Future H2Okies AJ and Rose Pouch
Las Vegas, Nevada’s AJ Pouch, the #10 recruit on our top-20 boys’ list for the class of 2019, has announced his verbal commitment to Virginia Tech.
“Excited and proud to announce my commitment to swim at Virginia Tech! Thank you to my friends, family, and coaches for pushing me and believing in me throughout my swimming career! Thank you to my mom for forcing me to swim, my coaches Lorena and Randy for believing in me and seeing my potential, and my family for making huge sacrifices to make this all happen! I am excited to continue this next chapter of my life as a hokie! ❤️🧡❤️🧡🦃 #GoHokies #TalonsUp”
AJ’s twin sister, Rose Pouch, has also given a verbal commitment to the H2Okies.
Pouch is a rising senior at Boulder City High School; he swims year-round with Team Rebel Aquatics. Over his three-year prep career thus far he has won the 100 breast and the 200 IM twice at NIAA Division 3A Swimming and Diving State Meets. As a freshman he won the 100 breast and placed 4th in the 500 free at the NIAA Division 1A State Meet.
In club swimming, Pouch won a tight final in the 200 breast at 2018 Speedo Junior Nationals in Irvine earlier this month, going 2:12.52. The previous week he swam a 2:11.96 at Nationals, which was the third-fastest American swim of all time for the 17-18 age group. He talked about his Juniors win and the upcoming Junior Pan Pacs in this video: https://staging.swimswam.com/aj-pouch-on-mens-200-breast-i-felt-like-i-belonged-video/ Pouch also finished 5th in the 100 breast at Juniors, and was top 8 in both those events at 2017 Winter Juniors West.
Pouch is the first class of 2019 name on the men’s side for new coach Sergio Lopez, who was himself a breaststroker (he won the bronze medal in the 200 breast at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul) and coaches post-grad breaststrokers Kevin Cordes and Chuck Katis.
Top SCY times:
- 200 breast – 1:56.47
- 100 breast – 54.81
- 400 IM – 4:03.46
- 200 IM – 1:50.46
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].
He swam that 400 at altitude, shouldn’t it be converted?
Yes I’ll convert it for you: 4:03.46
2019 First commits: Morgan and AJ will make great leaders for the Hokies2023 Team !!
wow