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Claire Pophal of the Lake Erie Silver Dolphins is staying in-state with a verbal commitment to OSU for fall 2021. Pophal is a senior at Hawken High School in Gates Mills, Ohio.
I am THRILLED to announce my verbal commitment to swim at The Ohio State University! A HUGE thank you to my distance ladies and Coach Rick❤️ GO BUCKS!
TOP TIMES (SCY)
- 200 free – 1:51.72
- 500 free – 4:53.25
- 1000 free – 10:07.10
- 1650 free – 16:57.94
At the 2020 Ohio HS Division II State Championships, Pophal raced to third in the 500 free (4:56.17), and she was the 500 free runner-up in 2019. In 2019, she was also fourth in the 200 free, and she went her current lifetime bests in both at that meet.
The Buckeyes’ top distance returner this season is junior Sally Tafuto (4:41.2/16:13). OSU was incredibly deep last season; they had nine women under 4:50 in the 500 free, though they graduated sub-4:40 500 freestylers Molly Kowal and Kathrin Demler in 2020.
Pophal joins a big class of 2025 for OSU, including distance specialists Malia Rausch (1:45.9/4:40.2/16:19) and Mia Rankin (4:48.9/16:30).
There’s a ton of distance free talent incoming for the Buckeyes, too, including Malys (4:47/16:29) and Peterson (4:48/16:52) in the 2026 class.
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Claire is in the class of 2021
She is also a past member of the USA Swimming national junior team
CollegeSwimming has her as a senior this year, and her Instagram says she is a part of OSU’s class of 25.
She is class of 25, the article just mentions two distance swimmers who will join as class of 26