As the sun rises in the United States on National Letter of Intent signing day, Californian Corey Okubo has decided that he would like to swim in at Princeton University next fall.
The Ivy League is a bit different in their recruitment process, in that there’s no formal National Letter of Intent to sign this week, because there’s no scholarships awarded, and further they have not completed their admissions process (though they do award ‘likely letters’ saying that it will probably happen). Therefore, Okubo says that he is “committed to the process” of becoming a Tiger.
At any rate, Okubo is certainly the biggest recruit in this year’s class for Princeton, and one of the best in the last decade. His best times in yards:
- 100 back – 49.9
- 200 back – 1:46.1
- 100 fly – 48.4
- 200 fly – 1:46.0
- 200 IM – 1:47.0
- 400 IM – 3:49.7
While he would not have led Princeton in any one event last year, he would have been very close in several. Given what Rob Orr did with last year’s freshman class, who made huge contributions at the Ivy League Championships, Okubo’s got great potential. He should place in the top 8, at least, as a freshman at Ivys in whichever three individual events he swims, and could be looking at a top 3 finish in the 400 IM.
Okubo, who we had listed as the #10 recruit in our class of 2014, broke the Orange County Record in the 200 IM as a junior, and was the CIF Southern Section Champion in the 200 IM – just missing that record as well, by about a tenth.
Okubo is currently in Beijing, China competing as a part of the USA Swimming Junior World Cup team. At the last stop, in Tokyo, he finished 4th in the 400 SCM IM. He swims for the Aquazot Swim Club and University High School.
What a great kid and nice family.
This comment thread is an interesting contrast to the thread that we saw in the Katis-Transfer thread. In the latter, there were some people wondering aloud how Katis could punt on a Harvard degree and, in this one, there are obviously some people wondering how Okubo could bypass the chance to swim at a bigger swim school. Here’s my response to both:
Opportunities are what you make of it and great talent has a tendency to make great use of the ones that they have. Incredibly smart people can get a great education at practically any college in the United States and go on to have a tremendous career, provided they work hard and use all the resources available to… Read more »
Fun with stats!
Here are all the Ivy League (Mens) point scores at NCAAs since 2001. Someone feel free to correct me if I’m wrong:
2001
John Cole, Harvard – 500 Free (12th), 1650 Free (5th)
Dan Shevchick, Harvard – 400 IM (13th)
Mike Im, Harvard – 200 Back (14th)
George Gleason – 200 Back (11th)
2002
John Cole, Harvard – 500 Free (3rd), 1650 Free (2nd)
Dan Shevchik, Harvard – 400 IM (11th), 200 Back (14th)
2003
Garth Fealey – 100 Breast (16th)
Dan Shevchik, Harvard – 400 IM (16th)
John Cole, Harvard – 1650 Free (7th)
2004
Rassan Grant, Harvard – 100 Breast (13th)
David Cromwell,… Read more »
Congrats to Corey: incredible guy and a great swimmer. The Ivies are terrific schools academically, but they don’t do themselves any favors with some of their athletic policies. It’s admirable that an athlete needs to be fill out a complete application and be admitted to the school, but the mechanics need to be streamlined. Stanford has similar procedures, but recruits are given a definitive decision well before signing day so they can make informed decisions about their futures. Corey had an ideal list of schools which try to find the right balance between academic and swimming excellence: Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, Cal, and Michigan.
The lack of athletic scholarships and training restrictions are burdensome enough, but asking recruits with other… Read more »
How many NCAA finalists have the Ivy League schools produced in the past decade? Unsure as to why top recruits go to Ivy Leagues where there are no scholarships, minimal academic support for athletes, and very little history of success at the NCAA level
There are numerous reasons for why princeton
#1 – it’s the number one ranked school in the US
#2 – financial aid packages can equal scholarships from other schools without any conditions of swimming well
#3 – swimming lasts for 4 years, while a degree lasts forever (some recruits have their eyes on more than just swimming)
#4 – it’s the NUMBER ONE SCHOOL IN THE NATION
Why has Princeton not seen any success on the NCAA level if all of these things are true….
Backstroker- well, is anything straighttalk said not true? Did straighttalk argue that since these were true, it means automatic NCAA success? No, so I’m not sure the point of your response. You go to a place like Princeton because you see your four years as something more than a time to improve your swimming. Plenty of people have improved a lot at Princeton and Harvard (see robotic’s list- most on it were not “top recruits”), but I don’t think anyone chooses an Ivy expecting to develop into an NCAA champion or Olympian. Certainly scholarships attract many top recruits elsewhere, but you’ll always find a few who look past purely swimming related or financial issues and decide an Ivy is the… Read more »
the past ncaa’s, zupan and glenn made A finals and the previous nc’s jon Christensen made 2 finals. a few years before that, doug lennox made A finals. but it’s obvious backstroker, why you didn’t consider an ivy education.
Considered Ivies. Their lack of support for athletes and overall trend (there are a few exceptions) of swimmers improving very little over a college career turned me away. Oh and the lack of scholarships.
Since the male success has been established may I present evidence of NCAA success at Princeton: Alicia Aemisegger
2007: 500 free (3rd), 400 IM (2nd), 200 breast (15th)
2008: 500 free (5th), 400 IM (4th), 1650 free (8th)
2009: 500 free (10th), 400 IM (4th), 1650 free (3rd)
2010: 500 free (3rd), 400 IM (5th), 1650 free (2nd)
12/12 All-American titles.
crazy she never won an event though! wonder if she was mad?
She won plenty of Ivy league events…and she’s certainly not in the minority for people who never won an NCAA event.
Corey is such an amazing person! He’s gonna do great things at Princeton<3
#numberonefan
In my opinion, Princeton is pretty soft
How can you say that with a stud like sophomore Andrew Helber leading the Tigers? Who in P’18 will be the next Helber? Only time will tell. Go Corey!
HEFT?!?!, they may look soft, but they get very HARD when it counts! 5 ivy championships in a row and 8 out of last nine! hope ur not from Harvard!
If you were my child, I would wash your mouth out with soap. This forum has no room for debased language.
He seems extremely well-spoken, I can see why he would choose a top tier school like Princeton.