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Colleen Bull, a junior at Immaculata High School, has announced her verbal commitment to Indiana University for the fall of 2025. The USA Swimming Scholastic All American trains year-round with Greater Somerset County YMCA.
Being a collegiate student-athlete runs in the family for Bull. Her dad played soccer at Ursinus College, her mom ran track at William & Mary, and together, they raised three swimmers.
Bull’s brother, Brian Bull, is a sophomore at The College of New Jersey and swims IM/free for the Lions, while her sister, Megan Bull, still holds William & Mary’s program record in the 500 free from 2019.
With strong family ties to the East Coast, Bull’s move to Indiana’s campus in Bloomington, Ind., will take her about 730 miles west of her hometown in Hillsborough, N.J. She told SwimSwam:
Indiana University has a great team and coaching staff, as well as a great business school. Overall, the school was the perfect fit and it felt like home.
Greater Somerset County YMCA won the 2023 YMCA National Short Course Championships last April, with Bull contributing as part of the 1st-place 200 and 800 free relays and 4th-place 400 free relay.
In her individual events, Bull took 6th in 200 free (1:48.95) and picked up her first Winter Junior Nationals qualifying time in the process. The swim marked a drop of more than a second over her personal best from a month earlier and a nearly four-second improvement over the course of a year.
She also set new PBs by dropping nearly two-and-a-half seconds in the 500 free (5:00.03), a half-second in 100 fly (56.37), and two-tenths in 100 free (51.07).
Bull concluded her 2022-2023 season in July at the 2023 YMCA National Long Course Championships, winning the 100 and 400 free ‘B’ finals with times that were the 4th and 3rd fastest overall.
The 100 free (57.23) was Bull’s first Summer Junior Nationals cut and a two-second drop from her PB at the previous year’s YMCA Nationals meet, and her 400 free (4:27.16) represented a massive improvement of nearly 14 seconds.
Bull’s highest finish at the long course championships was 3rd in 200 free (2:05.28), a drop of a second and a half, and she set new PBs during finals of the 50 free (27.27) and 100 fly (1:03.17), dropping nearly a half-second and two seconds, respectively.
Greater Somerset County YMCA repeated as the top team overall at the meet and dominated the relays. The 200/400/800 free relay champion team of Bull, Emily Thompson, Anna Moesch, and Erica Maltsev set the YMCA championship record in the 200 free relay (1:44.33) and 400 free relay (3:49.12).
Swimming the lead-off leg of the record-breaking 200 free relay in 27.24, Bull lowered her personal best again.
More recently in December at Speedo Winter Junior Championships – East, Bull earned two new best times in the 50 free (23.87) and 100 free (50.96). The improvement in her 50 free was nearly three-tenths of a second, while her 100 free was a drop of a tenth.
Top Times
- 50 free – 23.87 SCY / 27.24 LCM
- 100 free – 50.96 SCY / 57.23 LCM
- 200 free – 1:48.95 SCY / 2:05.28 LCM
- 500/400 free – 5:00.03 SCY / 4:27.16 LCM
- 100 fly – 56.37 SCY / 1:03.17 LCM
The Indiana University Hoosiers snapped Ohio State’s four-year title streak by half a point at the 2024 Women’s Big Ten Championships.
Bull’s 200 free PB is 1:48.95, and that is precisely the time it took to qualify for finals – and score at least one valuable point – at this week’s championship meet.
Indiana had four finalists in the 200 free: one senior; two juniors, including champion Anna Peplowski; and sophomore Kristina Paegle, who took 7th (1:46.74) and will have one year to swim alongside Bull.
OSU had two finalists in the event, a senior and graduate student.
Bull’s future teammates in the Hoosiers class of 2029 will add to the program’s depth, bringing in additional best times that would have scored at this season’s conference championships.
The class includes Liberty Clark (50/100/200 free) from Chico, Calif., Skylar Knowlton (200/500 free and 200 fly) from East Kingston, N.H., Luci Gutierrez (200 free, 200 back) from Scarsdale, N.Y., Grace Hoeper (100/200 free) from Solon, Iowa, and Kamile Zinis (sprint free) from Willowbrook, Ill.
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Congrats for continuing the family tradition!