2023 Division I NCAA Qualifier Emma Davidson has announced that she will be transferring to Texas to use her COVID-19 fifth year of eligibility this upcoming fall.
Davidson told SwimSwam she was drawn to Texas as “It is the best combination between an amazing swim program and putting myself in the best position academically to pursue my career goals of becoming a nurse. I admire the team culture Texas has created, and I know it is the place where I can reach my potential in the pool while pursuing my career objectives.”
Davidson spent her first four years at Cal. At the 2023 Pac-12 Championships, Davidson scored 62 individual points, the seventh most for Cal. There she finished fifth in the 100 free (48.27), ninth in the 50 free (22.21), and 10th in the 200 free (1:45.80). Notably, all three of her swims in finals were personal best times.
She went on to swim at NCAAs where she finished 26th in the 100 free (48.33), 35th in the 50 free (22.39), and 40th in the 200 free (1:46.38). She also swam on four of Cal’s relays, helping them to a sixth place finish in the 200 medley, 10th in the 200 free, 11th in the 400 medley, and 12th in the 400 free relays.
At the 2022 NCAA Championships, Davidson swam as a relay-only swimmer for Cal. There she helped both the 200 and 400 free relays to 11th place finishes.
As a sophomore during the COVID-19 2020-2021 season, Davidson battled a shoulder injury which was part of the motivation to do a fifth year as “Ever since the opportunity for a fifth year arose, I knew wanted to use my extra year of eligibility to attend a school that had a nursing program I was interested in. I also missed out on a majority of my sophomore season due to shoulder surgery, so after my season this year, I look forward to building on the growth I’ve experienced because I know I am not done yet!”
Davidson’s Best SCY Times:
- 50 free: 22.21
- 100 free: 48.27
- 200 free: 1:45.80
Davidson has the potential to make an impact for Texas upon her arrival this fall. Her best time in the 100 free would have been second on the roster this past season, her 50 free would have been third, and her 200 free would have been fourth.
She is not the only Cal swimmer that will be using their fifth year at Texas as IMer Alicia Wilson announced in February that she will be joining the Longhorns this fall.
Davidson told SwimSwam that she will be finishing up her nursing prerequisites and “starting to build relationships at the school of nursing in order to be best prepared to apply to my masters program.”
She didn’t even thank Cal in her Instagram post 😳
She thanked the heck out of them in her “goodbye Cal” post on April 7:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CqvrR3qPHbN/
So this puts the Cal transfers at Wilson and Davidson both to Texas, Ivey to Florida. Am I missing anyone?
She will definitely help free relays.
Curious about which seniors are coming back to use fifth year and who might be taking an Olympic Red shirt. I believe only Dakota has used up her eligibility.
Texas is a 21mid / 47 low sprinter from seriously challenging UVA. They need to develop one or get one. Not too many of those laying around.
Douglass is gone. Texas will have everyone they need to beat UVA. An elite sprinter would just be icing on the cake.
Cuomo’s 21.1 is gone too at uva. That said … they have 20.8 GWalsh leadoff, 21-low split AWalsh, 21-low split Max Parker – and probably Aimee Canny as 4th. We don’t have a lot of 50 data from her, but when she went :46 relay split at ACCs, she was 22.1 *to the feet*. Let’s give her a 21.5 on a 4×50 relay.
I doubt Texas or anyone else can swim with that relay next year.
Bear down LFG, transferring from Cal to Tex is a gut wrencher f
🤘🏼🐂🧡🤍💥👍🏼👍🏼