet, which was eventually canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Golden Bears had two swimmers rank in the top 8 nationally in the 200 back with Daniel Carr (1:37.87 – 4th) and Hugo Gonzalez (1:39.66 – 8th) both achieving that. They were the only school in the country with two swimmers in the top 8.
Carr is the cherry on top of a loaded class for the Cal men, who are likely winding down their 2021 recruiting and turning their focus to the fall of 2022. Also in the class of 2021 for the Golden Bears are the 6th-ranked recruit Jack Alexy, 14th-ranked recruit Trent Frandson, Swedish star Robin Hanson, Sean Swift, Jacob Soderlund, Kai Crews, and Gabriel Jett.
That class is loaded with backstrokers, including Crews (48.1/1:46.9) and Jett (48.4/1:44.6). That follows a 2020 class that included one of the best high school backstrokers of the last decade Destin Lasco (45.9/1:40.7).
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He’s got a great natural feel for the water, it’ll be fun to watch his progress!
good luck,,,,but kids from the Nashville area never seem to acquit themselves once they get to the next level
You sure about that? I pulled up a few examples from the times database. Jarel Dillard, who is at Tennessee, has gone from 55.0 to 53.0 in the 100 breaststroke and 2:01.7 to 1:56.1 in the 200 breaststroke.
Ella Nelson was the ACC runner-up last year as a freshman in the 200 breast and 400 IM, and set school records in both, at Virginia.
Alex Walsh seems to be doing pretty good so far in a small sample size to start her freshman year.
Why are you just making stuff up? Another example on top of Braden’s is Klinsky at Miami. He has continued to improve and was a huge team contributor (and individual conference champ + runner up) at the 2020 MAC conference, not to mention years prior. Get out of here with your FAKE NEWS! CLOWN ALERT!!!!!!
Excellent swimmer, and obviously a fantastic backstroker. But why oh why would you include that 200 fly time?
why not🤷🏽
Congrats to you, Evan! Side note: Is Michael McGallivray from Canada still slated to join Cal in that class?
Congratulations and welcome to Cal, Evan! We are thrilled to have you join the team in Berkeley. Best wishes for a successful senior year in the pool and (virtual) classroom.