Palo Alto – Stanford Aquatics and Castilleja High swimmer Heidi Katter has verbally committed to swim for the Yale Bulldogs beginning in the 2015-2016 season, she told SwimSwam today.
Katter is a versatile swimmer who will have an immediate impact on Yale’s program with her prowess in the 100 butterfly, but could fill in any number of roles for the Bulldogs if she were called upon.
In the 100 yard fly, Katter’s best is a 53.93 from Far Westerns in April of 2014, which she matches with a 1:02.3 in the 100 yard breaststroke and a 55.39 in the 100 yard backstroke.
Of the four strokes, freestyle is her weakest, but there she still has a 53.89 over 100 yards. Small improvements in that race should allow her to build upon her 2:02.51 lifetime best in the 200 yard IM.
Katter spent most of her age group career training with the Aquajets in Minneapolis until moving out west in 2012, before her sophomore year of high school. With the Aquajets, she was a member of multiple National Age Group Record setting relays as a 13-14.
Her progress has continued in her time in California. In the spring of 2012, she was a 56.3 in the 100 fly, a year later she swam a 55.1, and in April she improved to a 53.9. That’s the kind of prospect that is tantalizing to a college coach – she’s shown the ability to not only improve into her late teens, but to do so with multiple programs, foreshadowing a smooth transition to a college program.
At last year’s meet, Katter’s best time would have qualified for the A-Final at the Ivy League Championships and have been Yale’s best by half-a-second. The Bulldogs will return a 54.4 swimmer Sydney Hirschi as just a sophomore, and also bring in a 54.5 butterflier Heidi VanderWel as a freshman next season, so this is a fly group that will be stacked in a hurry.
For that reason, Katter may be utilized instead on the breaststroke or backstroke legs of Yale’s medley relay, where she’s also better than Yale’s fastest from last year.
Yale doesn’t have official “Letters of Intent,” because like all Ivy League schools, they don’t offer athletic scholarships. As is true with all Ivy League schools, Yale’s Admissions Office will not send its acceptance letter until the beginning of December, along with those of all Early Action candidates. The procedure for a recruited athlete like Katter is for Admissions to review her transcript and SAT scores, “support (her) application for admissions in the fall,” issue a Likely Letter, then offer her acceptance into the class of 2019.
