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Spencer Aurnou-Rhees, a junior at St. Charles Preparatory School in Bexley, Ohio, has announced his verbal commitment to the University of Texas for the 2022-23 school year. He will don a different shade of orange than his sister, Jordan Aurnou-Rhees, currently a freshman on the Tennessee women’s team.
“I am so excited to announce my verbal commitment to continue my athletic and academic career at the University of Texas!!! I feel so honored to have this opportunity and I was immediately impressed by both the coaches and athletes at Texas! I want to thank my parents, coaches, and teammates through the years for making this possible, I couldn’t have done it without y’all! Hook ‘em!!!🤘🤠”
Aurnou-Rhees swam with Ohio State Swim Club until that team was forced to suspend operations this summer. Now, he trains and competes with New Albany Aquatics Club in New Albany, Ohio. In the last two months of 2020, Aurnou-Rhees notched lifetime bests in the 200m IM and 400m IM at U.S. Open-Indianapolis. His 200 IM (2:04.01) was the #16 performance overall. His time was a PB by 1.7 seconds and earned him the right to swim the event at U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Wave 1. His 400 IM time (4:33.11) was the 46th-fastest overall and marked an improvement of .78 from his previous best. In December, at 18&U Winter Championships in Oxford, Ohio, Aurnou-Rhees updated his PBs in the SCY 50/100/200 free and 200/400 IM. He won the 200 free and 200 IM, was runner-up in the 1650 free and 400 IM, and came in 3rd in the 100 free and 10th in the 50 free.
In high school swimming, Aurnous-Rhees placed 5th in the 200 IM and 13th in the 500 free last season as a sophomore at the 2020 Ohio State Division 1 State Championships. He also anchored the 9th-place 200 free relay (21.23) and 12th-place 400 free relay (46.22), helping Columbus St. Charles finish in the top-10 in the boys’ standings.
Top SCY times:
- 200 IM – 1:48.62
- 400 IM – 3:53.50
- 50 free – 21.29
- 100 free – 45.29
- 200 free – 1:38.44
- 500 free – 4:33.68
- 1000 free – 9:43.51
- 1650 free – 16:04.89
Aurnous-Rhees will join a Texas class of 2026 that also includes #6 Alec Filipovic, #9 Charlie Crosby, Holden Smith, Manning Haskal, and Ryan Branon. He will enter an IM group led by Carson Foster, Jake Foster, Ethan Heasley, David Johnston, and Ethan Harder, all of whom should still be there when he arrives.
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