Swimmer Nyah Funderburke Continues Family Legacy With Ohio State Commitment

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Swimmer Nyah Funderburke has verbally committed to Ohio State University, where she will continue a family legacy for the Buckeyes. A rising high school senior, she is expected to join Ohio State for the 2021-2022 season. She won’t have to travel far for college – she’s already a member of the Ohio State Swim Club.

Funderburke’s parents both attended Ohio State, where notably her father Lawrence played the last 3 years of his college basketball career. He led Ohio State to the 1992 Big Ten Championship before going on to an 11-year professional basketball career, including 8 years in the NBA.

Nyah Funderburke is a 3-time Ohio High School Division II State Champion individually, having won titles in 3 different strokes.

As a sophomore in 2019, Funderburke won the 50 free. But as a junior, she dropped that 50 free and instead swam both the 100 fly and 100 back, ultimately winning both races in spite of the shift. That helped lead the Columbus School for Girls to a 3rd-place finish at the meet as part of a 1-2 punch with Tennessee commit Jordan Aurnou-Rhees.

The 100 backstroke was a bit of a revelation for Funderburke as a junior. She came into the season with a lifetime best of just 58.97, and she cut four-and-a-half seconds off that time to win the Ohio state title in 54.35. She saw drops across-the-board during her junior season, though more modest in the 100 fly (a second).

Best Times in Yards:

• 50 free – 23.46
• 100 free – 52.47
• 50 back – 25.18
• 100 back – 54.35
• 100 fly – 54.68

The Ohio State women showed massive depth en route to the 2020 Big Ten title, which they won by almost 200 points over rivals Michigan. The butterfly races especially were a huge gap for the Buckeyes last season, where they scored just 9 points in the 100 and 35 points in the 200 fly. Those were the only races in which they scored fewer than 50 points, and in the two events combined they scored fewer points than any other single event in the lineup.

The Buckeyes were better in the backstrokes, especially the 100.

With Funderburke’s versatility and breakout backstroke season in 2019-2020, and already Big Ten scoring-worthy times in the 100 fly and 100 back, her upside feels huge for Ohio State both individually and as a versatile relay leg.

The Buckeyes already have a substantial class of 2021 committed, with 7 other swimmers publicly committed so far:

Ohio State Class of 2021/2025, so far

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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