Cal Secures Verbal Commitment from Backstroker Alex Sumner

Alex Sumner from Wallingford, Pennsylvania has announced via Instagram that she will swim for the University of California, Berkeley, beginning in the fall of 2018.

“Very excited to announce my verbal commitment to swim at the University of California Berkeley!!! I can’t wait to further my academic and swimming careers with the support of such an amazing team and coaches! Go Bears ???”

Sumner is a USA Swimming Scholastic All-American and made the honorable mention section of our top-20 list for the class of 2018. A rising senior at Episcopal Academy, she is the Eastern Interscholastic Swimming & Diving Championships meet record-holder in the 100 back (53.41), and the reigning champion in the 200 IM (2:01.40).

Sumner swims year-round for Suburban Seahawks, with whom she recently competed at the U.S. National Championships and World Championship Trials. She placed fifth in the 200 back, and also swam the 100 back, 200 IM, and 400 IM. Swimming at the NCSA Spring Championships in Orlando, she won the 200 back, and placed 4th in the 100 back, 6th in the 200 IM, and 8th in the 400 IM.

Top SCY times:

  • 200 back – 1:52.33
  • 100 back – 53.41
  • 50 back – 25.41
  • 400 IM – 4:15.08
  • 200 IM – 2:00.82
  • 200 fly – 1:59.05
  • 100 fly – 54.91

Sumner is the prototypical Cal backstroker, and will join one of the best training groups in the country in the fall of 2018. She will overlap one year with Kathleen Baker and Amy Bilquist, and two years with Keaton Blovad and Aislinn Light. She will share three years on the roster with Sophie Krivokapic-Zhou. Sumner will join #5 Cassidy Bayer, #18 Elise Garcia, and Ema Rajic who have all verbally committed to the Cal class of 2022.

If you have a commitment to report, please send an email with a photo (landscape, or horizontal, looks best) and a quote to [email protected]

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Jeff
5 years ago

Did she leave Cal?

Mitch
6 years ago

Congratulations…

Dawgpaddle
6 years ago

This girl can really motor underwater. Reminds me of Misty Hyman. She will top 8 at NCAAs maybe as a freshman.

coach
6 years ago

Shelton Ariola Garcia Bayer Rajic Summer they all very good swimmers
but head coach Meehan have high standard he will only take the best recruits

everyone afford to come to Stanford we have bigger endowments than others
but only top champions like Bartel Raab Goeders Merell Ruck can get accepted

thats why Card hold #1 class in 2015 2016 2017 2018 & ncca pac12 champion
i still wish the others very good luck for the future ?

swimdadfan
Reply to  coach
6 years ago

I’m not really sure what you are trying to say? But don’t forget your history – Cal Women won in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015. Before this year, Stanford Women hadn’t won since 1998. If you are saying that Stanford has the best recruiting classes of the past few years, that may or may not be true, but we will have to see what actually happens in the pool in the years to come.

Not sure I understand what you are saying about endowments. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but my understanding is a DI school has 14 scholarships for Womens Swimming, which may or may not be divvied up among the athletes. If that’s the case, it… Read more »

coach
Reply to  swimdadfan
6 years ago

endowment not same with scholarship
can help all students with there tuitions

Shelton Ariola Garcia all wanna come Stanford
they take many snapshots in the Avery pool

Card #1 classes all according to swimswam
please dont believe the other fakenews

i repeat congrat to all the swimmers
they are all very good athletes

SwimminIsGood
Reply to  coach
6 years ago

Please share your comments then on Shelton giving her verbal to Harvard…thank you…

coach
Reply to  SwimminIsGood
6 years ago

coach meehan cant take everyone who all wanna come
the admission office very hard to get there approval too

CHEEZ
Reply to  coach
6 years ago

Right… I’m sure Harvard was easier for her to get through admissions!

Speed Racer
Reply to  coach
6 years ago

I thought endowment scholarships/academic scholarships/merit scholarship amounts counted towards the 14 athletic scholarship totals. Otherwise an institution could have 14 athletic and whatever they classify the “other” scholarships as, which would in essence make it not 14 scholarships for women and whatever the scholarship total is for men. So if a student takes athletic money and merit money the total amount of both counts towards the athletic scholarship totals the department has to work with. I could be wrong but that is my understanding. Otherwise a school like Stanford with a massive endowment could have 14 athletic scholarships which is the max and 30 (just using that number for number sake) endowment/merit/academic scholarships. And since the NCAA regulates everything I… Read more »

CHEEZ
Reply to  Speed Racer
6 years ago

SPEED RACER: I totally agree with you. This is 100% not a level playing field. The massive endorsement program at Stanford gives them an unfair advantage. This is WRONG!

swimmer
Reply to  coach
6 years ago

Courtney Harnish (c/o 2017) verballed to Georgia. Not sure where in the world you got that from.

Card
Reply to  coach
6 years ago

“We?” Judging from the grammar, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that you did not attend Stanford. But seriously, if you’re going to troll, don’t do it in a way that insults a teenage girl in an article announcing something she worked really hard for and is obviously very excited about.

Agree
Reply to  Card
6 years ago

Plus the Cal and Stanford rivalry has been going on for quite a while, however as others have commented on previous posts, the rivalry is friendly and Coach’s comments are not. Stay focused on the subject here and congratulate Miss Sumner on an exciting decision being made and a bright future ahead!

sccoach
Reply to  coach
6 years ago

whoever coach is just copy/pastes same post in every article that’s mentions Cal swimming

swamfan
Reply to  coach
6 years ago

it is very odd to assume that everyone who isn’t going to stanford wanted to go there but could not get in because they weren’t a good enough student. There are many factors that go into a college decision, while Stanford is a fantastic school, there are many reasons why swimmers would choose different schools.
Also, I don’t know why your’e trashing Cal- UC Berkeley is an amazing school with a great swim program. I can think of plenty of reasons why Bayer, Sumner, etc would choose Cal. Committing to swim at Cal is a huge accomplishment, there is absolutely no reason to use the comments section to anonymously insult the intelligence of these amazing young athletes.

Cal… Read more »

sven
6 years ago

Charge your phone, SwimSwam.

Not Betty
6 years ago

Congratulations!! Go BEARS!

stanford fan
6 years ago

congrats, alex! the cal backstroke legacy continues…

Swamfan
6 years ago

Great news!! Congrats, Alex!!

About Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant is the mother of four daughters, all of whom swam in college. With an undergraduate degree from Princeton (where she was an all-Ivy tennis player) and an MBA from INSEAD, she worked for many years in the financial industry, both in France and the U.S. Anne is currently …

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