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Hank Poppe of the Walnut Creek Aquabears and San Ramon Valley High School has verbally committed to swim for Stanford University in the fall of 2016. Poppe, who stands at a towering 6’7”, will bring his breaststroke prowess to Palo Alto.
Poppe swims a 54.35 100-yard breast, which puts him near the top of Stanford’s breaststrokers. His 200-yard time stands at only a 2:02.00, but he’ll likely break the two-minute barrier under Stanford coach Ted Knapp’s tutelage. In meters, Poppe swims a 1:03.90 in the 100 and 2:25.03 in the 200 breast.
At the CIF California State Championships, Poppe won the 100-yard breast by 0.03 seconds ahead of Princeton commit Tyler Lin. He also swam the fly leg on the 200-yard medley relay in 22.68, helping his team to a second-place finish.
Hank will not be the first Poppe to swim for Stanford. His sister Heidi Poppe just completed her freshman year with the team and is also a breaststroke specialist. She just missed making top 16 at the NCAA Championships in the 100-yard breast.
Aquabears coach Mike Heaney thinks Poppe will be a perfect fit for the Cardinal. “He is an outstanding young athlete that will be a great asset to their program,” says Heaney.
Stanford finished sixth at last year’s NCAA Championships. The Cardinal is trying to bolster its roster and Poppe should be of help. They also landed one of the nation’s top recruits in Grant Shoults. Those two, along with Stanford’s returning talent, should provide a spark for the Cardinal to remain highly competitive.