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Hoggard High School’s Callie Parkes has announced her decision to swim for the University of Akron beginning in the 2022-2023 season. She swims club for the Waves of Wilmington and she is currently is junior in high school.
I’m excited to announce my verbal commitment and be apart of the University of Akron swim team! Special thanks to my family, teammates and coaches for getting me to where I am today! I look forward to continuing my academic and swimming career in 2022. Go Zips!
Parkes was a 2-time 2021 North Carolina HS 4A State Championships medalist. She swam the 50 and 100 free, and she anchored Hoggard’s 200 medley relay. She touched second in the 50 free, taking home a silver medal for her personal best time of 23.20. She also went a best time in the 100 free, touching third in a time of 50.05. Finally, she anchored her school’s relay, splitting a 50 free time of 23.08.
She also competed at the state championship her freshman year. She touched 10th in prelims of the 50 free, earning a spot in the B-final. She went a 24.15 in the evening, finishing 12th. She split a 50 free time of 24.21 swimming the anchor leg of Hoggard’s 200 free relay.
Parkes has 2021 Winter Junior Nationals cuts in the 50 free in both LCM and SCY. She competed at Juniors in 2018 and 2019. In 2018, she swam the 50 free (23.77) and the 100 fly (57.64), touching 73rd and 146th, respectively. She only swam the 50 free in 2018, finishing 84th in a time of 23.84.
Top SCY Times:
- 50 free – 23.20
- 100 free – 50.95
- 50 fly – 25.84
- 100 fly – 55.90
Parkes will be joining a strong swim program at the University of Akron. Her 50 and 100 free times would have ranked her 6th on the women’s team during the 2020-2021 season and her 100 fly would have been the team’s 5th fastest.
Her times would have placed her in the A-final of the 100 free and the B-final of the 50 free and 100 fly at the 2021 Mid-American Conference Championships. The Zips were the conference runners-up behind the University at Buffalo. Junior Sarah Watson tied Buffalo’s Antonia Naccarella as the top scorer at the meet. She took home gold medals for the 100 and 200 fly and the 200 IM.
The Akron Zips have already picked up verbals from Canadian breaststroker Elle Couture and backstroke specialist Camryn Leydig for its class of 2026.
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