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High school junior Nick Grulke from Irvine, California has announced his verbal commitment to the application process at the University of Pennsylvania.
“I am beyond stoked to announce my verbal commitment to swim and study at the University of Pennsylvania! I’d like to thank my family, friends, and coaches who were there for the ride. Go Quakers!❤️💙”
Grulke attends Arnold O. Beckman High School in Irvine. He is a two-time USA Swimming Scholastic All-American who specializes in mid-distance freestyle. He is a Winter Juniors qualifier in the 400m free, 500y free, 800m free, and 200y fly, and he recently punched his first ticket to Summer Juniors in the 200m free. As a freshman in high school he qualified for the 2019 CIF-Southern Section Division 1 Championships in the 500 free and 200 IM. He finaled in the 500, coming in 18th with 4:41.54, and placed 34th in the 200 IM (1:59.12) in prelims.
Grulke swims year-round with Mission Viejo Nadadores. Previously, he swam for Irvine Novaquatics and was a member of 4 NAG record-setting relays: 11/12 boys 200m free and 400m free relays and 13/14 boys 400m free and 800m free relays.
In February 2020, he went with MVN to College Station Sectionals and notched PBs in the 200y free (1:41.72), 500y free (4:32.28), 1500m free (16:43.83), 200y fly (1:54.74), 200y IM (1:57.89), and 400y IM (4:06.21). Since then, he has improved in the 200y free (-1.5 seconds), 500 free (-3 seconds), 200y fly (-5.2 seconds), 200 IM (-.8 second), and 400 IM (-5.4 seconds). At the TYR 18&U Spring Cup in Irvine at the end of April, he scored lifetime bests in the LCM 200 free (1:53.60), 400 free (4:03.34), 800 free (8:33.60), and 200 fly (2:10.57).
Best SCY times:
- 50 free – 21.71
- 100 free – 48.07
- 200 free – 1:40.20
- 500 free – 4:29.30
- 1650 free – 16:01.47
- 100 fly – 52.03
- 200 fly – 1:49.57
- 400 IM – 4:00.82
Gulke will join verbal commits Alan Cherches and Alex Fu in the Quakers’ class of 2026. His best times would have scored in the C finals of the 200 free and 200 fly at 2020 Ivy League Men’s Championships, where Penn finished 7th out of 8 teams.
*Note: A verbal commitment between an Ivy League coach and a prospective student-athlete is not an offer of admission, as only the Admission Office has that authority. The coach can only commit his or her support in the admission process. Ivy League Admission Offices do not issue “Likely Letters” before October 1 of the prospective student-athlete’s senior year of high school. The Likely Letter, while issued after an initial read of the student’s application, is not an offer of admission to the university.
If you have a commitment to report, please send an email with a photo (landscape, or horizontal, looks best) and a quote to [email protected].
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