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Breaststroker Brayden Taivassalo has announced that he will transfer to Arizona State University for the 2025-2026 season. Taivassalo, a sophomore at the University of Texas, has two years of eligibility remaining.
The SEC, the conference in which the Longhorns compete, has reportedly set a 22-man roster limit for its men’s swimming and diving teams in anticipation of the House vs. NCAA settlement being approved, though the issue of roster limits is causing Judge Claudia Wilken to delay granting her final approval.
Before joining the Longhorns, Taivassalo set the Canadian 18 & Under record in the 200 breast (long course meters) and was a member of both the Canadian Junior National Team in 2022 and the Senior National Team in 2023.
Early in his freshman season, Taivassalo secured a silver medal in the 200 LCM breast at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, where he touched 2nd behind Jake Foster with a time of 2:10.89. Additionally, Taivassalo competed a few months prior at the 2023 World Championships in Japan, placing 30th in the same event.
At the 2024 Big 12 Championships, also during his freshman campaign, Taivassalo won gold in the 200 breast (1:53.28) and claimed silver in the 100 breast (52.28).
In 2025, after competing at the SEC Championships in Texas’ first year since moving from the Big 12, he did not make the Longhorns’ NCAA roster. At SECs, he reached the ‘A’ final in the 200 breast, finishing 7th with a time of 1:53.95, slightly slower than his prelim time of 1:53.42. He also placed 12th in the 100 breast with a time of 52.40.
His best 200 breast time of 1:52.20 was achieved at the Texas Midseason Invite in November, while his 100 breast time remains unchanged from the 2024 Big 12 Championships.
Top SCY Times:
- 100 Breaststroke: 52.28
- 200 Breaststroke: 1:52.20
- 200 IM: 1:46.15
Taivassalo is a significant addition to the Sun Devils’ breaststroke group. His best 200 time would have ranked 2nd on the team’s depth chart for the 2024-25 season, behind Andy Dobrzanski‘s 1:51.93 and ahead of Oscar Bilbao‘s 1:52.31. His 100 personal best would have situated him 3rd, behind Dobrzanski’s 51.27 and Bilbao’s 51.99.
Furthermore, Taivassalo’s best time in the 200 breast would have been fast enough to capture silver at the Big 12 Championships this past season, where Dobrzanski and Bilbao delivered a 1-2 punch with the times mentioned above.
This is the sixth high-profile transfer to Arizona State this offseason. Recently, Adam Chaney, a key piece of many of Florida’s NCAA record-setting and winning relays, announced he would use his fifth-year of eligibility with the Sun Devils. Chaney was originally slated to return to Florida but did not compete for the Gators this season and entered the transfer portal in January as a graduate transfer.
Additionally, the Sun Devils have added SEC champion Andrew Taylor, NCAA ‘B’ finalist Jordan Tiffany, NCAA All-American Remi Fabiani, and NCAA qualifier JT Ewing via the transfer portal for next season.
ASU just wrapped up their first season as a member of the Big 12 Conference and has established itself as the new superpower, winning by over 600 points ahead of 2nd-place University of Arizona. The Sun Devils, now under first-year head coach Herbie Behm, finished 6th at the 2025 NCAA Championships after winning the overall title in the 2023–24 season.
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52.45 100 breastroker Jon Reiter to ASU!
Best wishes to you and you family.
Sad to see him go. Wouldn’t be surprised to see him score at NCAAs in 2026. Great pickup for Herbie.
Don’t forget Jordan Tiffany, who made a big splash for BYU at NCs in 2024, is also committed. Should be an easy rehab project for Herbie. Devils will be making some noise for a team podium finish.
As he is almost old enough for Social Security, guess he will not cost them too much …
True!
Gonna miss you in Austin, Brayden. Best of luck to you and the Sun Devils!
Let’s just say I don’t think Brayden will be the only one announcing their transfer to the ASU breaststroke group today another 52 mid guy is inbound
It seems like it’s turning into an attractive option for decent kids who want to do sprint workouts in the sun after years of getting beat down with meters. Whenever I look at Salo’s workouts on insta it just seems fun compared to the volume/intensity that coaches like Bowman demand.
lol until you see Ilya Kharun’s lc 2 fly
Lol that kid has enough residual capacity in distance free and 200 fly for years to go. Sandpipers —> Bowman for a year —> Herbie reaping all the benefits
ASU is getting some serious commits and transfers across a wide range of disciplines. Not enough to break up the Texas hegemony yet, but Herbie and co are easily proving capable of running the show. Excited to see just how far up they can move next year and what they can get out of some of these talented transfers.
Yeah it’s objectively been the most fun thing to watch over the last year I think. Bob is a fantastic coach, but Herbie’s got that “energy” that draws in a lot of recruits and makes programs better in a hurry. They weren’t starting as low as a Notre Dame or a Pitt, but it’s like the little spikes of interest those guys got. Going back a few years Todd DeSorbo at Virginia had this energy immediately.
Herbie does social differently than Virginia, but it’s still a great strategy, and it’s working for him. What the two programs have in common is transparency. They invite media in over and over again, post everything on the internet, answer almost every questions we… Read more »
…It’s almost like if you’re confident in what you’re doing and proud of what you’re selling, you’re happy to get transparent coverage of your program
Good call. Seems to be a lot of coaches who are afraid of what might happen if their program gets too much attention.
Teri McKeever….
I do love this. Seeing them go from cut to being saved to eventually winning a national title and then immediately losing the coach, it’s nice to see that they seem to be thriving.