Ruard Van Renen, who was tied with Ranuak Khosla as the highest-scoring mid-major swimmer at the 2023 Men’s NCAA Championships, announced via Instagram on Monday that he would be transferring to the University of Georgia.
Van Renen, who spent his freshman season with the University of Southern Illinois, will have three remaining years of eligibility left with the Bulldogs. At Southern Illinois, he placed 9th in the 100 back (44.67) and 13th in the 200 back (1:40.22) at the 2023 NCAA Championships, tallying up 18 individual points.
Best Times in Yards:
- 50 free – 19.99
- 100 free – 44.14
- 100 back – 44.67
- 200 back – 1:39.73
- 100 fly – 46.10
Very excited to announce my commitment to the University of Georgia @ugaswimdive . Grateful for this opportunity. Thank you to everyone that got me this far, I will forever be grateful
When Van Renen initially entered the transfer portal five days after NCAAs, he said that he was looking for a program with backstrokers that would be at his level to push him on both an NCAA level and internationally. He backed up that statement to SwimSwam on Monday, stating that his decision to come to Georgia “came down to the depth of the backstroke” that the school developed—citing names like 100 back NCAA record holder Luca Urlando, Ian Grum, Bradley Dunham, Wesley Ng, and Sam Powe as examples.
Van Renen, who is South African, also cited Georgia’s South African head coach Neil Versefeld and South African Georgia women’s team swimmer Dune Coetzee as reasons as to why he chose the school.
“I felt that UGA had a good understanding when it came down to international students having other meets than just NCAAs and conferences,” Van Renen said. “Besides swimming, UGA is able to held their students tremendously in the classroom which helps a lot when you miss school due to meets.”
Prior to college, Van Renen was recruited by Southern Illinois assistant coach Johno Fergusson, who is also South African.
With Urlando missing the majority of the 2022-23 NCAA season due to injury, Van Renen would have been the fastest 100 backstroke and the third-fastest 200 backstroker for the Bulldogs last season. Here’s what Georgia’s backstroke depth chart could have looked like with Van Renen this season:
Georgia Men’s 100 Back Depth Chart:
- Ruard Van Renen, 44.67
- Bradley Dunham, 45.13
- Wesley Ng, 45.27
- Ian Grum, 45.82
Georgia Men’s 200 Back Depth Chart:
- Ian Grum, 1:38.39
- Bradley Dunham, 1:38.90
- Ruard Van Renen, 1:39.73
- Mitchell Norton, 1:40.62
- Sam Powe, 1:41.06
From the 2021-22 to the 2022-23 season, Georgia dropped from 8th to 12th overall at NCAAs after losing their top scorers in Matt Sates and Luca Urlando. However, with individual scorers like Grum and Dunham returning for fifth years and the addition of Van Renen, the future for the Bulldogs seems bright.
Somewhat related:
My sources tell me Luca Urlando will not be swimming collegiately in 2023-24
Will ask more info
I said below (earlier) someone is not going to be there and that is why there was money available for this guy!
SwimSwam might know something since they didn’t list the NCAA and American record holder, Luca, in Georgia’s depth chart?!?!?
There are lots of rumors going around. Luca has so far stuck with “I can’t say anything yet.”
He wasn’t announced with the group of 5th years coming back to Georgia who all announced together, so that is fairly-strong evidence, when combined with the rumors, that he’s not coming back.
Even if Luca was coming back, why would he be announced with the 5th years? 2023-2024 would be his “standard” senior year (he was in the 2020 recruiting class).
You’re right, my mistake.
And still…his response to our question wasn’t “I’m all-in on Georgia, will definitely be back.”
I think if he were coming back to Georgia, the answer would’ve been easy. The fact that the answer was “I can’t talk about my plans” still seems significant.
I think he’s going pro and moving training groups.
Good for Ruard.
Related: any news on Luca? Haven’t heard anything since his shoulder injury 6 months ago. Is he possibly retiring?
He popped up in Regan Smith’s IG stories today, looked like they may be at OTC. A good sign.
Good thing he’s leaving SIU! He needs a real coach
Because developing a 21.4 50 freestyle into a 19.6 in just two years indicates bad coaching
There must be a good reason why they have a scholarship opening for him!?! All those 5th years coming back and Jake, makes me wonder who isn’t going to swim this year? Someone isn’t! No doubt about it!
I mean, they might still have the Sates money since that was so late in the semester. They didn’t really replace his caliber on the roster last year, and I’d venture to say Georgia was sitting on more money than that.
Some other stud isn’t returning
Feel free to let us in on the secret, then
When are these guys going to go to SMU????
Now they have Dunham, Grum and him💀 all 1:38s basically
one could argue it’s two 1:38s and a 1:39
https://swimswam.com/ruard-van-renen-the-top-mid-major-scorer-at-mens-ncaas-enters-transfer-portal/#comment-1177897
Wish he could’ve stayed in the MAC long enough to win an NCAA title, but glad I got to witness his impressive swims in-person this year. Best of luck in Athens (certainly an upgrade from Carbondale!).
Edit: everywhere is better than Carbondale
Joliet, Rockford and Kankakee are not better than Carbondale
*Dwight Schrute voice* False
Last time I was there, 1/3 of my team (including myself) got violently ill and had to scratch the last day of conference. So Carbondale has not exactly left me with fond memories 😂
Everywhere is better than Carbondale and their coaching staff
Matt Sates is off sighing to himself somewhere.