Swimming World Six-Star Promotion: Lots of New Six Stars Added

PHOENIX, Arizona, March 11. THE championship season is making a big impact on the Swimming World College Recruit Rankings powered by Take Your Marks as several more top-echelon prospects have earned promotion to the elite six-star status.

Will Freeman, Cole Cragin, Lily Moldenhauer, Alisa Finn, Melanie Margalis and Emmett Walling all moved up to six stars based on recent updates to their accounts.

Freeman, who trains at SwimAtlanta and attends Greater Atlanta Christian School, is just about to enter the craziness of recruiting as a member of the Class of 2010. The distance freestyler made a strong statement with a time of 14:45.71 in the 1650-yard freestyle over the weekend. That time would have scored A-final points at the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Championships. His 500-yard free time of 4:19.32 also would have made B finals.

"I'm really excited to have obtained six-star status," Freeman told Swimming World. "I have worked extremely hard and gotten great coaching from Chris Davis at Swim Atlanta. I thank God for all the talents He has given me and hope to glorify Him."

Freeman lists some heavy-hitters among colleges of interest with Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Stanford and Texas all making his early docket of schools to look into.

Cragin, a member of Fleet Swimming who represents Friendswood High, set the national high school record in the 100-yard back with a 46.75. The effort moved the Texas signee into the six-star division as it would have earned him a spot in A finals last year. His 200-yard back time of 1:44.78 also cleared the B cut this year.

Moldenhauer, who swims for Alamo Area Aquatics and attends Winston Churchill High, is a Class of 2010 backstroke prospect. Moldenhauer owns a strong time of 53.09 in the 100-yard back along with a swift 52.83 in the 100-yard fly. The backstroke time would have earned a spot in A finals last year, while the fly readout would have put Moldenhauer into B finals.

Moldenhauer indicated interest in the maximum amount of schools allowed in our system with 10 on her short list: Arizona, Auburn, California, Florida, Georgia, Southern California, Stanford, Tennessee, Texas and Texas A&M.

Finn, a Stanford signee out of Wildcat Aquatics and Loyola Academy in Illinois, will make an impact on Stanford's breaststroke group. Finn's time of 2:11.46 in the 200-yard breast would have garnered a spot in the A final last year. Also, her 100-yard breast time of 1:01.79 and 200-yard IM time of 1:59.91 bettered this year's B cut.

Margalis is quickly demonstrating that she has the potential to move out of the shadow cast by older brother Pan American Games gold medalist Robert Margalis. Melanie has the ability to chart her own course after collecting times of 1:57.60 in the 200-yard IM and 4:10.71 in the 400-yard IM out of the Class of 2010. Both times would have made A finals last year at NCAAs. She also owns a 4:43.06 in the 500-yard free that would have earned her a spot in B finals.

Margalis has already whittled her list down to a top four comprised of Georgia, Stanford, Tennessee and Texas.

Indian River State College's Emmett Walling will definitely add to the sprint freestyle corps at Southern California as the JC-transfer clocked a time of 19.43 in the 50-yard free to set the NJCAA record in the event. That time would have made A finals at last year's NCAA Championships and will help USC.

To be a six-star, a recruit must have a lifetime best short course yard time that would either place them in the past year's A final of an event at the NCAA Division I Championships, or own multiple times that would have reached B finals in the past year

If you know of anyone else of high school age that has recorded a time that would have put them into A finals at last year's NCAA Division I Championships, please let us know via Reaction Time.

RECRUITS: To make sure we have the most updated information on your recruiting, and to earn the highest star ranking you deserve, please either create a new profile, or request to take over your admin-created account in the Swimming World College Recruit Rankings powered by Take Your Marks. Then make sure to update your profile with your top times. Click here for information on how to do so.

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