NEW COMMIT: The University of Louisville has scored their second verbal commitment for the class of 2025, this time from Cincinnati, Ohio sprinter Owen Taylor. He’ll join Luke Shourds in The Ville at the start of the 2021-22 season.
Taylor, who owns a pair of Winter Juniors standards, does his club swimming with Powel Crosley Jr. YMCA. He capped off a successful long course season with five personal best times at YMCA LCM Nationals where he earned bronze in the 100m free and placed 13th in the 50m free. Last winter, he raced the 50/100 free combo at Juniors East before going on to finish 10th in the 100 free, 16th in the 200 free, and 21st in the 50 free at YMCA SCY Nationals.
A current junior at Saint Xavier High School, Taylor led his team to their 11th-straight Ohio State Championship title this past season while earning gold as a member of the 4×50 free relay. He raced to 10th in the 100 free and 12th in the 50 free as a sophomore while anchoring the runner-up 4×50 medley relay.
Photo Courtesy: Owen Taylor Instagram (@o.wen_taylor)
His best times include:
- 50 free – 21.11 (20.08 relay split)
- 100 free – 45.43
- 200 free – 1:39.81
- 50m free – 24.05 (LCM)
- 100m free – 52.45 (LCM)
- 200m free – 1:57.31 (LCM)
Taylor has improved tremendously in recent years. Over the course of the past two seasons, he has dropped over a second in the 50 free, four seconds in the 100 free, and 10 seconds in the 200 free. With just under two years of club swimming still to go before suiting up for the Cardinals in the fall of 2021, he will surely look to capitalize on his recent long course success heading into the upcoming short course season.
The Cardinals are fresh off a historic season where they were the team runners-up at the ACC Championships. Louisville finished a program-high fifth place at the NCAA Championships, surpassing their previous top finish of ninth in both 2012 and 2018. Their 212 points was also the most they’ve ever scored at NCAAs.
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