Abby Grottle, a 2020 graduate of Cambridge High School in Milton, Georgia, has announced her intention to transfer to Texas A&M University for her remaining NCAA eligibility.
“I am so excited to announce my commitment to continue my athletic and academic career at Texas A&M. I can’t wait to be an Aggie! Gig ‘em!”
Grottle swam her freshman season of college at the University of Pittsburgh, where she made Pitt program history by becoming the highest-finishing freshman at ACCs with her 7th place in the 1650 free (16:28.67). She also scored in the 500 free (23rd, 4:49.76) and led off the 11th-place 800 free relay (1:50.55).
In high school, Grottle was a three-time USA Swimming Scholastic All-American and a three-time Georgia High School state champion. She won the 500 twice (10th, 12th grades) and the 200 once (12th).
At Pitt, she improved her lifetime PBs in the 500 free, 1000 free, and 1650 free. Her best SCY times include:
| High school PB | PB at Pitt | |
| 1650 free | 16:39.31 | 16:28.67 |
| 1000 free | 10:08.13 | 9:57.18 |
| 500 free | 4:49.33 | 4:49.26 |
| 200 free | 1:48.73 | 1:49.79 |
Grottle will join the Aggies with incoming members of the class of 2025 Alice Marini, Joelle Reddin, Kaitlyn Owens, Martina Fuentes, Meredith Brown, Sarah Holt, and Shannon Bagnal.
Wonder what happened at Pittsburgh over the past year. They seemed like they had a talented freshman class but it looks like now more than half are off the team or in the transfer portal?
good for abby! so hardworking she deserves it !!!!
One and Done!
Wonder how new transfer rules would affect the frequency of these types of transfers…
Congrats!
The new rule will make coaches do their jobs and not just BS recruiters. After a year, swimmers can tell if the coach isn’t interested in coaching them and only interested in the points they can score.
That wasn’t necessarily my point in this case but I do agree in the grand scheme of things.
I was more thinking of people who improve and score big points for a lower ranked school, then transferring up the totem pole.
This isn’t really the case with her though, she dropped less than a tenth in her 500 and about 10 in her mile. A good first year definitely but it’s not like she exploded out of no where. She probably could’ve gone to a place like TAMU out of high school but chose not to. This seems to be more a case of a good swimmers and good kid who loved a school then realized how crappy the head coach was when she arrived
Pitt just lost one of their assistant coaches, too. She’s about to be coaching in a much bigger pond. A swamp, actually.
https://floridagators.com/news/2021/5/17/mens-swimming-diving-swimming-adds-newest-assistant-coach-kristen-murslack.aspx
I guess she wanted to be a fast swimmer, instead of just talking about it. Welcome to the Aggie Family.
Precisely! Welcome to the Aggie Family Abby! Looking forward to seeing you in the pool soon!! Gig em forever👍👍
Im genuinely curious what your relations are with Pitt since it seems like you have a strong opinion on the program judging from your past comments but seem to follow them closely.
Pitt is like the swimmer that never trains outside of their comfort zone. They have a lot of fun in practice and have a great Team Attitude (an AD’s dream). I think Pitt has a great program for the “Big East” level competition. If Pitt wants to be a contender in the ACC, they need to coach the swimmers to that level.
And you know this how? Their old program were like that maybe but Hargis has turned the program around slowly IMO. Should be faster.
I would argue that they are coaching swimmers to that level at least on the Men’s side since they have had two All-Americans this year. Their 200 medley relays this year at ACCs would have podiumed the year before. Would have had the 400 medley relay at NCAAs had there not been a too-close-to-call 15m violation at ACCs. It’s not much but it’s a start.
They need to replicate that momentum on the Women’s team.
Those same swimmers on the men’s side haven’t improved over the course of their time with Hargis and barely dropped time from dual meets to ACCs or NCAAs. Sounds exactly like a good team attitude, lots of talent, and fun in the sun without pushing their limits.
Everyone referenced went faster this year than they did last year??
Just looking at their two stars…
Vera rebroke almost all his school records set 2 seasons ago and set personal bests in almost everything he swam.
50 free 19.1(2019) -> 19.03(2021)
100 fly 45.99(2019) -> 45.29(2021)
not to mention he is the fastest American in the 50 fly relay split(granted that some people could challenge that if they did it as well, Dressel and Hoffer come first in mind)
Van Der Laan did the same thing from last year doing 52.8 to 51.5 in the 100 and 1:55 to 1:52
Keeping that up from ACCs to NCAAs is hard for every program and tons of swimmers… Read more »
Five Years. Please correct me, if I’m wrong. Pitt has improved where they still only score more points: than one team that only has divers, one team that has no scholarships and one team that is funded. That’s not the improvement I’m looking for.
How many ncaa scorers did you coach? Does one of your swimmers have the fastest 50 fly split of any American?
I never did count the number of NCAA D1 scorers that I coached, only the Champions. I do have a bunch of IKKOS medals hanging above my desk. I’m just saying, the Pittsburgh program is under achieving and needs to step it up.