South Carolina landed a verbal commitment earlier this week from Junior National finalist Cody Bekemeyer, a decorated distance freestyler and IMer from Atlanta, Georgia. Competing for Collins Hill High School and SwimAtlanta, whose strong history includes recent distance products Will Freeman and Amber McDermott, Bekemeyer has developed into one the top recruits in the country.
Bekemeyer’s first breakthrough came at the 2013 NCSA Winter Junior Nationals as a high school sophomore, where he cut nearly 20 seconds from his previous best in the 1000 freestyle to finish 8th. From there, Bekemeyer has continued to see his stock rise, cutting 8 seconds off his best 500 yard freestyle, 20 seconds off his best 1650, and 10 seconds off his best 400 LCM over the next year. This past season, he registered top 10 finishes at Speedo Winter Juniors in the 500 and 1650 yard freestyles, along with a 5th place 800 meter freestyle at Summer Juniors.
A list of his best times:
500 yard freestyle: 4:21.96
1000 yard freestyle: 9:10.01
1650 yard freestyle: 15:10.71
200 yard IM: 1:49.48
400 yard IM: 3:53.30
400 meter freestyle: 3:58.43
800 meter freestyle: 8:06.86
1500 meter freestyle: 15:52.01
400 meter IM: 4:26.90
There’s no question Bekemeyer will be an immediate contributor for the Gamecocks; his personal bests in the 500 and 1650 freestyle would have been good for 15th and 11th place finishes, respectively, at 2014 SEC’s, a solid point total given SEC scoring goes to 24 places. With the 2014 graduation of Michael Flach and Gerard Rodriguez, the Gamecocks are left with a very thin distance group (although SEC finalist Marwan El Kamash is a good piece to build around). As a rising high school senior, Bekemeyer’s bests already place him 4th, 2nd, and 3rd in South Carolina history in the 500, 1000, and 1650 yard freestyles. Considering South Carolina didn’t have a single swimmer compete in the 1650 at 2014 SEC’s, head coach McGee Moody has to be elated to have a high-caliber long distance swimmer arrive on campus.