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Maela McKallip, a three-time Georgia 5A State Champion, sends her verbal commitment to Utah to join the class of 2029.
“I am so excited to announce my verbal commitment to continue my athletic and academic career at the University of Utah! I want to thank my family and Coach Josie for all their support through this process and the coaching staff at Utah for this amazing opportunity! Thank you God for this blessing and my love for this sport, I can’t wait for the next four! GO UTES!!”
McKallip is a senior and sprint freestyle specialist at Mary Persons High School and she swims club for Fusion Swim Team. This is a new recruiting space for Utah, as they haven’t had a swimmer from Georgia on their roster since Christina Pick during the 2019-2020 season.
She has won three Georgia 5A State Titles in the 50 and 100 freestyle over the two seasons she has competed in high school. Her first state title came her sophomore year in January of 2023. She won the 50 freestyle in 23.92, and she was the runner-up in the 100 free with her 52.26.
At this year’s State championships, she defended her 50 free title, coming in first with a final time of 23.29. She also won the 100 free title, finishing in 50.88.
McKallip recently swam at the 2024 East Winter Juniors, where she finaled in the 50 and 100 freestyle events, going a new personal best in the 100 at 50.47 to place 21st. She finished 16th in the 50, going 23.21 for just a slight add from her best of 23.00 from December of 2023. She also swam the 200 free (1:51.05) and the 100 back (57.68).
She also earned Scholastic All-American honors for the 2023-2024 school year/season.
Best SCY Times:
- 50 free: 23.00
- 100 free: 50.47
- 200 free: 1:50.76
This is the University of Utah’s first year in the Big 12, as they previously competed in the Pac-12. At last year’s Pac-12s, the Utah women finished in 6th.
In the current Big 12 rankings, McKallip’s best times would put her in 20th in the 50 free, 27th in the 100 free, and 41st in the 200 free. In another year, she could easily be a scoring threat in the 50 and 100 freestyle events as a freshman.
She will also be adding depth to the Utes’ relay teams. All three of her freestyle events would place her in the top-4 on the depth charts, and their top sprint freestyler is a junior this year.
Other verbal commitments in Utah’s class of 2029 include Maela McKallip, another Georgia native, and Stephanie Oiesen of Texas. Both McKallip and Oiesen are sprint freestylers who will also be pivotal to Utah’s sprint relays.
McKallip will join Utah in the fall with a full class of Jillian Holler, Paige Korbely, Stephanie Oiesen, Sydney Marinello, Laci Sterkenburg, and Kindsey Joyce.
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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