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Atlanta, Georgia’s Sarah Paisley Owen has announced her verbal pledge to the University of Notre Dame for 2027-28, handing new head coach Michael Norment the first commitment of his tenure.
“I’m incredibly honored and excited to announce my verbal commitment to continue my academic and athletic career at the University of Notre Dame! I want to thank my family, Coach Justin, Coach Iago, Coach Chris, Coach Gabe, Coach Jhenny, Coach Abel, Coach Grace, and the rest of my amazing coaches and teammates at @maacswim for their unwavering support along my journey. I’m deeply grateful to Coach Mike, Coach Joao, and Coach Trevor for this extraordinary opportunity to join the @ndswimdive family. And lastly, I want to extend a special thanks to the Notre Dame Athletic Department and staff for making me feel welcome in South Bend. Go Irish! 💚🍀✨”
Owen is a junior at Midtown High School. She swims year-round with Metro Atlanta Aquatic Club (MAAC), which Norment founded in 2013 and ran full-time until he joined the Georgia Tech swimming and diving staff in 2018. Owen began at MAAC as a 9-year-old in the fall of 2017. It will be a full-circle moment when she suits up for Norment, her very first coach, as a member of the Notre Dame swimming and diving team in the fall of 2027.
Owen, the 2nd-fastest sprint freestyler (behind Rylee Erisman) in the cohort, is ranked #6 on our Way Too Early list of top girls’ swimmers in the high school class of 2027.
As a freshman in high school, she won the 50 free (22.25) and 100 free (48.94) at the 2024 Georgia High School 1A-5A State Championships. Last season, she repeated her state titles at the 4A State Meet, going 22.34 in the 50 and 48.47 in the 100, earning a new PB in the latter. She also split 21.36/47.37 on the 4×50 free and 4×100 free relays.
Her best 50 free time comes from Winter Juniors East in 2023, where she placed 6th with 22.21. She has broken 23 seconds 9 times in the last two years; three of those have been 22.2s.
At NCA Spring Championships this past March, she won the 50 free (22.58), was runner-up in the 100 free (49.23), and placed 10th in the 200 free (with a PB of 1:48.72), 11th in the 50 fly (24.55), and 9th in the 100 fly (with a PB of 53.65). Her 100 fly time was a 1.3-second improvement from a year ago.
Owen kicked off long course season with lifetime bests in the 50 free (25.50) and 100 free (55.80) at U.S. Nationals in June. She finaled in both events, coming in 19th in the 50 and 32nd in the 100. At Summer Junior Nationals in Irvine, she placed 14th in the 50 free (26.18), 7th in the 100 free (56.09), 20th in the 200 free (PB of 2:03.76), and 10th in the 50 fly (PB of 27.46).
Best SCY times:
- 50 free – 22.21
- 50 free relay split – 21.36
- 100 free – 48.47
- 100 free relay split – 47.37
- 200 free – 1:48.72
- 100 fly – 53.65
Owen is the first top 20 for the Notre Dame women’s team since the high school class of 2019, when #5 Coleen Gillilan made South Bend her home.
The Irish finished 12th out of 15 teams at the 2025 ACC Championships. Owen’s best times would have scored in the ‘C’ finals of the 50 free and 100 free. It took 1:46.56 in the 200 free and 52.69 in the 100 fly to get second swims at the conference meet.
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Chasing the black line like track
21.3 and 47.3 splits for a HS sophomore are ELITE – bright future ahead!
Go Irish!
Whoa, those are super elite relay splits!
Big pickup!
Surprised the article didn’t mention the connection between coach and athlete. Sarah swims for the club team, Metro Atlanta (not Atlantic) Aquatic Club, that Michael founded while he was coaching in Atlanta. She was most likely an age group swimmer when Michael was still running the team.
That would be too easy for them to do.
Maybe this was added after your comment? Anyway, that’s a cool piece of trivia I wouldn’t expect most people to know!
Love to see Norment hitting the ground running! The 🐐
Go Irish!