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Ohio State’s Alex Quach Taking Olympic Redshirt; James Ward Denied Eligibility

Big Ten champion Alex Quach is taking an Olympic redshirt season in 2023-24 to prepare for Paris 2024 with coach Adam Kable at the New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) back home in Sydney, Australia.

Quach, a three-time Big Ten finalist in first two seasons with the Buckeyes, told SwimSwam he’s still undecided whether he’ll return to Columbus for his final two seasons of eligibility after the Paris 2024 Olympics next summer. He already had major international experience before committing to Ohio State, having represented Australia at the 2019 World Junior Championships.

As a sophomore this past season at the 2023 Big Ten Championships, Quach placed 7th in the 200 IM (1:44.43), 8th in the 100 back (46.89), and 8th in the 100 fly (45.95). He went on to miss scoring at the NCAA Championships in the 100 fly by less than a tenth of a second (45.33). As a freshman at the 2022 Big Ten Championships, he won the 100 fly in a then-meet record of 44.74, earned a runner-up finish in the 200 IM (1:42.47), and placed 3rd in the 200 fly (1:41.81). He capped his rookie campaign with an 11th-place effort in the 100 fly at NCAAs (45.10), but he hasn’t been sub-45 seconds in the event since.

The departure of Quach means that the Ohio State men now must replace half of their medley relays next season after fellow Australian James Ward had two appeals for eligibility relief denied by the NCAA over the offseason. Quach led off the Buckeyes’ 200 medley relay team at NCAAs this past season, splitting 21.29 on the backstroke leg before Ward went 20.09 on the butterfly leg to help the squad place 16th.

Replacements might be tricky to come by next season. Ward and Quach were Ohio State’s top two butterfly specialists, leaving rising senior Jean-Pierre Khouzam (45.94 100 fly) to fill the void. However, Khouzam is also their best 100 backstroker at the moment (47.58). German prospect Cornelius Jahn would be an ideal candidate to step up in backstroke events next season and give the men’s medley relays a shot of staying within NCAA scoring range, but he’s deferring enrollment until after the Paris 2024 to try to make the German Olympic team. The team’s fastest 100 backstroker last season, senior Thomas Watkins (46.01), moved back to New Zealand and won’t be taking a fifth year, leaving Ohio State with a gap to fill.

Ward was also one of Ohio State’s best freestylers last season, helping the Buckeyes’ 200 free relay place 16th at NCAAs with a 19.17 anchor and splitting 42.24 on the second leg of the men’s 400 free relay that placed 15th. Ohio State ended up finishing 11th as a team at NCAAs, two spots worse than the year before but their fourth top-11 finish in a row — the Buckeyes’ longest streak since 1969-75.

Ward told SwimSwam that he was all set for his fifth year with classes and living arrangements in order before the NCAA twice denied his appeals for eligibility relief. He did not compete during the 2020-21 season that granted college athletes an extra season of eligibility, but he was only unable to do so because he was locked down in Australia.

It was the latest bout of bad luck for Ward, who had previously been forced to transfer twice from his prior schools, Eastern Carolina and Pacific, due to budget cuts. He’s now training in Melbourne, Australia.

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ClubCoach
1 year ago

Is there a running list of NCAA swimmers taking an Olympic reddhirt year?

Cbus parent
1 year ago

C. Jahn is deferring a year to try to make German Oly team.

Swim fast
1 year ago

Can’t believe the NCAA denied Ward’s 5th year of eligibility after he obviously faced numerous circumstances beyond his control. Yet the NCAA has allowed total mayhem with NIL.

ReneDescartes
Reply to  Swim fast
1 year ago

Those two things are not the same.

Meeeee
Reply to  ReneDescartes
1 year ago

Thanks for the tip

Swimmir
Reply to  Swim fast
1 year ago

The NCAA didnt allow NIL deals. The Supreme Court did. They hated NIL cuz they lose money. Many court cases forced the NCAA to allow NIL

Riley Overend
Reply to  Swimmir
1 year ago

Common misconception but the Supreme Court didn’t actually allow NIL, that was California and other state legislatures that forced the NCAA’s hand on the issue

Last edited 1 year ago by Riley Overend
Nick the biased Aussie
1 year ago

Good to see he’s going for it.
Making it harder for Cody to get that 2nd 100 Fly position.

SHRKB8
Reply to  Nick the biased Aussie
1 year ago

100fly at Aussie trials going to be nuts, so many athletes so close. Can see a big name or 2 missing out from some young guns firing off big time.

Troyy
Reply to  Nick the biased Aussie
1 year ago

Not sure this makes it any harder.

Verram
Reply to  Nick the biased Aussie
1 year ago

So many contenders for that second spot but not many can swim sun 51.5 consistently especially at World level including Kyle Chalmers

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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