Tania Quaglieri, a senior swimming for Florida State University, has entered the transfer portal. She plans on swimming for the Seminoles this season, and is exploring her options for her 5th year of eligibility (the 2023-24 NCAA season).
NOTE: A swimmer being in the transfer portal does not mean that they HAVE to transfer to another school, it only means that they have opened up communication with different schools and coaches.
“I am looking for a 5th year somewhere outside my college,” Qugalieri told SwimSwam. “I feel I need a change in my life and I am willing to risk it all to pursue my studies in grad school and for the last swimming season of my career that hopefully will be done in Paris 2024.”
Quaglieri emerged onto the scene her freshman year during the 2019 Georgia Tech invite, where she set personal bests in the 50 free (22.92), 100 free (49.74), and 100 back (53.03). However, she was off those times at ACCs, finishing 43rd in the 50 free (23.42), 43rd in the 100 free (51.32), and 32nd in the 100 back (55.05) and failing to qualify for NCAAs.
However, Quaglieri saw a sharp improvement in her sophomore season, especially in the 100 back. There, she dropped nearly a second from her freshman best and went 52.17 to finish 6th at ACCss—a time that still stands as the Florida State program record. She also set PBs in the sprint freestyle events at ACCs, finishing 9th in the 100 free (49.16) and clocking a 22.70 in a 50 free prelims swim-off (she had tied for 26th with two other swimmers and had to participate in a swim-off to determine the second second ‘C’-final alternate). Her 44 individual points from that meet were the second-post out of any of the Florida State women, just trailing Phoebe Griffiths‘ 56 points.
By virtue of her 100 back time, Quaglieri qualified for 2021 NCAAs, where she nearly missed out on a night swim by placing 18th in the 100 back prelims with a time of 52.45 (it had taken a 52.26 to make the ‘B’ final). She was also 41st in the 100 free (49.18) and 62nd in the 50 free (23.17).
In her junior year, Quaglieri once again set her season-best times at ACCs, finishing 12th in the 100 back (52.45), 27th in the 100 free (50.08), and 26th in the 50 free (22.93, although she once again had to do a swim-off for an alternate spot and went 22.72 in that race). At 2022 NCAAs, she was 42nd in the 100 back (52.98), 59th in the 50 free (22.72), and also swam the backstroke leg of Florida State’s 200 and 400 medley relays that finished 19th and 20th overall respectively.
Internationally, Quaglieri represents Italy. The last time she competed at a major international meet was the 2017 World Junior Championships and the 2017 European Short Course Championships, although her best time of 1:00.96 in the 100 back set back in 2016 would have ranked her third amongst Italians this year and put her in contention for potentially making an international team in the future.
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