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Canadian National Junior Team member Ella Jansen has announced her verbal commitment to the University of Tennessee for the fall of 2024. She announced her commitment on Instagram:
Jansen has swam with Etobicoke Swimming out of Ontario in the past, but now is training at the High Performance Center in Toronto. She is versatile in that her top events span three event groups, with those being IM, mid-distance freestyle, and butterfly. She does not currently have any short course yards experience, but her converted times can be found below.
Top LCM (SCY) Times:
- 200m free – 1:58.93 (1:44.26)
- 400m free – 4:10.69 (4:40.88)
- 100m fly – 59.27 (52.13)
- 200m fly – 2:10.00 (1:54.59)
- 200 IM – 2:13.97 (1:57.81)
- 400 IM – 4:40.17 (4:06.63)
Jansen competed at the FINA World Cup stop in Toronto this past weekend, where she earned as high as a 5th place finish in the 400m free (4:01.87). The swim was a new personal best by almost four seconds, with her previous best being set almost exactly a year ago.
She also recently competed at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in August, where she recorded four top-8 finishes, with her highest being 4th place in the 400m IM (4:43.83). Prior to Junior Pacs, she swam at the Commonwealth Games, where she recorded personal bests and top-8 finishes in the 400 IM (5th) and 400 free (7th).
Jansen also had a breakout meet at the Swim Ontario–Trials Selection Prep Invite held in March. She set personal bests in the 200m free, 200m back, 200m breast, 100m fly, 200m fly, and 200m IM. Her 200 fly was a best time by over three seconds, while her 100 fly was a best by nearly two seconds.
Based on last year’s cutlines, Jansen’s converted times already project her to qualify for NCAAs in multiple events (500, 200 free, 100 fly, and 400 IM). Her converted times in the 400 IM and 200 free would also project her to score at NCAAs, putting her comfortably in the B-final in both. It is unlikely she would swim both due the event order, but considering Tennessee scored 0 points in the 200 free and 14 in the 400 IM last year, she will probably lean towards freestyle.
Last season, Julia Mrozinski (1:43.21/4:35.95) was the team’s top performer in the 200 and 500 free, while Ellen Walshe (4:01.53) took the top spot in the 400 IM. Both Walshe and Mrozinski are questionable marks as to if they will return to Tennessee, as Walshe is spending time at home in Ireland and Mrozinski has yet to suit up for the Vols this season.
Tennessee’s class of 2026 was distinguished as “Honorable Mention” in SwimSwam’s ranking of the 2022 recruiting classes. Fellow Canadian Regan Rathwell is the only athlete in that class that swims somewhat similar events to Jansen. She holds best times (LCM) of 2:16.37 in the 200 IM and 4:47.57 in the 400 IM. Camille Spink, in the class of 2027, recently went a best time of 1:59.87 in the 200m free, putting her close to Jansen. Laura Littlejohn also swims some mid-distance free, holding a best 200m free time of 2:01.68.
Jansen is joined by Emily Brown, Josie Connelly, and Jillian Crooks in Tennessee’s class of 2028. Brown was featured as the #19-ranked recruit on SwimSwam’s “Way Too Early Recruit Ranks” for the highschool class of 2024, while Connelly was featured in the “Best of the Rest” section. Brown also swims a little bit of everything, and holds best times of 1:46.91 in the 200y free, 4:45.57 in the 500y free, and 1:57.96 in the 200y IM. Connelly and Crooks are more sprint-oriented, with Connelly holding best times of 22.64/50.41 and Crooks holding bests of 23.06/50.09 in the 50 and 100 free.
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The Canada – Tennessee pipeline remains strong!
I’m always interested to know how some teams end up with a lot of foreign athletes (Tenn, USC) and others don’t. Is it that some coaches don’t tend to reach out to foreign athletes or is it more like a chain reaction where a swimmer will have an older friend or teammate who went to a certain team so they follow?
BOOM! 4:01 SCM converts to a 4:36 which would have been 4th at NCAAs last year. And 4:06 is among the fastest 400 IMs recorded at this age. 52.1 100 fly would also be tops in the class. HUGE pickup!
Another great Canadian junior swimmer, Lilly Daley committed to Florida too!
GO VOLS!! Congrats Ella!
What a pickup for the Vols! It looks like she was faster in Toronto last week and her times in short course meters convert to even faster