Triston Mosby has plenty left on his agenda with high school swimming, but he’s secured his future as well.
The Grandview senior boys swimming star recently gave his verbal commitment to West Virginia, joining the latest group of Aurora prep athletes to wrap up the late recruiting period.
A couple of big national signing days already passed, but some athletes like Mosby needed more time to find the right fit for their future.
“It feels great to finally committed; it’s exciting to know that I’m going to college and I’m happy with the place that I’ve chosen,” said Mosby, who will officially sign April 30 at Grandview.
“It took a really long time and I looked at a couple of places, but when I went to West Virginia, I just knew it was the place for me.”
The Mountaineers — who finished 23rd at the NCAA men’s swimming championships in March — must be happy to get Mosby as well, considering he’s blossoming as a senior.
A former multi-sport athlete, Mosby moved into swimming as a club sport at the age of 11 and has improved every year since. He’s appeared at the Class 5A state meet for the past three seasons and has placed individually four times —led by 13th-place finishes in the 200 yard freestyle the past two years — and three times with relay teams.
This season’s state meet shapes up as the best for Mosby, who has the second-fastest time in 5A in the 100 breaststroke (1 minute, 0.29 seconds) and is ranked No. 4 in the 200 free at 1:43.27.
To win a state championship in the 200, he might have to outduel two Centennial League competitors he knows well — Smoky Hill senior Juhan Hong (an Arizona State signee) and Louisiana State-bound Cherry Creek senior Jake Markham — as well as others depending on what events they all end up swimming at state.
Much of Mosby’s focus in the last weeks is taking a run at knocking off the 200 freestyle school record of former Grandview star John Martens, the program’s only individual state champion.
Mosby swam two seasons with Martens — who won the 5A crown in 2011 in the graduated and moved on to the University of Texas — and is the standard by which many of the Wolves’ young swimmers measure themselves.
“I’m definitely trying to take down John’s record at our pool; he won that his junior year in 1:40.47,” he said. “I have that etched in my brain and I’m working towards it.
“Definitely trying to take down his name in a lot of events.”
Grandview also has relay marks to chase, with a group including budding junior James Boone, Robin Kuebler and Alex Turner helping the Wolves to top 10 times in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays with a few meets left in the season.
When he moves up, he hopes to follow the example of many of his former club teammates with the Colorado Stars — which included Olympic gold medalist and Regis Jesuit grad Missy Franklin — who made their marks in college.
“I don’t know what will happen for me in the next four years, but NCAAs could be very interesting,” Mosby said. “I know I have a lot of friends who will make it and hopefully I can, too.”
A large group of signees at Smoky Hill included swimmer Lizzie Wiley — winner of the prestigious Hoyt Brawner Award as top senior swimmer/citizen — who is headed to California Poly-Irvine.
Two members of the Buffaloes’ strong boys basketball team also signed, with Unwana Ekiko headed to Northwestern Kansas Tech and lacrosse standout Blake Foerster inked his letter with Rockhurst University.
