2021 NCAA B finalist Katie Mack has announced her transfer to Tennessee to use her COVID-19 fifth year of eligibility after entering the transfer portal at the beginning of April.
Mack made the announcement on her Instagram saying, “sooo excited to announce that I’ll be attending grad school at the University of Tennessee and using my COVID 5th year to finish out my swimming career! Huge thanks to @mkredich and @joshuahuger and the rest of the Tennessee staff for the opportunity! See you soon Rocky Top”
Mack spent her freshman year at NC State before transferring to Florida where she spent the last three years. At NC State, Mack made the B final in both the 200 free and 200 back and she also won the C final of the 200 IM.
After arriving at Florida for her sophomore season, Mack changed her event focus to the sprint freestyles and she saw great progression there. As a sophomore, Mack was third in the 50 free, 14th in the 200 free, and 15th in the 100 free at SECs. She went on to swim at NCAAs where she finished 39th in prelims in the 100 free. She also made the B final of the 50 free swimming a 22.35.
As a junior, Mack switched up her SEC lineup and swam the 100 back instead of the 100 free. She went on to finished 14th in the 50 free, 14th in the 20 free, and 29th in the 100 back. She also swam at NCAAs for the Gators where she swam on the team’s 200 and 400 free relays.
Mack made two SEC ‘A’ finals as a senior. She was seventh in the 50 free and eighth in the 100 free. She also was 24th in the 200 free.
Mack’s best SCY times are:
- 50 free: 21.82
- 100 free: 48.53
- 200 free: 1:45.38
The Tennessee women finished second at SECs this past season, finishing about 300 points behind Florida. The Lady Vols went on to finish eighth at NCAAs, 35 points ahead of Florida.
Mack scored 46 individual points at 2023 SECs. That would have been seventh on the Tennessee SEC roster this past season.
Mack has the potential to be a huge boost to the team’s free relays. Notably, the Tennessee women qualified for NCAAs in four out of the five relays as they did not qualify in the 200 free relay.
Mack split a 21.62 flying start at SECs in the 200 free relay for Florida. That time would have been the fastest on Tennessee’s relay by over half a second. The Tennessee relay went on to finish eighth with a time of 1:29.30, barely missing the NCAA B cut of a 1:29.21.
The Lady Vols return their top 50 freestyle Mona McSharry who will be in her senior season. In addition, the team’s top 100 and 200 freestyler Brooklyn Douthwright will be entering her junior season after having a huge sophomore season including a runner-up finish in the 200 free at NCAAs.
Tennessee and Florida were separated by over 200 returning individual points based on last year’s scores. With the move of Mack, that gap now shrinks to 118.5.
Boom baby!
GBO!