Kevin Douglas of the Flyers Aquatic Team in St. Louis, Missouri has verbally committed to the Missouri State Bears.
Douglas is a true, through-and-through distance swimmer, who has some good width to his events. In yards, his best times are:
- 200 free – 1:42.93
- 500 free – 4:37.03
- 200 back – 1:51.80
- 200 fly – 1:56.43
The backstroke and freestyle races appear to be the most likely of his swims to develop in the future, and his 200 free will be a key to the Bears’ future in the Mid-American Conference.
Last season, en route to the overall conference title, the Missouri State men won the 800 free relay in a new MAC Meet Record of 6:30.68. The four swimmers on that relay included three juniors and one sophomore, meaning this year that quartet is 75% on their last go-around.
Eastern Michigan, however, wasn’t far behind them, and the Eagles also return all four swimmers – but only 50% of their relay are seniors this season. Among those who aren’t on the way out the door is Andrew Henry, who led the team with a scorching 1:36.53 lead-off.
That means that Missouri State needs Douglas up to speed and in a hurry, and he should have a shot at making that relay as a freshman. He’s also not far from a top-16 worthy time at the conference level in the 500 free (about two seconds) and is already good enough to have scored last year in the 200 backstroke at the MAC Championships.
That 200 back is an area where Missouri State has developed one of the best swimmers in the history of the conference over the last four years: current senior Paul Le. If head coach Dave Collins can catch that fire again with Douglas, points should be eminent in that race as well.
Douglas chose Missouri State after trips to West Virginia and North Dakota.
In total, Douglas is a solid addition for the mid-major program, and grows the program’s foot-hold within the state.