The Auburn Tigers have picked up a verbal commitment from South Florida Aquatic Club’s Julien Pinon. With a Winter National cut in the 200y freestyle, Pinon is a strong mid-distance freestyler with additional strength in the butterfly. He was also a member of France’s Junior National team in both 2013 and 2014.
Pinon’s Top Times (LCM in parentheses)
- 100 free – 46.01 (52.71)
- 200 free – 1:38.66 (1:53.43)
- 100 fly – 50.05 (56.82)
- 200 fly – 1:49.41 (2:05.56)
At the FHSAA (Florida) 2A Championships last season, swimming for state champion American Heritage School, Pinon was runner up in the 100 free and finished 3rd in the 200 free. On relay duty, Pinon was the fastest split of both of American Heritage’s free relays, anchoring 21.30 and 45.75, respectively, as they won both the 200 and 400 free relays. American Heritage won those championships by a dominant 81 points; that was their second consecutive state title.
Auburn only has three seniors on their 2015-16 roster, but one in particular, Arthur Mendes, was the Tigers’ top 100 flier last season. They have a small but mighty junior class, with the likes of Joe Patching, Michael Duderstadt. Kyle Darmody, and Taylor Copeland. Auburn will be losing all of this talent in a hurry, and Pinon brings in the free and fly speed to help offset some of those losses.
Pinon isn’t quite ready to contribute individually at the SEC level, where it took a 1:36.7 200 free and 1:46.8 200 fly to make it back to C finals, but he’ll help bulk up the free and fly groups of a young Auburn team.
The reason why I chose Auburn was for the incredible team spirit they had and how they motivated each other through the good and rough times… My goal is to one day swim on the Olympic team for France and I know Auburn will help me reach that goal. The coaching staff is incredible and I feel like I can communicate with them easily. Academically, they offer my dream major which is to pursue a career in aviation. Overall, Auburn is the perfect choice for me.
Pinon also told SwimSwam that he plans on swimming at French Nationals next spring as he hopes to qualify to compete at the 2016 Junior European Championships. The Auburn class of 2020 is looking deep, with other additions including Paolo Ricci, David Crossland, Brody Heck and Bryar Long, and Colin Bone.
If you have a commitment to report, please send an email to [email protected]