Pac-12 Finalist Ellie Jew Transfers from Arizona to Notre Dame

Notre Dame has lost one high-profile male swimmer to a transfer in the last few weeks, but have now added one to their women’s roster for the 2020-2021 season.

I’m so excited to announce that I will be continuing my college career at the University of Notre Dame. I am grateful for everything this past year at the University of Arizona and excited for the opportunities ahead!

Ellie Jew will transfer to Notre Dame after spending her freshman season at Arizona last year. She was the Wildcats’ top placing 100 breaststroker last season at the Pac-12 Championships and season-long ranked 2nd behind the graduating Mallory Korenwinder in that event. Overall, Jew was ranked 7th in the Pac-12 in the 100 breaststroke last season (1:00.57) and finished 8th at the Pac-12 Championships.

Best Times in Yards:

While Jew did make some progress as a freshman at Arizona in her best event, the 100 breaststroke, her other two races the 200 breaststroke and the IM didn’t fare as well. She was 15th in the 200 breast at the Pac-12 Championships and 35th in the 200 IM, missing her high school best times in both races.

Jew didn’t get a spot on the Arizona ‘A’ medley relays at the Pac-12 Championships in spite of being the team’s top-placing swimmer in the 100. In the 400 medley relay, Jew split 59.74 on the non-scoring ‘B’ relay, which was more than a second better than Korenwinder split on the team’s 6th-place ‘A’ relay. The Wildcats would have needed a two-and-a-half second drop to move up one spot in that relay, and the relay was swum before the individual 100 breaststroke.

In the 200 medley relay, Arizona used freshman Jade Neser on the breaststroke leg. While Neser’s 100 breaststroke was more than a second slower than Jew’s in the individual event, Neser came up big with a 27.29 relay split that was the 2nd-best of the field. Arizona’s 200 medley relay placed 4th.

Jew is originally from suburban Portland where she swam for the Lake Oswego Swim Club in high school. She is an Olympic Trials qualifier in the 100 breaststroke in long course with a best time of 1:10.84.

The Notre Dame women finished 5th out of 12 teams at the 2020 ACC Championship meet. Their highest-finish 100 breaststroker at that meet was Elizabeth Fry, who placed 19th with a 1:02.25. They did have versatile freshman Coleen Gillilan for the medley relays – she split 27.28 and 1:00.27. She swam the 100 fly, 200 fly, and 200 IM individually.