Kayla Han, one of the top age group swimmers in the country, has returned to La Mirada Armada after spending one year at Carmel Swim Club.
Han, who turned 16 just over one month ago, made the move from La Mirada Armada to Carmel last summer, and spent the year training with the elite squad at Carmel that’s led by coach Chris Plumb and features a strong group of female swimmers, including Paris Olympian Alex Shackell.
Han told SwimSwam she decided to head back to La Mirada after the U.S. Olympic Trials to “refocus” on the 400 IM and distance freestyle events.
“Carmel is a great place with so many great people and I truly enjoyed my year there,” Han said. “However, I decided to move back to La Mirada to refocus on the 4 IM and distance freestyle events.”
La Mirada Armada head coach Richard Shipherd reiterated that sentiment, telling SwimSwam that the training program at Carmel wasn’t suited to Han’s primary events, specifically the 800 free, 1500 free and 400 IM.
“While she enjoyed her time at Carmel, the training regimen was not suited to her events,” Shipherd said. “She’s returning home to a distance / IM program that has worked for her and will continue to do so in the months ahead.”
Han had an up-and-down performance at the Olympic Trials, kicking things off with a bang at the beginning of the meet in the women’s 400 free, setting a lifetime best of 4:09.96 in the prelims before being scratched into the final and then moving up to 4th overall in another PB of 4:08.21.
She then placed 28th in the 800 free (8:46.43), 27th in the 1500 free (16:47.50) and 10th in the 400 IM (4:47.71), shy of her respective personal bests of 8:29.66, 16:16.94 and 4:42.32, all set in 2023.
Her lifetime bests in the 1500 free and 400 IM were set at the 2023 U.S. Junior National Championships, winning gold in both, and then her PB in the 800 free was set en route to gold at the 2023 World Juniors just over one month later.
Han found success in short course yards during her year at Carmel, setting lifetime bests in the 500 free (4:38.12), 1650 free (16:00.74) and 400 IM (4:06.20) in December at the Winter Junior Championships. She did not end up racing for Carmel during the high school season, though the girls’ team still easily rolled to a 38th straight IHSAA title.
Instead, Han represented the U.S. at the 2024 World Championships, placing 15th in the 800 free (8:40.36), 17th in the 1500 free (16:35.02) and 13th in the 400 IM (4:47.12). She also picked up a bronze medal after swimming a prelim leg on the U.S. mixed 400 free relay.
Now back at La Mirada, Han is a lock to be named to the U.S. team for the Junior Pan Pacific Championships, which will run August 21-24 in Canberra, Australia. USA Swimming has not yet announced the roster, though the selection criteria states that the team will be named by July 15 at the latest.
She’ll surely compete in the 400 free at Junior Pan Pacs, while in the 400 IM, she’s the defending champion after winning the title in 2022. (Two eligible junior swimmers, Lilla Bognar and Audrey Derivaux, were finalists in the 400 IM at Trials, but Han will be able to swim it due to nations being able to field more than two swimmers in an event at Junior Pan Pacs.)
Han currently owns seven U.S. NAG records, including the 13-14 mark in the SCY 400 IM at 4:06.95. She also holds a trio of 10 & under records and three more marks in the 11-12 age group.
Wishing her all the very best. My family moved me five different times from when I started swim at six to when I was seventeen just trying to find that greener grass all in a 30 mile radius. It truly was devastating every time. I don’t want to speculate anything but when I see these things I just hope a better outcome than I had.
Sadly, USA Swimming just made this EASIER with a shorter unattached waiting period for meets. Great idea, USA Swimming – let’s make it even easier to yank your kid around clubs. Sorry to hear your report of your history. Unfortunately, all too common.
That’s upsetting. I feel like it was maybe 90 days when I was 13? I can’t remember. There’s a place to day though is enough but in my experience I lost so many crucial skills. Learning to work with teammates who were looking back literally just kids and had parents trying their best. Working with different styles of coaching and seeing the good in them vs assuming the worst. I can vividly remember sobbing before my freshman year scared to death to swim high school under the coach who I had never even met. How was I supposed to excel if I couldn’t even at a basic level even trust the coach let alone his training? I know my parents… Read more »
Looks eerily similar to some golf prodigy parents on the LPGA
Does anyone know why she moved when she was doing incredibly well at La Mirada. To me, it makes zero sense.
This is a good example that there is no one size fits all. With the range of events, biological differences, different physiological/technical requirements for different strokes, it’s no surprise that some programs might be simultaneously excellent but not the right place for everyone.
MA
Seeing some of the comments, I have some stuff to say.
It’s really not anyone’s business as to why she is moving back. Swimswam is reporting it, people can view it and know what’s happening, but people shouldn’t critique her choice or say that “her family is putting too much pressure on her”. Nobody’s business
No one has really been all that critical (yet), but people commenting is one of the predictable effects when you choose to do things differently. Look at MA. Even if there had never been a pandemic or a vaccine, the simple fact that he didn’t take the normal route would’ve led to massive numbers of comments.
wishing her the best although it certainly is odd for a sixteen year old to be moving across the country twice in one year just for swimming
Hope she and her parents aren’t putting too much pressure on her after an arguably ‘disappointing’ Olympic trials it sounds like for her.
The mistake was removing a 15 year old from an environment she had been highly successful in. Going back to her home and friends is probably the right choice especially since the swimming didn’t really go the way they wanted.
Don’t mean this to be a knock on Carmel either, they do a phenomenal job.
Well, it doesn’t matter since she is going to be a JR in high school and in two years its the college programs. She is a top recruit for her class in college whether she picks Berkeley or Stanford or Southern Ca or goes to Texas or the east coast teams.
I don’t think too many college programs are going to offer a similar (or greater) level of volume to what she’s coming back to at La Mirada. So she might stay with Shipherd to prep for 2028. Especially after seeing how her swap to something she may have initially considered a “high quality high caliber” alternative program affected her results in the short term.