…And Hail to the Victors rings throughout the land. The Michigan Wolverines have picked up another top 50 swimmer in the class of 2013, specifically south Florida breaststroker Emily Kopas, which gives Michigan their 4th top-50 recruit in the class, and moves them behind probably only Stanford (still very early on) in top recruiting classes this fall.
“This was an incredibly difficult decision,” Kopas said. “In the end, Mike Bottom’s goals for the Michigan team, the academic level, and the family connection led me to decide on The University of Michigan.”
In her quote, Kopas, who’s on the younger end of the class, references that her dad and uncle were both swimmers at Michigan; her father Bill Kopas, was the 1986 Big Ten Champion in the 1650 free as a freshman, and her uncle Brice was an All-American in 1994.
Kopas is good in both breaststroke races, but especially potent in the 200. She goes 1:02.09 in the 100, 2:12.50 in the 200, and even flat-started a 29.38 in the 50 as a sophomore at the 2012 NCSA Junior Nationals.
In long course, Kopas, who until recently trained with the Davie Nadadores, but now swims with the Nova Southeastern Swim Club, is an animal in long course. She’s been 1:09.9 in the 100 and 2:32.5 in the 200. She finished in the top 8 in both races at this summer’s Junior National Championships, and qualified for the Junior National Team in both distances.
Kopas will likely either be a straight-breaststroker at Michigan, or add the 200 IM where she’s been a 2:05.33 in yards (it’s typically her second even in high school swimming, where there’s no 200 breaststroke).
The Michigan women have put together a great week of recruiting. In addition to Gillian Ryan, the first to commit, they’ve now added Kopas, Hannah Moore, and Clara Smiddy. Michigan’s future medley relays are at least shored up on the front-half for the next few years.
Does anyone know about where other top female recruits (as defined by Swimswam website) are visiting and/or where they are choosing between –Simone Manuel et al.
Great work by the University of Michigan coaching staff! A lot of hard work by Bottom, Bishop, White, Tansel, and Hill. Looking forward to watching the women gain momentum and dominate in the years to come. Go Blue!
Bottom… SMASH.
Michigan girls are gonna be unstoppable!
Emily, Congratulations! Wishing you the best. Great decision.