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USA Swimming Scholastic All-American Alex Gallagher of Hudson High School in Ohio has announced his verbal commitment to the University of Kentucky, beginning in the fall of 2024. Gallagher trains and competes year-round with Hudson Explorer Aquatic Team, also located in Hudson, Ohio.
“I’m incredibly excited to announce my verbal commitment to the University of Kentucky to continue my academic and swimming careers! I’m thankful for the constant support of my family, teammates and friends throughout the years. A huge thanks to Coach Matt Davis and all of my HEAT, HHS and GYB coaches who have helped me to reach this goal. Finally, I would like to thank Coach Lars Jorgensen, Coach Michael Camper and Coach Jordan Lieberman for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this amazing program.. Go Cats 🐱 #BBN 🔵⚪️”
Gallagher specializes primarily in breaststroke and IM events, and owns Summer Junior National qualifying times in the 100 and 200 breast. This summer he finished his long course season at the Futures Championship in Geneva, where he earned top-16 finishes in both breaststroke races. He logged a best time by a few tenths to take 12th in the 100m (1:05.48), while in the 200m he swam a 2:22.24 to finish 11th.
At Futures he also set big best times in the IM events, highlighted by a two second drop in the 200 IM to finish 25th (2:11.11). He took about a second off in the 400 IM, stopping the clock at 4:46.29 to take 30th overall.
He hasn’t quite reached his best times in his primary events this short course season, but has improved in others. At Winter Juniors – East, he hit a season best time of 1:53.44 in the 200 IM to finish 105th overall. He also time trialed the 100 fly, where he hit a best time to record a 50.97. Meanwhile in the breaststroke races, he’s been as fast as fast as 56.04 and 2:05.28 this year.
Top SCY Times:
- 100 breast – 55.23
- 200 breast – 2:00.17
- 200 IM – 1:51.12
- 400 IM – 4:03.00
The Wildcats finished 8th out of 10 teams at the 2023 SEC Championships. It took a 53.90 to advance to finals in the 100 breast and a 1:58.16 in the 200, meaning for now, Gallagher is outside of scoring range.
Kentucky’s breaststroke squad was led by Henry Miller, who posted a 53.90 and 1:56.05 at the SEC Championships to finish 24th and 18th, respectively. JT Broome was the next best performer, coming in at 54.68 and 2:00.05 to take 30th and 29th at SECs. Miller is a senior this year and will be gone when Gallagher arrives, but he’ll get to train with Broome for two years.
Gallagher joins Chase Swearingen, Jack Haywood, Grayson Nye, and Jacob Pins in Kentucky’s class of 2028. Headlining the class so far is Swearingen, who was the 10th-ranked recruit of the class in SwimSwam’s recruit rankings.
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