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Andrew Zou, a high school junior from Longhorn Aquatics in Austin, Texas, has made a verbal commitment to the application process* at Princeton University. He will begin in the fall of 2024.
“I am beyond humbled and honored to announce my verbal commitment to the application process to Princeton University. I thank God for this opportunity, along with my family, friends, and coaches who have supported me on my journey. Lastly, I’d like to thank Coach Matt and Coach Abby for this amazing opportunity. Go Tigers!”
Zou is the top 200 breaststroker in the class of 2024 and we ranked him #15 on our Way Too Early list of boys’ recruits. He was runner-up in the event at Winter Juniors West in December, blasting a PB of 1:56.75 in finals. He also earned a PB in the 100 breast (54.51) to place 11th. He was invited to the 2022 National Select Camp based on his 2:16.38 in the LCM 200 breast this past summer.
Zou attends Regents School in Austin. As a sophomore last season, he won the 200 IM (1:51.24) and 100 breast (55.17) at the TAPPS (Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools) Division 2 State Championships. In 2021, he was runner-up in both events (1:51.87/56.26). After high school season, Zou competed first at College Station Sectionals, then Austin Sectionals. At the latter, he clocked PBs of 54.48 to finish second in the 100 breast, and 1:50.48 to come in sixth in the 200 IM.
This summer, he kicked off long course season with a finals appearance (21st) in the 200 breast at International Team Trials. In July, he swam the 100/200 breast and 200 IM, finaling in all three events, at Phillips 66 Nationals. He wrapped up the summer at Speedo Junior Nationals, where he placed 10th in the 200 breast (2:16.38) and clocked a PB of 2:07.80 in the 200 IM.
Zou has two siblings and a dog named Boba. He enjoys playing percussion (cowbell candidate?).
Best SCY times:
- 100 breast – 54.48
- 200 breast –1:56.75 (best in class)
- 200 IM – 1:50.48
- 400 IM – 3:57.26
Zou will suit up for the Tigers in the fall of 2024 with sprinter Logan Noguchi. His 200 breast time would have scored for Princeton in the A final (along with then-sophomore Brian Lou) at the 2022 Ivy League Men’s Championships. He also would have been a B finalist in the 100 breast and a C finalist in the 400 IM.
*Note: A verbal commitment between an Ivy League coach and a prospective student-athlete is not an offer of admission, as only the Admission Office has that authority. The coach can only commit his or her support in the admission process. Ivy League Admission Offices do not issue “Likely Letters” before October 1 of the prospective student-athlete’s senior year of high school. The Likely Letter, while issued after an initial read of the student’s application, is not an offer of admission to the university.
If you have a commitment to report, please send an email with a photo (landscape, or horizontal, looks best) and a quote to [email protected].
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In addition to being a dedicated athlete, Andrew is an terrific student. A Goal Achiever!
Beast
Very exciting – congratulations!!
Whoa!!!! Those times are insane! Princeton’s top 20 NCAA finish is on the horizon
Way to go! Princeton is an amazing school!
Wow Princeton putting together a great 2024 class. Andrew is going to be an absolute beast.
Yes, these are good gets for Princeton, but these kids are clearly more focused on academics.
Anyone expecting ivies to make waves at NCs prepare to have your expectations subdued
Dean Farris, Matt Fallon, Raunak Khosla?
Obviously Farris was an exception and a one man recking crew, but I would be shocked if any Ivy League school places top 15 (even top 20) at NCs this year.
Fallon is a one trick pony at the 200 breast, and at best, picks up 18 points as there’s no way he’ll beat Marchand.
You need at least 60-70 points to get top 15 (maybe even more this year) and 30-45 ish to get top 20, so it’s highly unlikely that any ivies place this high.
I’ll certainly be rooting for the ivies, but people expecting top 15 results from a few good recruits need to rethink their expectations
You seem to forget Fallon had one of the best 1000 times out of HS and is also elite at the 4IM (just swims the 100 instead). Maybe the Ivies aren’t quite at top 10 level yet, but that’s not a reason to dismiss the entire league
Re Fallon, he indeed had an elite high school 1000 (856 without competition) and an elite 400 IM (344 as a 16 yr old) but I think his approach to the sport is a little different (and IMHO smarter) than most other swimmers, in a way that doesn’t necessarily conduce to maximizing points at conferences or NCAAs. Instead of spreading himself thin, trying to be all things to all people, he seems to be focusing on a single event that he could conceivably win. This is esp true outside of the NCAA as he is obviously a better LCM than SCY swimmer (where contra Andrew he is about a second ahead of Marchand in the 2BR).
I wonder if this was part of his reasoning for picking Penn. At Cal or Texas or NC State or Florida or etc., he would need to maximize. At Penn…he can prioritize his goals (though I know they’d never say that out loud).
Dad and brother also went to Penn, and there’s also Wharton
Great choice and congratulations Andrew! I was IM/BR at PU and dropped a lot of time and had a ton of fun. Go Orange and Black!