NEW COMMIT: High school junior James Plage of Glastonbury, Conn. has declared his verbal intention to swim for NC State beginning in the fall of 2020.
Primarily a distance freestyler, Plage swims year-round with the Aquabears under head coach Jon Levine and owns a pair of U.S. Open cuts. The USA Swimming Scholastic All-American placed fifth in the mile and 11th in the 500 free at Juniors East in December after winning the latter at Ithaca Speedo Sectionals last March. Plage capped off his long course season with gold in the mile, silver in the 800m free and bronze in the 400m free at Richmond Futures this past summer.
He told Swimming World:
“I am beyond excited to announce my verbal commitment to continue my swim and studies at NC State! I cannot thank everyone enough for supporting me and getting me to this point! Go Pack! #PBG”
His best times include:
- 500 free – 4:24.35
- 1000 free – 9:09.60
- 1650 free – 15:14.52
- 200 fly – 1:51.95
- 400 IM – 3:58.80
Even with 1.5 years of club swimming still to go before arriving in Raleigh, Plage’s best mile time would’ve scored in the top-20 at the 2018 ACC Championships. He has made significant improvements over the past two seasons, dropping 19 seconds in his 500, 28 seconds in his 1000 and nearly a minute in his mile.
If you have a commitment to share, please send a photo and quote via email to hs@swimmingworld.com.
