The first men’s top 10 recruit of the season verbally committed to Gregg Troy and the University of Florida, according to CollegeSwimming.com. Arthur Frayler is currently the number 12-ranked recruit in the class of 2012 and will be headed to Gainesville after he completes his senior season at Germantown Academy.
His immediate impact to the Gators probably outweighs his ranking and is probably more of an indication of his international focus (aka meters races) and his specialty, which is the distance freestyles. He’s already good enough to score A-finals in at least one event (the 1650 free) if it were swum today. He rarely swims fully-tapered yards races, especially in the mile, so his yards times are a bit misleading. His best 400 time, converted to yards, is a 4:21 (which is pretty similar to his true best 500 time of 4:23). His best 1500 time, converted to yards, is a 14:35. Even if you allow some leeway for the meters-to-yards conversion, that’s probably a top-4 (and definitely a top 6) time in the NCAA.
In 2010, Frayler ranked 15th in the (long course) mile in the World. Even though he’s only 17, he has a ton of experience and will get to campus already mature beyond his freshman status.
Frayler hasn’t developed much in the way of sprint speed yet, though that could come with age. For now, he might be valuable depth for the Gators’ 800 free relay, as he’s got a best time of 1:39.6 with still a year to go.
University of Florida has the best individual medley swimmers in the world…..college swimming is very competitive…
He’s no stranger to yardage – he swims for Germantown. He’ll be fine. Also, Florida did a great job with Signorin this year in the mile, and he’s also on the 10k team for WUGs. Florida also has a girl swimming the 25k at Worlds. Frayler is also a very good open water swimmer.
Andreina Pinto would probably be a top-three women’s miler at the NCAA level were she swimming collegiately, and she’d only be a sophomore next year. She trains with the Gator Swim Club.
No he wasn’t top 3. It has been a LONG time since they had anyone get top 3 in men’s or wormen’s. Arthur is not Lochte. He will not be able to switch to other events if the UF training lets him down. Just because they go a lot of yardage doesn’t mean they are a good program for the mile. They have recruited many talented distance swimmers..men and wormen….but haven’t done much with them! Sorry, the results speak for themselves!
Also, wasn’t Jan Wolfgarten top 3 at NCAA’s not too long ago?
@Joe… Some people forget, but Ryan Lochte actually was top 8 his freshman year. I can only assume he would have been top three had he continued his distance training. Also, look at the distance kids they signed for this years class. Omana, and Caldwell will be stud training partners. This distance group should have careers should rival Texas’ (McBroom and Wilcox)… @dummy… thanks for that info, I didn’t know that! What a bummer. They still have 3 extremely solid legs, Loughran would have put them over the top though.
Why did he pick UF? I can’t remember the last time they have had a male or female in the Top 3 at NCAA’s or done anything internationally in distance events???
Loughran would have really helped. Unfortunately, he only got 2 years of eligibility, and just finished up his second year.
I would say with the addition of a stud breaststroker (FINALLY!!!), Florida’s fortunes in relays are about to change. They will have an exciting 400 medley relay with Loughran, Elliot, Ciezlak, and DeBorde. Very young realy too!
Their 800 freestyle relay has always been great, the only relays that need real work are the 200 free and medley. They will be fine.