The transfer portal has opened for women’s swimming and diving and a flood of athletes have already entered as of Wednesday morning. Highlighting the list is Big Ten runner up and NCAA qualifier Ava Whitaker who is in her sophomore season with the Hoosiers.
With roster cuts already taking place, the transfer portal is expected to flood, and this morning’s rush already shows that.
Morning Update:
Eight women from Indiana have entered the portal already including Whitaker. Whitaker is slated to compete for the Hoosiers at NCAAs next week and scored 44 individual points at Big Tens last month, the 13th most of the team. She finished 2nd in the 200 fly, 11th in the 100 fly, and 50th in the 200 IM.
Other names in the portal for Indiana include Claire Stuhlmacher, Lucie Delmas, Justine Delmas, Ana Hazlehurst, Adrianna Lojewski, James Jones, and Daniela Karnaugh. The Delmas twins deferred their enrollment a year but did not compete for the Hoosiers at all this season. Lojewski originally committed to Houston and Northeastern before landing at Indiana.
Hawaii’s Dorottya Dobos also highlights names in the portal. Dobos won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) title in the 200 backstroke swimming a 1:57.33 in finals, although she was faster in prelims with a 1:56.53. She also swam to 3rd in the 200 back in a 54.66.
ASUN runner-up Isabelle Gomez of Liberty is also in the portal. Gomez swam to a 16:55.79 in the 1650 free to finish 2nd in the event. She also was 9th in the 400 IM in a lifetime best 4:23.93 while she was 15th in the 500 free.
Indiana is not the only school with numerous women in the portal as South Carolina has nine members in the portal, Virginia Tech has five, and Auburn has eight.
South Carolina:
- Sofia Krstolic
- Sterling Burd
- Hannah Wachendorfer
- Eva Tzouvelekas
- Sianna Savarda
- Reagan Phillips
- Grace Tuchi
- Aubrey Finn
Virginia Tech:
- Sofia Salvato
- Norah Guillot
- Yasmine Hassan
- Christine Datovech
- Camille Weiss
- Augusta Ness (Afternoon Update)
- Amanda Aidar (Afternoon Update)
Auburn:
- Olivia Stewart
- Ashlyn Morr
- Lawson Ficken
- Kara West
- Aislyn Barnett
- Audrey Olen
- Amie Perna
- Taylor Grimley
Kentucky:
- Anastasia Tichy
- Delaney Sullivan
- Samantha Hamilton
- Mary Freiburger
- Lily Delong
Among the names in the portal for Auburn is Lawson Ficken who swam for the team at SECs. The sophomore notably just missed out on scoring in the 100 fly as she was 25th in prelims in a 52.93. Her personal best from a dual meet of a 52.43 in January against Alabama would have been 17th in prelims.
After their program was cut last week effective immediately, Cal Poly already has nine women in the portal.
Lunchtime Update:
Texas A&M had a group of women join the portal in this update. The four include Rachel Love, Ellis Fox, Abigail Hood, and Paula Warren. Love and Hood did not compete for the team this season.
Fox did not swim at SECs but swam to numerous lifetime bests at the Last Chance Meet including a 52.53 in the 100 back, 1:54.62 in the 200 back, and 52.63 in the 100 fly. Those were not far off what it took to make NCAAs as it took a 1:53.31 in the 200 back and 51.87 in the 100 fly. Warren also swam numerous best times at last chance including 54.3/1:57.5 backstrokes.
Ivy League Champion Morgan Lukinac has not competed since US Olympic Trials last summer but entered the portal. She won the 2024 Ivy League title in the 200 free with a 1:45.49.
Late Lunch Update:
Cal Poly now has 12 women in the portal, meaning almost half of the team that included 29 this season are in the portal. With six seniors on the roster, 23 women would have returned for next year.
Helena Pinto Coelho Lopes of Georgia has also entered the portal. She did not compete for the Bulldogs this season after being slated to arrive this past fall. She was a member of Brazil’s Junior National team.
Afternoon Update:
More swimmers from Virginia Tech and Indiana (see list above) have entered the portal. Indiana’s addition is Avery Spade, who scored 2o points at Big Tens and was highlighted by a 10th place finish in the 200 fly (1:57.14).
