Girls high school class of 2024 “Best of the Rest” ranked recruit Elise Clift will transfer to Arizona for the upcoming 2025-2026 season. Clift spent her freshman season at Virginia.
Clift entered the transfer portal on the day that it opened in March. She had originally committed to swim for Florida before flipping her commitment to Virginia.
The Texas native finished her freshman season at Virginia at the Cavalier Invite. There she swam three season best times with a 4:51.05 500 free, 16:41.55 1650 free, and a 2:03.82 200 back.
Clift’s Lifetime Best SCY Times:
- 200 free: 1:47.13 (November 2022)
- 500 free: 4:43.73 (December 2022)
- 1650 free: 16:13.10 (March 2022)
- 200 back: 1:58.37 (December 2022)
- 400 IM: 4:16.88 (December 2022)
The Arizona women finished 2nd at the 2025 Big 12 Championships with 1240 points. Arizona State captured the conference title with 1695 points. Julia Wozniak won the team’s lone individual title with a 48.56 100 free. The team also won the 200 free relay.
Based on her best times, Clift is a huge addition to the team. Her best time from high school in the 1650 free would have been 2nd at Big 12s while her season best would have been 8th. Her 500 free time from high school would have been 3rd while her time from this past season would have finished on the border of the ‘A’ and ‘B’ final.
Malia Rausch led the team’s distance group this past season with a 4:43.80 500 free and a 16:36.77 in the 1650 free. Rausch just finished her junior season with the team so the two will overlap this upcoming season. Like Clift, Rausch also hails from Texas as Rausch is from Austin, Texas. Rausch was also a transfer after her freshman season as she arrived from Ohio State.
Happy for you, Elise! Hope you find your groove and enjoy the process.
and where to next?
Cierra Runge vibes