University of Michigan swimmer Megan Glass will cross the lines of a legendary collegiate rivalry: the senior has announced that she will use her 5th year of NCAA eligibility at Notre Dame next season.
Glass entered the NCAA Transfer Portal in the fall with the intention of transferring to use her bonus COVID year of eligibility.
Glass qualified for the NCAA Championships in 2022 as a junior and 2021 as a sophomore.
In 2022, she raced the 100 free (56th), 200 free (40th), and swam the leadoff leg on Michigan’s 17th-place 800 free relay. In 2021, she earned All-America honors as part of all 5 Michigan relays; she also finished 26th individually in the 200 free (1:46.46).
She also finished 4th at the Big Ten Championships in the 200 free in both 2021 and 2022.
Glass, a native of Ohio, is a double-legacy of the Michigan swimming program: her dad Kevin swam for Michigan from 1991-1994 and her mom Beth swam for Michigan from 1993-1996.
“I am so grateful for my four years at the University of Michigan. It was a dream of mine to swim at the same place both of my parents swam and I am so lucky that I got to experience it for myself,” Glass said.
Michigan finished 23rd at the NCAA Championships in 2023 and 3rd at the Big Ten Championships.
“After four years working with Mike Bottom and two working with Josh White, I can say I have grown tremendously in my swimming and in life. I am very thankful for them and for all of the coaches I’ve had the chance to learn from at Michigan. I am so appreciative of their encouragement and support to further my education and continue swimming – I know they’ll always root for me and I will always root for them!
“My Michigan teammates are my family and I am so lucky for every single one of them. The future of this team is so bright and I cannot wait to see what they accomplish in the coming years! My whole life I’ve been a Michigan Wolverine and that will never change!”
Glass plans to study business analytics at Notre Dame.
“I am beyond excited to be attending the University of Notre Dame to earn my Master’s in Business Analytics – Sports Analytics. The opportunities I will have academically and career wise are very exciting for me as well as having the opportunity to swim for the team!”
Notre Dame just completed its first year under new head coach Chris Lindauer and an entirely-new Irish staff. That first season included the men’s team scoring their highest finish in program history at the NCAA Championships.
The Notre Dame women sent two swimmers and two divers to NCAAs this season and finished 8th at the ACC Championships, which was one spot lower than they were the year prior.
“My conversations with all the Notre Dame coaches but especially Chris Lindauer and Josh Stanfield have been amazing and I’m really looking forward to working with them and being apart of the team for my last year of swimming!”
She punctuated her decision with a statement not often said in college sports: Go Blue and Go Irish!”
Time Progression
Glass came out of high school as the YMCA National Champion in the 100 and 200 fly, but focused mostly on freestyle events with the Wolverines.
HS Best | Michigan Best | |
50 free | 23.59 | 22.80 (Sr) |
100 free | 50.41 | 48.89 (Sr) |
200 free | 1:47.77 | 1:44.87 (Jr) |
100 fly | 53.24 | 52.74 (So) |
200 fly | 1:57.51 | 1:58.82 (So) |
Michigan Seniors in the Transfer Portal
Four out of six current Michigan seniors are in the Transfer Portal as graduate transfers; that’s in addition to would-be senior Kaitlyn Sims, who transferred to UCLA this year mid-season. She would be a senior by eligibility, but was labeled as a graduate transfer, implying that she finished her Michigan degree early.
Sophia Kudryashova, Madeleine Bauer, Mariella Venter, and Octavia Lau are also in the portal as graduate transfers. Being in the portal does not require athletes to transfer; rather, it allows them the freedom to discuss possible transfers with other programs and coaches. Graduate transfers are also exempted from the 60-day portal entry window – only Kudryashova entered the portal after the conclusion of the 2022-2023 season.
Those who stay will… guess we may never know…
Another one bites the dust, to be fair I don’t count grad transfers. Unless you have very specific goals with a coach there’s no point in not experiencing something different for your extra year.
Plus UM is expensive with little to no merit based aid so there is a financial incentive not to attend UM
If you think Michigan is expensive, wait until you see the tuition at Notre Dame…
Not much difference between Notre Dame and out-of-state at Michigan.
What I love about swimming is that the fanbase is so wealthy that $6,000/year is considered “not much difference” and then they lose their s*** when ESPN asks them to pay $10 to watch both NCAA Championship meets.
While grad school tuition varies based on program, per the estimates on their respective websites, the gap for grad school is closer to $10k.
Dang, she gets to experience two of the most historic universities in the USA. Cool opportunity. Good luck!
should experienced somewhere with decent weather