Harrison Pierce, who swims for the Tide team in Virginia, has verbally committed to Virginia Tech.
Pierce is first-and-foremost badly needed sprint depth for the Virginia Tech men, as sophomore Joe Bonk is their only returning sub-20 second 50 freestyler this coming season. Pierce has been 20.50 and 45.34 in the 50 and 100 yard freestyles individually.
He’s also got great potential in the 100 yard fly, with a 48.85.
He’ll join what is a very young, but very talented, sprint group with a lot of potential, as the Hokies’ relative youth looks like its due to hit a program high-point at either the 2015 or 2016 NCAA Championships.
His coach at Tide Swim Team, Josh Fulton, described him as an “athletic” prospect who “thrives on relay swims.” That is evidenced by some of the impressive numbers he’s put up on relays: at the NCSA Junior National Championships, he split 19.69 in the 50 yard free on a relay, he’s been 44 in the 100 yard free on a relay, and this summer split a 24.7 50 fly long course on a relay.
He was part of the Tide 200 meter medley relay that broke the 15-18 National Age Group Record this summer, along with Nathaniel Dacruz, Austin Temple, and Austin Ryan (there’s some other very, very good recruits that are coming out of that quartet.)