2024 NCAA Championship qualifiers Ava DeAngelis and Ava Topolewski have entered the transfer portal. Both have swam at George Washington University.
The two made history this past season as George Washington sent more than one swimmer to NCAAs for the first time since 1995. DeAngelis earned an invite in the 100 breast while Topolewski earned an invite in the 1650 free.
DeAngelis just finished her junior season with GWU. As a freshman, her highest finish at A-10s was in the 100 breast as she swam a personal best 1:02.06 for 5th. In 2022, she made three A-10 ‘A’ finals. She finished 2nd in the 100 breast in a 1:01.01, 5th in the 200 breast in a 2:15.47, and 8th in the 400 IM in a 4:30.73.
This past season, she dropped even more time and captured her first A-10 title as she won the 100 breast in a 59.75. She also was 2nd in the 200 breast (2:09.94), and 3rd in the 200 IM (2:00.72). She was the team’s 2nd highest individual scorer as she scored 53 points. She went on to swim at NCAAs, finishing 33rd in the 100 breast in a 59.94 and 45th in the 200 breast in a 2:11.73.
Topolewski just finished her sophomore season. As a freshman, she captured two A-10 titles winning the 500 in a 4:46.99 and the 1650 free in a 16:27.78. She also was 8th in the 200 fly.
She defended her conference title in the 1650 free this past season swimming a 16:08.48 to win by over 11 seconds ahead of her own teammate Zoe Schneider who was 2nd. Topolewski also finished 2nd in the 500 free in a personal best 4:44.44 and was 8th in the 200 fly.
At NCAAs, she finished 39th in the 1650 free in a 16:22.75 although her best time from A-10s would have been 23rd. She also was 63rd in the 500 free.
Although the transfer portal closed at the end of April, some exceptions allow for athletes to enter late. In this case, the two are allowed to enter as head coach Brian Thomas has left the program. The GWU program has also battled to keep their on campus pool this offseason as plans originally were made to construct a new practice basketball facility in the place of the pool. The school announced at the end of April that it would not go through with construction plans for the foreseeable future as it was found the renovations would have caused structural issues to the building.
