South Carolina is making a big push in their distance group in this fall’s men’s recruiting class. After getting a commitment from Bryce Kananowicz, and now have gotten a verbal commitment from SwimAtlanta’s Tomas Peribonio, who trains at the team’s John’s Creek site.
Peribonio has some freestyle versatility, but his middle-distance races are his best, along with the IM’s. He’s been 1:40.70 in the 200 and 4:28.67 in the 500. He’s also been 1:50.88 and 3:54.89 in the 200 and 400 yard IM’s.
He’s got two full seasons to drop about two seconds to be a scorer for the Gamecocks at the SEC Championships, which for a teenage boy is virtually nothing. The Gamecocks’ highest finisher in that race last year was senior Collin Kaden, who was 26th in a 1:49.5.
South Carolina’s star for the last three years has been Michael Flach, who is a senior this year, and it would seem no coincidence that all of a sudden, they’re getting a lot of good commitments from guys who are similar middle-distance/IM types as him.