Butterfly Specialist Addison Reese Flips Commitment from Kentucky to Florida For 2024

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After recently decommitting from the University of Kentucky, “Best of the Rest” butterfly specialist Addison Reese has decided to remain in the SEC at the University of Florida — not far from her hometown of Windermere — beginning in the fall of 2024.

• You can read her original commitment article here from last October

Reese swept the 100-yard butterfly (53.57) and 200 fly (1:56.93) at the Florida Senior Championships in March, dropping more than two seconds in the latter event. Her winning time in the 200 fly would have ranked third among Gators last season (behind Amanda Ray’s 1:55.88 and Allie Piccirillo’s 1:56.70) and would have barely missed the A-final at last season’s SEC Championships. The Laker Swimming standout also owns a 1:48.18 200 free from March of 2022 and came just .02 seconds shy of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials cut in the 100 fly with a 1:00.21 in February.

Best Times (SCY)

• 100 fly – 53.57
• 200 fly – 1:56.93
• 200 IM – 2:00.58
• 400 IM – 4:19.62
• 100 free – 50.74
• 200 free – 1:48.18

“I’m excited to be a Gator because I am a true Florida girl,” Reese said. “I love the beach, the lake, wake-surfing, and all water sports.”

Reese also plays high school water polo, where she earned Academic All-American honors in 2020-21 and 2021-22. At last November’s Florida 4A State Championships, she placed 2nd in the 100 fly (53.79) and 3rd in the 200 free (1:49.05) to conclude her junior campaign swimming for Windermere High School.

Reese is the second Kentucky recruit to flip commitments to a rival SEC school since former Wildcats head coach Lars Jorgensen resigned in late June. Avery Mehok, a backstroke and freestyle specialist from Texas, switched her commitment from Kentucky to Auburn last month. Earlier this year, but before Jorgensen was placed on leave in May, Elizabeth Tilt also decommitted from Kentucky and announced Georgia as her future destination.

Florida is coming off a big 2022-23 season that saw the Gator women capture their first SEC title since 2009 and place 9th at the NCAA Championships — their best finish in nearly a decade. They have even more momentum this season with top recruit Bella Sims and Cal transfer Isabel Ivey bringing more star power to Gainesville.

Florida head coach Anthony Nesty was a butterfly specialist himself, having made history in 1988 by becoming the first Black man to win Olympic swimming gold in the pool with his victory in the 100 fly. Some of his current butterfly pupils include Caeleb Dressel and Josh Liendo.

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