One hails from Signal Mountain. Two are from Alabama, and two are from outside the country.

Five Baylor School swimmers came together Friday evening to further enhance the program's national prestige by signing college scholarships. Sam McHugh, the lone day student of the quintet, signed with the University of Tennessee.

Chandler Hinson of Huntsville signed with Georgetown University, while Luke Kaliszak of Madison signed with in-state Alabama. Dustin Tynes, who is from the Bahamas capital of Nassau, signed with Ohio State, while Breanna Roman of Kingston, Jamaica, signed with Auburn.

"It's quite an impressive group, and it's a group that has accomplished quite a lot here," Baylor coach Dan Flack said Friday afternoon. "We're excited for the future, but we've still got some big goals that we want to accomplish later this year."

McHugh recently was named Southeastern Swimming's swimmer of the year. He holds Baylor pool records in the 400-yard individual medley (3:56.6), the 200 freestyle (1:40.30) and the 100 butterfly (49.5).

"Sam can walk right in at Tennessee and have an immediate impact," Flack said. "He's already done times in local meets this year that would have helped them win some meets that they came out on the losing end of. He's good enough to walk in as a freshman and score in several events at the NCAAs, and there aren't many freshmen who can do that."

Flack said Hinson, who excels in freestyle and backstroke events, will instantly be a star swimmer at Georgetown. And he said Kaliszak has been faster than Alabama's backstrokers this year and will be an instant upgrade to that program.

Tynes excels in the breaststroke for the Aqua Raiders, as does Roman for the Lady Raiders. Roman joins an Auburn women's program that has won five national championships, which ranks third all-time behind Stanford (eight) and Texas (seven).

"Bree at Auburn will be a little further down the roster, but she can absolutely help them in the breaststroke and swim times in the SECs, and it's the same with Dustin," Flack said. "Dustin and Bree are more specialists in that they're really good at one stroke, and they've got a good chance to contribute. All these kids got a good chunk of scholarship money, and the coaches would not have given it to them if they didn't think they could help."

This marks the third consecutive year in which at least five Baylor swimmers have received full or partial college scholarships, and there again is a lot of diversity in the backgrounds.

"The eclectic nature of our program and group gives our local kids such a benefit," Flack said. "We've had such a diverse locker room every year, and I think our kids get a tremendous value from that."

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.