Brooke Forde Will Retire After NCAAs, Join the Peace Corps

2022 NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• March 16–19, 2022
• McAuley Aquatic Center, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia (Eastern Daylight Time)
• Prelims 10AM /Finals 6PM
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Championship Central
• Official Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Live Video (ESPN+)
• Wednesday night heat sheets
• Day 1 Finals Live Recap

Stanford 5th year senior Brooke Forde plans to retire after the conclusion of this week’s NCAA Championship meet, she told SwimSwam’s Coleman Hodges on Wednesday.

Forde says that this meet will be her final swim meet as an elite competitor. In September, she will move to Peru to work with the Peace Corps as a public health officer in rural Peru.

Forde completed her undergraduate degree in Human Biology at Stanford and is working on a Master of Science in Epidemiology, which is a one year program.

Forde anchored Stanford’s 800 free relay on Wednesday in a 1:42.53 split. She combined with Torri Huske (1:41.93), Taylor Ruck (1:40.49), and Regan Smith (1:43.35) for a 6:48.30. That broke the pool record, won the race by over 5 seconds ahead of Virginia, and gave the Cardinal their third title in the last four NCAA Championship meets.

Forde has been a member of two NCAA Championship team in 2018 and 2019, and enters this week’s meet with 15 All-America awards. She also now has 5 NCAA titles, winning the 400 IM last season, the 500 free in 2019, and as a member of Stanford’s 800 free relays in 2018, 2019, and again on Wednesday evening.

Forde was also a member of the U.S. Olympic Team in 2021. She finished 6th in the 200 free at the U.S. Olympic Trials, earning her a prelims swim in Tokyo on the American 800 meter free relay. She anchored the prelims relay in a 1:57.00 split; the U.S. finals relay finished 2nd, which earned Forde and her teammates a silver medal.

Forde is scheduled to swim the 500 free, 400 IM, and 200 breast individually this week for Stanford. The Cardinal are projected to finish in 2nd place as a team at this week’s meet, based on seedings.

The Peace Corps is a volunteer program run by the U.S. government that sends typically-young volunteers around the world to work in developing countries in a number of fields, including community health, business, technology, education, and agriculture. The program was established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961.

Volunteers commit to three months of training followed by a two year assignment.