2021 NCAA Finalist in both breaststroke events Hannah Brunzell has announced on Instagram that she will transfer to Cal for her COVID-19 fifth year.
Brunzell spent her first four years at Northwestern. As a freshman, she was fifth (200 breast) and sixth (100 breast) at Big Tens and punched her individual ticket to NCAAs before they ended up being canceled. Notably, she was the 14th seed in the 100 breast.
As a sophomore, she was third in both breaststroke events at Big Tens. She went on to NCAAs where she swam personal best times in both the 100 and 200 breast. She won the B final of the 100 breast touching in a 58.50 and she was 10th in the 200 breast in a 2:06.60. She scored 16 individual points at NCAAs, the second most for Northwestern.
In her junior season, Brunzell was fifth in the 200 and sixth in the 100 breast at Big Tens. She swam in prelims at NCAAs finishing 24th in the 100 breast (59.63) and 24th in the 200 breast (2:08.77).
As a senior, she was fifth in the 100 breast at Big Tens and seventh in the 200. She swam at NCAAs as a relay-only swimmer after being the third individual alternate.
Her best SCY times are:
- 100 breast: 58.50
- 200 breast: 2:06.60
- 200 IM: 1:58.39
Brunzell is a big addition to Cal’s roster for next season. Brunzell’s best time in the 100 breast would have been the fastest on Cal’s roster by almost a second and a half this past season.
Brunzell’s best 200 breast time (2:06.60) would have been the fastest on the team’s roster by five and a half seconds. Notably, Cal had 0 A or B finalists in the 200 breast at Pac-12s. Both Brunzell’s personal and season bests would have been in the A final and Cal only finished seven points behind USC.
Brunzell has numerous ties to Cal as the team recently added former Northwestern volunteer assistant Kim Williams to their staff. In addition, Brunzell represents Sweden at the international level, and as seen in her Instagram post, Cal is also home to Bjorn Seeliger and Robin Hanson.
Looks like she is filling a need for a breaststroker.
It’s nice to be needed. Good luck to Hannah in Berkeley.
Yeah Hannah! So excited for you, Cal is getting a good one!!