Paige Madden has decided to go out on top.
The University of Virginia senior had an NCAA Championship performance to remember last weekend, sweeping her individual events, adding a fourth title in the 800 free relay, and leading the Cavs to the first NCAA team championship in ACC history.
Speaking to Virginia Sports after the event, the senior said that she won’t be using the extra year of eligibility that was granted to student-athletes competing this season due to the pandemic.
“There’s no way I can top what happened this weekend, and so I think it’s good just to go out on top,” said Madden. “It’s a bittersweet ending, but I’m glad that it happened the way that it did.”
The 22-year-old will graduate this spring with a degree in kinesiology, and eventually plans on becoming a physician assistant.
It’s become an interesting topic of debate on whether or not student-athletes will use the extra year granted to them.
Virginia head coach Todd DeSorbo told SwimSwam that while he has yet to have direct conversations with his athletes on the topic, he doesn’t expect any of the seniors to return for a fifth year.
The other seniors on Virginia’s women’s roster are Kyla Valls, Caroline Gmelich and diver Jocelyn Porter, all of whom were NCAA qualifiers.
In general, many coaches have been hesitant to declare whether their seniors will return for a fifth year or not, with at least one saying that the decision could depend on how athletes are feeling after this summer’s Olympic Trials and/or Olympic Games. The general consensus is that not many top athletes will be taking advantage of the opportunity, especially on the women’s side of the pool.
The rule doesn’t only apply to current seniors, either. In theory, the echo of the extra season of eligibility will be felt for the next four seasons.
It’s also plausible that we’ll see more swimmers use the extra season in future years, with the ability to plan ahead, compared to this year’s crop of seniors who only found out about the extra year of eligibility after the season had already begun.
Last years seniors are the ones who would actually need an extra year. They, you know, actually lost a year.
Her name literally translates to: infuriating website
She’ll be making way more by being a PA. Hope she sticks around a few more years swimming.
this is paige’s way of saying “we won’t beat stanford next year when their olympic redshirts return”
Uhhh they still can and probably will or be close. Gretchen is coming in and a few other greats
Clown
Pfft…
Actually, this is Paige’s way of saying I have met my goals, and it’s on to the next phase in life to pursue the actual reason that I attended a university. I can’t remember the swimmer, but he basically said too many swimmers are in “Peter Pan” mode for too long and need to move on. Bravo to her! Also, you might not want to hand Stanford the trophy just yet. Even if all the ladies show up/return, it’s not going to be a laydown.
But swimming the extra year will increase their earnings and make them super famous! Oh wait…
Is -99 the limit for down votes?
I am pretty sure UVA doesn’t fund a 5th year for athletes to finish their degree, so this doesn’t surprise me. You graduate in 4 years or you pay for the extra semester or two! Amazing how many graduate in 4 years!
What will be interesting is whether Congress, the courts, or the NCAA proceed to permit NIL earnings – and if so how that will work. Alums who own businesses could very well step to the plate and license the NIL rights of a star for use in business advertisements and provide an income which equals or exceeds what could be earned in the ISL or other pro circuits. And presumably under NIL, swim suit companies might well license a star freshman post Olympics – will be interesting to see how that plays out, although I fear that given tech wealth, Cal and Stanford might have an advantage (though Harvard might also get a lot better at recruiting via hedge fund… Read more »
If I were a coach I would 100% be trying to capitalize on seniors from my program and others with one year scholarships and help on graduate school admissions. They’ve had 4 years of college development and switching programs usually provides a new training stimulus that can lead to quick growth. Plus you have an opportunity to bring in true leaders (not saying that freshman can’t be leaders) who can help the team grow at the expense of just one years worth of scholarship money.
Unfortunately the NCAA exemption for this year comes with the stipulation that schools can exceed the scholarship limit for one year with seniors that use the extra year of eligibility at the same school. If they transfer, as you suggest as a grad transfer, they would count against the scholarship limit at a new school. So for swimmers on scholarship the only way to truly take advantage of the one year exception is to remain at the same school.
No this is not accurate. A school cannot exceed the scholarship limit, even for 5th years who remain at the same school.
How the scholarship is counted only matters to the school. The athlete who is offered a scholarship is getting that benefit to further their education and continue training. Going to a new school or returning give different opportunities for coaching and education.
what i saw in ncaas; seniors are not focus on many programs. Freshmen bring promise which you can sell to your AD for not firing you or many of them seem to wash out with wrong coaching after 4 years…..