Backstroker Sean Workman Verbally Commits to ACC Champs Virginia Tech

Sean Workman from the Edwardsville YMCA in Edwardsville, Illinois has verbally committed to the Virginia Tech Hokies.

Workman is primarily a backstroker and a Summer Junior Nationals qualifier. His best times:

• 100 Back: 49.31 (yards), 57.47 (meters)
• 200 Back: 1:46.04 (yards), 2:05.56 (meters)
• 200 IM: 1:50.44 (yards), 2:09.28 (meters)

Workman made four individual A-finals at this summer’s YMCA Long Course National Championships, including runner-up finishes in both the 50 and 100 meter backstrokes.

He also made three A-finals at Short Course Nationals in the spring, including another silver medal in the 200 back.

In other competition, swimming for O’Fallon High School, he was 3rd at the 2014 Illinois High School State Championship meet in the 200 yard IM.

This signing is a significant one for the Hokies. While they’ve got a lot of good, young talent in the 200 backstroke (they have two sophomores who were 1:44.2 or better last season), but both of their returning sub-48 second backstrokers are outgoing seniors.

Ironically, the 200 backstroke is where Workman exploded as a junior – he improved his best time by over five seconds between the 2013 and 2014 YMCA National Championships. He also dropped in his 100 over the same period, but it was a more modest second-and-a-half.

Workman’s addition should, at least in part, help offset North Carolina State’s addition of very good backstrokers Jon Burkett. Justin Ress, and Parker Campbell. While the former two of those have other specialties, and while NC State has a bigger class coming in, Workman is probably the best backstroker of the four on paper.