Photo Courtesy: Griffin Scott
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MCLEAN, Virginia, October 12. Andrew Seliskar, the second-ranked recruit in the nation according to CollegeSwimming.com, has committed to attend the University of California-Berkeley after his senior year at Thomas Jefferson S&T in Virginia.
There’s good reason why Seliskar is ranked so high in the Class of 2015 as the Nation’s Capital Swim Club member is outright dominant in his events. Most of the highly-ranked swimmers in the class have top times ranked in the 900s in terms of power points, but Seliskar nearly has every event on his resume in the 1000-1100 range.
Seliskar, who won the 200-meter fly, 200-meter IM and 400-meter IM events at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships this summer, had some of his fastest times ever at the 2013 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships. Seliskar clocked a blistering 1:59.84 in the 200-meter IM then.
In terms of the NCAA-heavy short course yards resume, Seliskar holds a 1:52.21 in the 200-yard breast, a 1:43.22 in the 200-yard IM and a 3:41.19 in the 400-yard IM. And, that’s just his core group of events.
While Seliskar is most know for his breaststroke, butterfly and IM skills, he’s also going to provide an immediate impact to Dave Durden’s sprint medley with a sizzling fast 50-yard back time of 20.36. Seliskar is also one of the most versatile recruits in recent history with a 1:42.23 in the 200-yard back, a 1:42.55 in the 200-yard fly, a 46.89 in the 100-yard back and a 53.24 in the 100-yard breast.
The big question for Durden will be whether he follows suit with the women’s coach at California Teri McKeever, and has his star recruit fill in holes on the team like Missy Franklin did her first year with freestyle events instead of focusing on her backstroke dominance. Or, whether Durden will have Seliskar continue to develop where he is most dominant in the breaststroke and IM events.
Seliskar is also a multiple-time national age group record setter with the 200-meter IM with current NAGs in the 200-meter IM (15-16) and 400-meter medley relay (15-16). He also holdes short course NAGs in the 200-yard breast (15-16) and 200-yard IM (15-16).
There’s little doubt that Seliskar is going to continue to get even better as his senior season progresses at NCAP.
Well excuse me for living but I can’t think of a single male prep swimmer save perhaps Gunnar Bentzho would/COULD rank ahead of this kid! I know were I starting a college team and I could have my pick of the litter aside from Phelps/Spitz I’d take Seliskar in a heartbeat.
Especially now that Phelps status for Rio is so uncertain Seliskar has a great shot at making the team in one of several events. Bluest of the blue-chippers in my not-so-humble opinion!
CollegeSwimming, while a great site…
1. uses only the times swimmers or coaches enter.
2. uses a rather weird algorithm to determine ranking.
3. has Seliskar and three other swimmers in his class all tied with a “power index” of 1.00.
All that to say, I agree with Bill, Seliskar is clearly the top recruit in this year’s class. Best of luck at Cal!
The same rankings have Ledecky as 7th in the women’s rankings. Sorta suspect at the upper end.
Ladecky is great but her value is diminished because she is only a stud in 1 relay
As Bart alluded to, CollegeSwimming’s recruiting rankings are heavily weighted towards sprinters. The most valuable swimmers at the NCAA level are swimmers like a Cesar Cielo who can impact the maximum amount of relays.
There’s a high likelihood that Ledecky could start developing her 100-yard free this year during the high school year to potentially get on a 400-free relay at Stanford. But, she’s going to have a tough time making the 200 free relay, 200 medley relay or 400 medley relays with someone like a Simone Manuel ahead of her for those spots.