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Israel’s Ron Polonsky has committed to swim for Stanford University starting in 2021-22 school year. His sister, Lea Polonsky, will be begin her collegiate swimming career at the Cardinal’s arch-rival, Cal, at the same time.
“Officially a 🌲❤️ I am beyond thrilled to continue my academics and athletic career at Stanford University. Go Card!”
Polonsky, 20, has already punched his ticket to Tokyo and will represent Israel at the Olympic Games in the 200 IM. He competed last week at the 2021 European Championships, swimming the 100 breast (1:02.87, 60th place in prelims), 200 IM (2:01.54, 21st in prelims/ 2:01.11, 13th in semis), 200 free (1:51.27, 48th in prelims), and 200 back (a PB of 2:04.10, 41st in prelims). In 2019, he finished 4th in the 200 IM (1:59.84) at the World Junior Championships. He also swam in the 50 back (26.55), 100 breast (1:03.26), and 200 breast (2:16.94).
Top LCM times (converted):
- 200 IM – 1:59.45 (1:44.72)
- 100 breast – 1:01.96 (54.01)
- 200 breast – 2:14.22 (1:57.31)
- 100 free – 51.39 (44.85)
- 200 free – 1:49.09 (1:35.39)
- 200 back – 2:04.10 (1:49.63)
Polonsky’s converted times would have been good enough to score in the B finals of the 200 free, 100/200 breast, and 200 IM at 2021 Pac-12 Championships. He will join IMers Jonathan Affeld (1:43.42), Shane Blinkman (1:43.53), Rick Mihm (1:44.39), Ethan Hu (1:45.33) in the fall. Avery Voss, Gabe Machado, Hayden Kwan, Hayden Zheng, and Matthew Fenlon have also committed to the Stanford class of 2025.
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Welcome to the Farm! Next year Stanford men will have these group of incoming Frosh plus Minakov. Hope the new Coach, Dan, can continue to recruit and also develop. I admire Reese and Durden for their abilities to get their swimmers to perform better. Hope Stanford can do the same and get back to the top team conversation again, not since Skip Kenney 9 years ago!
Most of those times seem significantly faster than those conversions.
Conversions are just a ball park. It all depends on the swimmer. Some swimmers don’t translate to SCY as well and some don’t translate to LCM. Either way, this dude is a great swimmer.
Wow, looks like a great match, congrats to both Ron and his sister! Takes on a whole new element to sibling rivalry
I get the sense that 1:59.4 200 IM LCM could translate to much better than 1:44.7 SCY. Same for other events listed above. All speculation of course
He’s also probably not used to scy, might take him a bit to adjust. Wouldn’t be surprised if he’s +/-2 of that time freshman year.
True, great point. I was thinking to myself he could be a dark horse in the NCAA… It’s a big range of outcomes but can’t deny there is SIGNIFICANT upside if he has great walls / translates well. For reference: Dave Nolan was 1:41 SCY / 2:04 (I think?) LCM coming out of HS. No knock on Nolan’s LCM prowess, which came later on, but I think this highlights that the NCAA shouldn’t sleep on Ron
But wow, what a great time for Ron. This guy has a lot to look forward to: competing at the Olympics and matriculating at Stanford in the same year!
Sounds like a dream come true for him and his family. Good luck Ron! It’ll be so nice for them to have family so close by.
I’m glad he’s getting out of Israel. I pray for his country and Palestine during these very sad times. Good luck at Stanford.
Nice pickup. Stanford on the rise.
Ron is hot!