Swimmers Edward Kim, Steven Tan Verbally Commit to Harvard

Edward Kim, who is one of the top all-around sprinters in the country outside of Jacksonville’s Bolles School, has verbally committed to Harvard. He will make an outstanding complement to the already-committed breaststroker Shane McNamara, as Harvard is well on its way to a top-10 recruiting class.

Also joining Harvard’s men’s class of 2014 is Steven Tan from Illinois.

Kim, who swims for the Bellevue Club Swim Team in Washington State (which doesn’t have a major Division I men’s swim program), has a lot of ways to help the Crimson. He’s been 20.11 in the 50 free and 44.29 in the 100 free, plus a 1:36.29 in the 200 free. Even that 44.29, done when he was a sophomore, might be selling his potential short, after he split a 43.8 at the Washington High School State Championships for Eastlake High as a junior.

He was the 2013 state champion in the 100 fly with a 48.00 – leaving him two-tenths of a second shy of NCAA All-American Cody Roberts’ state record.

He’s also been 48.84 in the 100 yard backstroke.

For the Crimson, he’ll be the next great piece of what has been an impressive sprint-freestyle stretch in the last few seasons.

Also committed is Steven Tan from Delta Aquatics and the Illinois Mathematics & Sciences Academy in suburban Chicago.

Tan also has quite a bit of speed himself, with bests of 20.97 and 45.62 in the 50 and 100 yard freestyles. He, too, has a great 100 fly in 48.6, and a 49.7 in the 100 back.

Tan is not quite as good in long course as he is in short course, but that simply shows that there’s a lot of room for him to still improve.

Between these three big recruits alone, Harvard has some assurances that their medley relays will be good for some time to come. Additionally, because Tan and Kim are good in so many different relay-oriented events, new Harvard head coach Kevin Tyrrell isn’t really boxed in by ‘needs’ a whole lot. He can continue to go after the ‘best available’ interested swimmers.

via Edward Kim, Steven Tan Verbally Commit to Harvard.