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Meredith Stewart from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, has announced her verbal commitment to the application process* at Columbia University. She is head coach Diana Caskey’s first public commitment for the class of 2027.
“I chose Columbia because it is the perfect fit for me academically and athletically. I am so excited to be in New York City!”
Stewart is a rising senior at Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights. She does her club swimming with Blazing Barracudas and specializes in freestyle and butterfly. At the 2022 Ohio High School Division 2 State Championships, she placed fourth in the 200 free (1:52.75) and third in the 500 free (4:57.85) and she led off the state-champion 400 free relay (52.14) and anchored the 9th-place 200 free relay (23.84).
She unleashed a torrent of personal bests in March at the Lake Erie Swimming LSC Senior Championships, including the 50 free (24.27), 100 back (59.00), 100 fly (57.38), 200 IM (2:09.03), and 400 IM (4:33.49), while finaling in the 50 free (9th), 100 free (4th), 1650 free (2nd), 100 back (11th), 100 fly (4th), 200 IM (3rd), and 400 IM (6th). A week later, she competed at NCSA Spring Championships and scored PBs in her top three events, the 500/1000/1650 free and placed 37th, 21st, and 16th in the respective events.
Best SCY times:
- 1650 free – 17:12.02
- 1000 free – 10:14.41
- 500 free – 4:57.39
- 200 free – 1:51.66
- 100 free – 52.14
- 50 free – 24.27
- 100 fly – 57.38
While the Ivy League will no longer contest the 1000 free at the women’s championship beginning in her freshman season, Stewart’s best 1650 time would have scored at 18th place and her 200/500 free times would have made the C finals at the 2022 Ivy League Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships.
*Note: A verbal commitment between an Ivy League coach and a prospective student-athlete is not an offer of admission, as only the Admission Office has that authority. The coach can only commit his or her support in the admission process. Ivy League Admission Offices do not issue “Likely Letters” before October 1 of the prospective student-athlete’s senior year of high school. The Likely Letter, while issued after an initial read of the student’s application, is not an offer of admission to the university.
If you have a commitment to report, please send an email with a photo (landscape, or horizontal, looks best) and a quote to [email protected].
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