US Olympic silver medalist Rhyan White says she’s moving to train with the Wolfpack Elite pro training group based out of NC State. White graduated from Alabama last year with a degree in Human Environmental Studies.
White’s departure coincides with that of Ozzie Quevedo, who left to become the head women’s coach at SMU in Dallas next season. Quevedo has been White’s primary coach at Alabama.
White swam the maximum 5 seasons at Alabama (including the COVID year), qualifying for the NCAA Championships in each of those years. She earned a total of 19 CSCAA All-America awards (First Team and Honorable Mention combined), and won 8 individual SEC Championships. Her best years in college were her sophomore and junior years. In the 2019-2020 season, she swam most of her best times, before the NCAA Championship meet was canceled by COVID-19. In the 2020-2021 season, she swept the SEC titles in the 100 back, 200 back, and 100 fly.
In 2021, she earned NCAA runner-up finishes in the 100 back, 200 back, and placed 5th in the 100 fly as well. That led in to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, where she earned a spot on Team USA in the 100 and 200-meter backstrokes.
In Tokyo, she placed 4th in both events, and she earned a silver medal by swimming the backstroke leg of the prelims 400 medley relay that went on to finish 2nd in finals.
In her last NCAA Championship meet, she finished 8th in the 100 back (51.26) and 11th in the 200 back (1:51.93) at the NCAA Championships.
She was one of the few Crimson Tide swimmers who swam under head coaches Dennis Pursley, Coley Stackels, and Margo Geer.
At the 2021 World Short Course Championships, she won the 200 meter backstroke individually. In long course at 2022 Worlds, she won a gold medal as a medley relay prelims leg again as well as individual bronze in the 200 back.
At NC State, among others, she will train with fellow US National Team backstroker Katharine Berkoff, who won silver in the 50 backstroke at Worlds last year. NC State is also the training ground for Hunter Tapp, who is on the National Team in the 200 back.
The Wolfpack have a long history of producing top-class backstrokers. Justin Ress, on the National Team in the 100 back, is now training in the pro group at Mission Viejo, but was previously at NC State as both an undergrad and a pro.
Rhyan White‘s Career Best Times:
| SCY | SCM | LCM | |
| 50 back | 23.35 | 26.33 | 27.45 |
| 100 back | 50.02 | 55.87 | 58.43 |
| 200 back | 1:48.06 | 2:01.58 | 2:05.13 |
White is the 7th-best performer of all-time in the 200 backstroke. Two of the swimmers ahead of her are active Americans: Regan Smith (2:03.35) and Phoebe Bacon (2:05.08), which leaves a battle for spots on the US Olympic Team for the Paris 2024 Games.
White made the announcement via Instagram, where she thanks Alabama for her time with the program.
That included a poignant piece of advice from her mom:
“When I moved to college, my mom said to me that I’d adopt traits of the 5 people I spend most of my time with, so I should choose them carefully. I learned that those people aren’t going to be the same from the first day to the last. Lucky for me, I had some people with me no matter what and others that were in my life for a shorter amount of time. Through it all I learned so much about life while learning about myself.”
White, 23, is a native of Herriman, Utah. She was a Utah State Champion at Cottonwood High School while training with Wasatch Front Fish Market.
Katie Mack is transferring to TENNESSEE!! LFG ROCKY TOP
The fact that she could go times in the 100/200 back at trials that would’ve won gold in both events in Rio and still have to potentially fail to make the team is pretty crazy but I guess such is the depth of US women’s backstroke
That is 1000% right, US women’s backstroke and butterfly gained depth in the 2020s
2:05 is super legit so I’m pulling for her to give it a go for the next few years. Not just to Paris but at least two more years to really put it in a nice effort as a pro
so this means Rhyan AND Queen Berkoff will be training together. Both have stellar underwaters, they’re both going to get so much faster swimming next to each other on the daily.
Out of interest, what do people feel about those getting medals for swimming in prelims of big events? Do the swimmers themselves feel as though they are actually medalists?
I’m not being judgmental, just genuinely interested, so please don’t downvote me!
I hate it but I think I am on the minority. It is a definite advantage to the big swimming nations! Don’t like the slow guy in prelims on a relay gets a medal but the 4th place guy in individual event only gets a handshake!
the heat swimmers can dq the finals swimmers out of a medal, so it’s fair to say they impact the results. I think the current practice of only having the finalists stand on the podium is a good compromise. That said I would be in favour of WA placing limits on relay participants, so only 2 heat swimmers can be subbed out in each final
In track and field, see the ritual dropping of the baton for the USA men in the 4×100 prelims for the past 20 or so years in major meets.
I think they deserve a medal but also I think everyone knows it’s not the same as winning a medal from a final. I definitely wouldn’t take heat medals into account when comparing swimmer achievements.
But it’s also interesting because some swimmers who swim heats would never be able to swim a final and still win, while others (eg Australian women 4×100 free) would have literally won gold with their heat time anyway. Hard to claim that those swimmers aren’t deserving of any recognition.
They used not to; not exactly sure when that changed.
Whilst the point that this advantages the stronger nations has some validity; the counter-argument that the only country with capacity to sub swimmers in/out of ALL relays is USA.
The reality is that if the heat swimmers DON’T do their job; the team will watching the final from the stands. There have been a number of instances where the heats line-up have set WRs. In many relays, its often the case that the choice for the final spots for the finals quartet are far from clear cut.
Restricting the limits on relay subtitutions as ESBL propounds = I could go along with.
Yes, I agree. Often risks are taken, as when GB failed to make the Tokyo final in the men’s 4×1 free. And as for athletics, with the countless dropped batons from a number of nations…..easier to get DQd than in swimming.
I think limiting the number of changes permitted, as ESBL suggests, could be a way forward. Though no one would agree to it of course.
I’ve always wondered if there’s an elegant solution that recognizes their contribution but also recognizes the difference. Like a different set/type of award than the one that’s indistinguishable from the one the finals swimmers get.
I wish there was a nice obvious “elegant solution” but in all honesty, the current “status quo” is probably the fairest. The medal is warranted but the ceremony itself is only for the finals quartets.
Are some heats medals arguably “soft” ? Inevitably yes, there will be some but how you define “soft” is open to debate. There are always going to be some heat swimmers who were, barring major catastrophe, never going to the finals line-up, and the odd “truly substandard” performance but there are a number of obvious examples where the heats line-up for one country would all make the peak quartet for almost every other country.
Was the old pre 1984 regime of medals only for the… Read more »
So prelim slow guy gold medal equals basketball gold medal? Basketball stars only get one medal, not one for each round but swimming keep adding events and relays so EVRRYONE gets a trophy!
I don’t have a problem with the awarding of the medal but it’s the subsequent use of “gold medal swimmer” that really should be kept to a minimum.
I agree with you here. I am a great fan of Freya Anderson, and I do think her best is yet to come. However, even she must be fed up hearing Andy Jameson calling her an Olympic Champion (she swam in the heats of the MMR in Tokyo) when he is commentating.
That answers that:
https://swimswam.com/2023-ncaa-di-womens-championships-day-4-prelims-overreactions/#comment-1168878
Best decision. Good luck!
Bama swimmers📉📉
How much longer is the train wreck in Tuscaloosa gonna last before they get a real head coach ?