Sam Brown has announced he will transfer to South Carolina for his final two years of eligibility after beginning his collegiate career with Missouri.
Brown entered the portal back in March right when it opened. At the time, Brown said, “I just think it’s time for a restart.”
Brown just finished his sophomore season with Missouri and made huge strides in the backstroke events in his two years with the Tigers. He concluded his sophomore season at the 2024 SEC Championships. There he had his highest finish in the 100 back swimming a 46.26 for 15th. He also was t-19th in the 200 back (1:42.09) and 32nd in the 200 free (1:36.46).
Brown was just over half a second off making NCAAs in the 100 back as it took a 45.56 while it took a 1:40.62 in the 200 back to make the cutline.
TIME PROGRESSION
| MIZZOU SOPH | MIZZOU FRESH | HS SENIOR | RELAY SPLIT | |
| 50 free | 20.35 | 20.22 | 21.02 | 19.71 |
| 100 free | 45.27 | 44.36 | 45.68 | 43.13 |
| 200 free | 1:36.46 | 1:36.97 | 1:39.17 | 1:35.79 |
| 100 back | 46.26 | 46.55 | 48.63 | — |
| 200 back | 1:42.09 | 1:42.58 | 1:47.40 | — |
He arrives at fellow-SEC team South Carolina this fall. The Missouri men finished one spot ahead of South Carolina at SECs as Missouri was 8th out of 10 teams with 513 points while South Carolina was 9th with 442 points.
The SEC eliminated its intraconference transfer rules in 2021, meaning that Brown is now eligible to compete immediately. Old rules would have made him redshirt a season. Most NCAA conferences no longer have intraconference transfer restrictions.
At SECs, Brown swam in the same 100 backstroke ‘B’ final as South Carolina’s Michael Laitarovsky who finished 12th in a 46.49. Laitarovsky just finished his junior season. In addition to being able to train next to Laitarovsky this upcoming season, Kaden Smesko has also announced his transfer to South Carolina for his COVID-19 fifth year. Smesko has best times of a 46.27 in the 100 back and a 1:43.35 in the 200 back.
In addition to the boost in the backstroke group, Brown also boosts the mid-distance freestyle group as his flat-start 200 freestyle of a 1:36.46 from this past season would have been #2 on the South Carolina roster.
South Carolina sent one swimmer to 2024 NCAAs as Connor Fry swam in prelims of the 500 and 1650 freestyles.
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