For the 2nd-straight year, the Texas A&M women have grabbed a big-time recruit out of the state of Georgia. Last year it was the #2-ranked recruit, Sammie Bosma. This year, even with the Jack Bauerle recruiting machine working at full-force, they’ve earned a verbal commitment from #1, Katherine Huff. She’s another important piece for the Aggies who need to add some depth to their sprint free relays that they were lacking last year (and this year).
Huff comes in with bests of 23.2/50.3/1:48.2 in the three freestyle races. That 200 time, even in an extremely talented class in the event, puts her among the top 20.
She also has bests of 55.1/55.3 in the 100 back and 100 fly, respectively. It will be interesting to see if Huff is pushed towards the 200 free or the sprintier of the sprints, or try and force the issue with the 200, where she seems to have good potential. Though coach Steve Bultman has never shied away from doubles (see freshman All-American Paige Miller last year), the 200 free is in a tough position in the middle of the day-2 event schedule to be able to combine with any of the other events. It has been done before.
When compared to another 2012 A&M commit, Claire Brandt, there are some fair comparisons. Both swimmers were unbelievably good sprinters in their early teens, and plateaued a bit in those primary events. At the same time, both have made huge improvements in their secondary events, which shows that there still may be untapped potential in them.
Huff made her first impression when she won both of her individual events at the Georgia State Championships as a freshman at Lakeside High School.
The future Aggie chose A&M over Virginia Tech and North Carolina, as well as others. Her club team is the Aiken-Augusta Swim League.
Katherine is the most amazing and gifted person the world has ever known. Her speed, matched with her incredible intelligence and kindness towards small animals is unparalleled. Her presence on this team will be one of the most profound in existence.
Huff a great swimmer– Aggies got a good one. She has another teammate relatively new to swimming who is pretty good too