Two elite sprinters have joined Texas Ford Aquatics.
U.S. National champion Matt King and two-time Olympian Santo Condorelli have both registered with the club of late, joining the professional group that trains with former Alabama head coach Coley Stickels.
King, 21, was an All-American in 2021 as a freshman with Alabama, placing fifth in the 100 freestyle at the Men’s NCAA Championships, and followed up by placing seventh in the 100 free and 12th in the 50 free the following year after transferring to Virginia.
King then had a breakout summer, winning the 2022 U.S. National title in both the men’s 50 free (21.83) and 100 free (48.44), ranking him as one of the top American swimmers in the long course pool last year.
He raced the first half of his junior season at Virginia but didn’t compete in the second semester, having gone home to deal with a family matter.
King briefly trained under Stickels during his freshman year at Alabama, with Stickels having resigned as head coach in December 2020.
Condorelli, 28, grew up in the United States and trained with the Bolles School Sharks, notably winning the 2013 U.S. Junior National title in the 50 free before changing sporting citizenship and representing Canada at both the 2015 World Championships and 2016 Olympics while competing at USC in the NCAA.
In November 2018, Condorelli was cleared to represent Italy internationally and went on to swim for the country at both the 2019 World Championships and 2021 Olympics. In Tokyo, he won an Olympic silver medal as a prelim member of the Italian men’s 400 free relay.
Condorelli’s last competition on record came in December 2021 (in Rome), while King last raced at the U.S. Open this past December.
Condorelli was given an 18-month suspension from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) retroactive to June 2022, meaning he was to be suspended through December 2023. The suspension included him being ineligible to train with a club prior to the last quarter of the suspension. However, Condorelli told SwimSwam the suspension was the result of a clerical error and that it’s no longer intact.
The Texas Ford pro group, dubbed the “TFA Pro Team”, includes the likes of Miranda Tucker, Morgan Scott, Jacob Molacek, Marina Spadoni and Tyler Sesvold.
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These poor kids are suffering from Stockholm syndrome; they’re being abusively manipulated into believing they can only find success under coley. Speaking from personal experience, Coley Stickles destroys an athlete’s mental health. Furthermore, his training does not hold up long term. His apparent “success” at Alabama was completely due to inherited athletes.
Seems like coleys former swimmer margo is now destroying athletes mental health at bama now. Something in common there
Except none of these athletes are kids and all of them seemed to have had a positive experience with Coley at Alabama. Not sure how these pro athletes are being manipulated as they could swim anywhere they choose. I highly doubt Coley would have this type of following (as he has had for years) if he “destroyed their mental health.” People keep coming from all over the world to swim for him despite these types of unsubstantiated claims. His success at Bama was due to innovative coaching and excellent recruiting (I also recall the women being unranked before he got there). He has shown time and time again a high rate of success at every program he has been at.
comments like this are abusive and total bs. If he didn’t work for you–move on
Sounds like SMU isn’t too far away. Could form a SMU country for santo to represent them next summer.
Santo is a legend of a sport
Is Texas Ford Aquatics a country, then?
Comment of the week.
Does this mean he’s not swimming for Virginia in the fall?
Nobody has said that explicitly, but the response from Virginia leads me to believe that he’s probably not.
This sure sounds odd. He’s from Oregon, was doing so well under DeSorbo & now…a start up club in Texas going into an Olympic cycle? Makes no sense.
I can’t think of a single US male swimmer who had a more distinct breakout long course season than Matt King last summer. He went from a maybe makes semis at Olympic Trials to a very good bet to make the team in the 4×100 free relay.
Don’t forget that he did train with Coley for a short period in Alabama. So he at least has some familiarity with the coach.
We actually just spoke with Matt about his plans, so stay tuned for more info.
Matt is not from Oregon, he grew up in Washington outside of Seattle.
To many people on the East Coast, Washington and Oregon are interchangeable.
Matt King is an amazing athlete and will have continued success wherever he swims!
Next Article:
Matt King, National Champion, Retires from Swimming
The Squids do not buckle or yield