The TCU Horned Frogs will begin a new era next year, as they move into the Big 12 Conference and major BCS college athletics.
The men’s swim team has prepared itself well for the move by landing a big-time recruit out of Houston for the 2nd-straight year. Last year, it was Cooper Robinson, who ended his freshman season as the sixth-ranked freshman nation-wide in the 200 back.
This year, they’ve dipped back into that same pool and signed Harrison Bui from the Houston Swim Club and Clements High School.
Bui is only the 25th-ranked male swimmer in the state of Texas by collegeswimming.com, but there’s a few caveats to that ranking. First, his best times haven’t been updated recently. During his senior season, he placed 2nd at the Texas 5A State Championships in 50.50, but he was actually faster at the Chespeake Pro-Am in Oklahoma City in December with a 49.95.
In the 100 breaststroke, at the Regional Championships, he swam a 56.49 to win the title. But here’s the subtle caveat (if you haven’t picked it up yet) – he’s the rarest of combinations: a 100 backstroker/breaststroker combination. For those unfamiliar with the high school swimming schedule, the 100 backstroke and 100 breaststroke lie back-to-back, with hardly enough time to cool down in between.
When he’s able to concentrate on one of those two events in college (most likely the breaststroke – he’s also got a 2:03.3 in the 200), he could be really outstanding. That 56.4 in the 100 breast was swum right after swimming the 100 back (and then right afterward, he split a 47.87 anchor on Clements’ 400 free relay).
He will have tall shoes to fill after the graduation of TCU’s Edgar Crespo finished up his eligibility last season. He is one of only two NCAA qualifiers for the Horned Frogs men in the last 15 years.
Houston Swim Club and head coach Gilbert Legaspi sent two swimmers to the TCU women last year – Van-Anh Hoang (another breaststroker) and Ali Bleasdell, who had a very good freshman butterfly season with a best of 2:00 in the 200.
This is the first signing for TCU that we’ve seen this year.
Coaches, parents, and swimmers: if you have a signing to announce, please send the information (along with a picture!) to [email protected]
Jacob Wallace the Texas HS state champ in the 100 back is going to A&M:
https://twitter.com/#!/wallace_jacob/status/187369401643831296
Congrats to Harrison and his club coach Gilbert Legaspi. You can always spot Coach Gilbert. He and his team members are almost always smiling and swimming fast!