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Life Time Northern California’s Lilla Kapinya has committed to stay in state, joining the UCLA Bruins women’s 2027 recruiting class.
After some time and consideration, I am incredibly excited to announce my commitment to continue my academic and athletic career at UCLA! I want to thank my teammates for being the reason I love this sport so much and to my coaches, Adric and Derek, for always believing in me and helping me grow every step of the way. Finally, none of this would be possible without the endless support of my family. Thank you to Coach Jordan and everyone at UCLA for being so supportive through this process and for providing me with this amazing opportunity to grow as an athlete. I’m very excited to become a part of the Bruin family and can’t wait to see what’s ahead! Go Bruins! 💙💛🐻
Kapinya is an all-around talent with a freestyle specialization from Carmichael, California, which sits about 400 miles north of Los Angeles. She recently competed at the Speedo Sectionals in Roseville, where she swam a lifetime best in the 100 freestyle in the finals to secure a runner-up finish in 49.61, marking the first-ever sub-50-second swim of her career. She also finished 11th in the 50 fly (24.94) and 14th in the 200 IM (2:07.72).
At that same meet a year earlier, Kapinya notched a career best in the 200 free in 1:53.77. Which, at the time, had been a more than two-second time drop from her prior top time of 1:56.12 from the PLS Senior Open in November of 2024.
She also boasts a best 50 free time of 22.96 from the Speedo Winter Junior Championship West in December. There is some distance-free skill there as well, with her 5:11.94 500 best time from March of 2024.
In addition to that freestyle skill, Kapinya also holds a best 100 breast time of 1:05.38, and a 400 IM best of 4:40.57.
Best Times SCY:
- 50 Free: 22.96
- 100 Free: 49.61
- 200 Free: 1:53.77
- 500 Free: 5:11.94
- 200 IM: 2:07.72
- 400 IM: 4:40.57
- 100 Breast: 1:05.38
- 200 Breast: 2:27.61
- 100 Fly: 56.75
The Bruins finished 7th at the 2026 Women’s Big Ten Championships late last month.
Based on her best times, she would have finished 34th in the 100 free, 43rd in the 50 free, and 61st in the 200 free.
There is still quite a bit of room for her to grow if she wants to get inside Big Ten scoring range. But her recent 100 free drop is very promising, as that time sits just under four tenths off of 24th at Big Tens.
This addition is a good one for UCLA, as they did not score a single point in the 200 free at Big Tens, but did manage to snag 30 points in the 100 free.
Kapinya joins Alicia Budacsek, Cadence Johnson, Andi Taylor, Karina Conover Hui, and Alison Su in the Bruins’ 2027 recruiting class.
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