Minnesota State 100 Breast Record Holder Hayden Zheng Announces Verbal to Stanford

Photo Courtesy: Hayden Zheng Instagram

NEW COMMIT: Olympic Trials qualifier Hayden Zheng of St. Louis Park, Minn. has announced his verbal commitment to continue his academic and swimming career at Stanford University beginning in the fall of 2021.

He will join Matt Fenlon, Hayden Kwan and Gabe Machado on The Farm as a member of the Cardinal’s class of 2025.

Regarding his commitment, he said:

“So excited to announce my commitment to study and swim at Stanford University! Huge thanks to my family, friends, coaches and teammates for helping me the whole way. Can’t wait to join such an incredible community. Go Card #fearthetree”

At Juniors West in December, Zheng earned silver in the 200 breast, bronze in the 100 breast, and finished sixth in the 200 IM while earning best times in all his events. He placed fifth in both the 100m and 200m breast at Junior Nationals last summer where he also tallied a 13th-place finish in the 200m IM.

He does his club swimming with Aquajets Swim Team and is one of the best breaststrokers in his class.

His best times include:

100 breast – 53.09
200 breast – 1:54.98
200 IM – 1:47.05
400 IM – 3:55.28

Also competing for Saint Louis Park High School, Zheng is a five-time Minnesota Class AA State Championship individual gold medallist. The two-time USA Swimming Scholastic All-American has gone undefeated in the 100 breast, and he has won the 200 IM the past two years.

In 2019, he set the Minnesota state record in the 100 breast with a quick 53.86.

Zheng will make an immediate impact when he arrives on The Farm next fall and he’ll have one year of overlap with Daniel Roy. His best times are already fast enough to score in the A-final of both the 100 and 200 breast at the 2020 Pac-12 Championships.

If you have a commitment to share, please send a photo and quote via email to hs@swimmingworld.com.

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Jon Sundal

3 years ago

Fantastic!