NCAA runner-up Anita Bottazzo has announced she will join Indiana for the 2026-2027 season. Bottazzo just finished her sophomore season at Florida.
Bottazzo entered the transfer portal at the end of April and was the top name in the women’s transfer portal remaining.
The rising junior had a big start to her sophomore season, posting a 56.87 in Florida’s dual meet against Virginia. That was the fastest time in the NCAA at that point and also sits as her personal best.
Bottazzo swept the breaststroke events at the 2026 SEC Championships as she swam to a 57.11 in the 100 breast and a 2:07.26 in the 200 breast.
Back in March, she swam to a 2nd place finish in the 100 breast with a 57.00 at the 2026 NCAA Championships. She also was 7th in the 200 breast with a 2:07.13 to score a total of 28.5 individual points.
Lifetime Bests:
- 100 breast – 56.87
- 200 breast – 2:06.97
- 200 IM – 2:01.23
- 50 free – 23.04
- 100 free – 49.93
The Indiana women finished 2nd at the 2026 Big Ten Championships and went on to finish 7th at the 2026 NCAA Championships with 258 points. They were 38 points behind 6th place Michigan, 43.5 points behind 5th place Tennessee, and 45 points behind 4th place Cal.
Bottazzo is a big addition to the Indiana roster as they did not score any points in either the 100 or 200 breaststrokes at 2026 NCAAs. Her breaststroke split of a 56.10 in the 400 medley at NCAAs would have made Indiana’s 400 medley relay move all the way up from 7th (3:25.17) to 2nd overall as Indiana’s breaststroke split was a 59.62. This makes her a crucial addition to the team’s medley relays.
Despite the women’s breaststroke group not scoring any points at 2026 NCAAs, the breaststroke group on the men’s side is strong so she will have strong training partners. Those names include Van Mathias, Josh Matheny, and Alexei Avakov.
Sad to see her go but happy for her.
Im feeling for all those newcomers who believe they’re stepping into the legendary Gators program… they can’t manage to keep their best female athletes for some reasons. But everyone blamed it on Bella when she left.
When’s the last time Coach Looze actually developed a female breaststroker vs just inheriting them? “breaststroke u” smh
Helps to have an extra couple hundred thousand to throw around
Well he still coached Lilly King to all her success
how many swimmers have Todd “developed”, they usually come in as pretty fast swimmers, eh?
I’ll do a look, but first I want you to share your definition of “developing a swimmer” so I can make sure I’m meeting the criteria with my search.
I would think the easiest way would be x.x% improvement in top 2-3, or more events?
Other more complicated things could be improvements in DPS along with time improvements or UW work/speed for starts and turns.
Another criteria could be the improvement from year 1 through year 4 instead of HS through year 4.
There are probably several other combinations but since the general idea is related to time that probably have to be one of the criteria.
The options are so many that a clear definition of ‘developed’ is clearly needed.
Year 1 through Year 4 might be good . Some type of absolute improvement.
Most of the credit to most of college swimmers we all talk about should go to the club coaches and the swimmers themselves.
Kate Douglass.
He’s a great breaststroke recruiter and he usually doesn’t ruin them
What would be the main differences between developing a female vs male? Im asking, not pulling a gotcha.
There shouldn’t be any but some combined programs have more success with one gender over the other.
UGA when Bauerle was there – women were always better
UVA now – women have been a lot better
ASU now – men are much better
IU has had a history of having a lot of great male breaststrokers, but only Lily King on the women’s side. Who knows why though.
Annie Lazor swam really well there and they’ve had a few final in the 200 the past 5 years, but yeah, not sure why they haven’t had a 100 breaststroker since Lilly. Hoping for the best here.
Idk if it s the last time, but Annie Lazor comes to mind. 2:26 to 2:20 in the 200 and a bronze medal at the Olympics.
How about Brearna Crawford????
2:05.66 in the 2BRST at NCAAs!!
oh boy. if she thought florida was rough…. she’s in for a treat at iu
Ray is one hell of a recruiter – I wonder how she’ll handle him and how she’ll perform under his program. hopefully she won’t get slower.
It is the year 2026 and we are STILL doing the “IU bad team” bit
House Case roster cuts aside, Bloomington has been one of the most stable and successful combined college teams post COVID. This “Bloomington bad place” rhetoric had legs pre COVID with Coley, Westphal, and a slew of transfers but has just stuck around for no reason other than clicks 5+ years on. What’s the ratio of transfers in vs transfers out for IU in the last 5 years (especially weighted by big names in vs out)?
Some teams have high expectations and some teams have culture problems. IU has high expectations and it’s shown in consistent success for men and women in the last 5… Read more »
unless I am forgetting someone
are ODell and Bottazzo the only NCAA scoring women to transfer?
far more scoring NCAA men transfers
Sydney Gring of Pitt is going to NC State
A female from Pitt to Tennessee.
So Lazor was unsuccessful in poaching her
Stanford is a hard school llol
I think she has the academic capabilities, maybe missing some needed credits? Someone posted that Standford accepts very few transfers.
That story about Nesty telling people Lazor was tampering is kinda funny with this
uf is cooked
They still have extremely fast swimmers like Grace Rabb who just had a phenomenal freshman year this year and got 6th at NCAAs on the 200 breast and very versatile, Catie Choate won SECs in the 200 back, Julie Brousseau amazing distance swimmer and 5th at NCAAs, Michaela Mattes on the national team, Lainy Kruger very versatile swimmer, Molly Mayne, Jojo Ramey, Beatriz Bezerra, Addison Reese. Plus they have fast recruits coming in like Maddie Moreth. They are still in good standings. I feel very confident in them and they will do great.