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Ellie Kayser has verbally committed to swim at the University of Wisconsin as a member of the class of 2030. She confirmed the decision on Instagram, writing:
I am beyond grateful to announce my verbal commitment to continue my academic and athletic career at the University of Wisconsin-Madison!! I want to extend a huge thank you to my family for making this dream comes true. I would also like to thank my coaches, teammates, and friends for everything they have helped me through. And lastly a thank you to Coach Yuri and the rest of the Wisconsin coaching staff for making this possible and giving me this opportunity. To being a future Badger!
Top SCY Times:
- 200 Freestyle: 1:51.02
- 500 Freestyle: 4:47.19
- 1650 Freestyle: 16:28.89
Kayser hails from Tempe, Arizona, where she attends Desert Vista High School and trains year-round with Gold Medal Swim Club. She’s a pure distance freestyle specialist, with her strongest events the 500 and 1650, followed by the 200 free.
The future Badger has improved throughout each season of her high school career, most recently dropping from 4:54.86 to 4:47.19 in the 500, 16:48.09 to 16:28.89 in the 1650, and 1:52.52 to 1:51.02 in the 200 during the 2024-25 season.
Kayser is a four-time Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) Division I State qualifier and is the three-time defending champion in the 500 free and two-time defending champion in the 200 free. Last month, in her final high school season, she improved her 200 free best time to 1:51.02 and recorded a season-best 4:52.17 to win both events.
Her best times in the distance events were recorded at various target meets last season, the mile was set at the Winter Junior Championships in December while the 500 was swum at a Sectional meet in Austin.
At Winter Juniors, she placed fourth in the 1650, 18th in the 500 (4:51.39), and 63rd in the 200 (1:51.95). Her fourth-place mile marked her best-ever finish at the meet, improving on her 2023 finish of 12th in the 1650.
In Austin, she finished second in the 1650 (16:34.72), third in the 1000 with a near-ten-second personal best of 9:50.11, fourth in the 500, and 12th in the 200 (1:51.26).
The 1000 is not contested at college championship meets but is swum at dual meets.
A Division I program in the Big Ten Conference, the Badger women placed fourth out of 14 teams at the 2025 conference meet before going on to finish 12th at the NCAA Championships. Dr. Jack Brown now leads the Wisconsin program, having taken over in May after seven-year head coach Yuri Suguiyama departed to work for USA Swimming.
Kayser’s current best times would make an immediate impact at the conference meet, where her 1650 personal best would have placed 21st in 2025. Additionally, she’s just over a second off the 4:46.00 that was required to make the top 24 and score last season. A time of 1:47.11 was needed to make the ‘C’ final in the 200 free, so she will have to drop about four seconds to become a factor in that event.
According to the team’s 2024-25 depth chart, Kayser would have ranked fifth in the 1650, seventh in the 500, and 12th in the 200. The Badgers’ distance group will lose several seniors this spring, but Kayser will overlap a season with the team’s current top distance swimmer, Maddie Waggoner (4:41.24/15:57.36), who should be a strong training partner as she acclimates to collegiate swimming.
Kayser is joining a deep and versatile Badger recruiting class. The group includes sprinters Caroline Wanezek (23.5/50.4) and Lindsey Schlegel (23.1/51.0), flyers Taryn Weatherhead and Vivian Moulson, breast/IM specialists Lilla Wilbur and Annika Curran, and middle-distance specialist Ainsley Stephan.
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Congratulations Ellie! Go Badgers!