Charlotte Catholic senior Julia Menkhaus has verbally committed to swim for the University of Virginia beginning in the 2018-19 season. Menkhaus is a four-time North Carolina High School 4A individual champion; she won both the 100 fly and 100 back in her sophomore and junior years, and set the 4A state record in the 100 fly at the 2017 NCHSAA 4A State Championships.
Menkhaus swims year-round with SwimMAC Carolina. A USA Swimming Scholastic All-American, she was runner-up in the 100/200 backstrokes, third in the 200 fly, and fifth in the 400 IM at Winter Juniors last December.
Menkhaus was a nationally ranked gymnast with USA Gymnastics from ages 4-12 training 15-20 hours a week with former Russian and Canadian Olympic coaches in Charlotte until she transitioned into club swimming. She is the niece of Scott Jaffe, who swam for Cal and earned a bronze medal in the ’92 Olympics in Barcelona as part of the men’s 4×100 free relay team.
Menkhaus would have made the A finals in the 100 and 200 back, and been the sole Cavalier doing so, at 2017 ACC Championships. She would have joined UVA’s Kaitlyn Jones and Jennifer Markkand in the A final of the 200 fly, and Ellen Thomas and Shannon Rauth in the B final of the 100 fly. All four of those women will have graduated by the time Menkhaus shows up in Charlottesville. She also would have made the A final of the 400 IM with Kaitlyn Jones and Rachel Politi.
UVA really loaded up on backstrokers this past recruiting season. Menkhaus will join a super-charged backstroke group consisting of incoming freshmen Marcie Maguire (53.61/1:54.64), Erin Earley (53.74/1:54.29), Abby Richter (53.70/1:54.88), Paige Madden (53.71/1:55.07), and Emma Seiberlich (54.16/1:54.96). She will also strengthen the training group of incoming butterflyers Seiberlich (54.40/1:58.45), Kyla Valls (55.19/1:59.61), and Anna Pang.
SCY Times:
- 50 back – 24.81
- 100 back – 52.64
- 200 back – 1:55.38
- 100 fly – 53.61
- 200 fly – 1:57.05
- 200 IM – 2:00.02
- 400 IM – 4:12.66
Menkhaus will don the Cavalier uniform with fellow class of 2022 commit Sophie Skinner in the fall of 2018.
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Another in-state top recruit missed by UNC…..
She lives in South Carolina, actually.
Swims for an in-state club team….still a miss…….
75% of the top 20 have now committed. It’s always tough when making a decision, but when it feels right for everyone, it’s time to just commit. Everybody is a winner on this one. Great school, great coach, and great swimmer!
Agree with your comment regarding this swimmer, but you must be looking at collegeswimming.com rankings for your top 20? Those are not nearly as accurate as swimswam’s recruit rankings when it comes to the top, NCAA scoring potential athletes. CS scores too many 1.0’s for swims that are not even close to championship scoring potential, while swimswam recognizes true top-level athletes that would A-final. CS has lots of “ok” swimmers in the top 20, while top athletes like Alex Sumner, Ruby Martin, Madison Homovich, Erica Sullivan are not even in the top 20. Huge miss! CS needs to recalibrate their algorhythm!
Crazy how close all those backstrokers times are to each other. The rich get richer.
wow, great pickup for uva!