Rising high school senior Anna-Julia Kutsch has verbally committed to join the Auburn class of 2023. Kutsch, who attends Altamont High School in Altamont, Alabama, trains with the JCC Aquatic Club and is the best swimmer in Alabama’s high school class of 2019. That makes her addition a key home-state pickup for Auburn head coach Gary Taylor as he settles into his new position.
Kutsch is a sprint freestyler who earned a last-minute Olympic Trials Cut in the 50 free in 2016 at only 15-years old with a long course 25.94. She finished 90th in Omaha that year.
While she hasn’t been able to improve upon that long course time since, during the next short course season she dropped time in both sprint freestyles, moving to 22.95 in the 50, and as a junior she dropped her 100 yard free time to a 50.08.
She’s also become more versatile over the last year, including a 25.21 flat-start 50 yard fly and a 55.86 100 yard fly.
Kutsch’s best times in yards:
- 50 free – 22.95
- 100 free – 50.08
- 100 fly – 55.86
She’ll join a tradition in the Auburn sprint group that has carried through the last decade, even as the team’s overall results faltered. The Tigers had a stud at the top of the group last season, then-junior Aly Tetzloff who swam 21.77 to tie for 6th at NCAAs, and 5 swimmers under 23 seconds.
While only Tennessee and Missouri (8 each) had a bigger share of the 41 swimmers nationally who swam sub-23 in the 2017-2018 season, in their heyday, Auburn led the nation in this category (they had 6 of the 32 swimmers in the NCAA who achieved it in 2008-2009, Richard Quick’s last year with the program).
Congrats A.J. war Eagle