After her sister entered the portal this morning with Indiana, Isabella Lojewski of Houston has also entered the portal. Isabella transferred to Houston after spending her freshman season with Tulane. She also committed to Tulane after originally verbally committing to Florida.
I don’t have a problem with an article stating how many are in the portal from each school. I don’t see how it’s appropriate to publish people’s names without their permission.
I think it’s fair to say that a lot of IU athletes in the portal are leaving on their own terms rather than getting cut. A fair bunch of those girls are some of the better-ranked swimmers on the team with B1G ten scoring potential and even close to making NCAAs, Whitaker included. Very interesting to note about the team….
How do we (you) know that? These swimmers may be good relative to the current roster, but are they what the staff wants for their team?
They might very well be using this portal opportunity to recruit over some of their roster and upgrade their championship prospects TS.
I wouldn’t assume all portal entries are cuts. There are a lot of reasons one might leave any given school.
Mostly but not always.
Thanks for updates. I like the prose info but can you also keep a running list of all, like you did for Indiana, Kentucky, etc. Thank you.
I’ve heard some things about Kentucky…
I’ve heard some things about you.
how does one get access to the portal data?
Illegally…..it is for NCAA Coaches who are given access by their College. There is also a note when you login that instructs you not to share this information.
While I understand you’re point there isn’t anything “illegal” about getting the information. Many other college sports talk to who is in and out of the portal each year. I appreciate SwimSwams reporting on this especially during this crazy time. Many athletes and parents are interested in who is possibly going to be looking to go somewhere else and potentially taking their spot on a team.
They’re probably fed up with the coaching at IU. I smell a lot of transfers to UVA and Texas!
If I saw the special treatment they are going to give Alex Shackell and no one else, I would run far, far away.
“Olympic medalist recruit gets special treatment as compared to ‘normal’ recruit grrr no one will ever understand why/how could they possibly do this!”
do you hear yourself rn
Why are people acting like pushing the envelope in our current college athletics environment is somehow shocking or wrong
It’s a weird situation, correct
People just can’t seem to swallow the fact that there are no rules in college sports anymore (aside from roster caps)
But it’s really just not that crazy compared to the antics that real sports (basketball, football, volleyball, etc.) are doing in order to land their top recruits
Classic college swimming clinging on to a gilded and massively inflated self-image of a pure sport and culture
Sure, I can understand if an Olympian gets a little favoritism or a different program now and then. But what IU and Plumb have set up for Alex is egregious and shameful, and it’s entitled of Alex to want to do it as well.
Would you say the same for Maddy Crippen and Villanova/Dick Shoulberg in the late 90s?
It’s more than fair to say that the arrangement IU has made for Shackell is strange, unusual, whatever
But every criticism of this situation (that hasn’t even happened yet! who knows if this will actually come to fruition) has basically boiled down to people being upset at the way that college sports currently operate and IU taking advantage of it vs sitting on the sidelines and whining about it
“it’s entitled of Alex to do this” she is an Olympic gold medalist as a senior in high school, it would take superhuman levels of humility to not have that inflate your ego, or at the… Read more »
was the swim swam peanut gallery around during this crippen/shoulberg era?
Christina Teuscher is also an example of “hybrid” training when she swam for Columbia and worked out more than a bit with Badger.
Do you hear yourself? “real sports”?! Read the room.
Real sports don’t have to beg to be respected
The fact that I’m in here means that I am invested in this sport and want to see it gain clout, monetary gains, and relevancy
but
The fact that we, as a swimming community, simultaneously take our sport way too seriously (staunchly opposed to change vs embracing it) but aren’t serious enough to sit down and recognize us for what we currently are (self-sabotaging, directionless Olympic sport) and figure out how to seriously grow our sport, means that we are probably cooked
yeah unpopular opinion but idk why it makes everyone so mad that ray and alex came up with an unconventional training plan to ease her transition into college.
its giving “is there someone you forgot to ask” (aka the peanut gallery lol)
It’s a shame to see all these people cut just because of the House settlement. Doubt many of the cut are on scholarship, so it’s hard to see why the roster limits are part of the settlement – what harm/cost is there to letting someone who wants to swim and train do so as part of their college experience.