Recent UCLA graduate Rosie Murphy has recently confirmed her post-graduation plans, and she will be moving to Ireland this fall as she intends to represent Ireland internationally while attending graduate school.
Murphy grew up in a suburb of Sacramento, a far cry from Ireland. Her dad, who is one of nine siblings, is a first-generation American and most of his siblings and parents were born in Ireland, giving Murphy Irish citizenship.
She swam club for the Sierra Marlins Swim Team and attended Granite Bay High School, where she became very strong in the backstroke, butterfly, and IM events.
When she committed to UCLA in November of 2020, for the class of 2022, she would have been one of the top backstrokers and IMers on the team with her times from her sophomore year.
She joined the Bruins in the fall of 2022 and quickly made an impact with the program, scoring in three events at the Pac-12 Championships as a freshman, finishing 8th in the 400 IM, 12th in the 200 back, and 13th in the 200 IM.
She only got better from there. Her sophomore year at the last Pac-12 Championships, she finished 3rd in the 200 back, 4th in the 400 IM, and 7th in the 200 IM. She then went on to race at the NCAA Championships, where she finaled in the 400 IM, finishing 10th.
In 2025, UCLA moved to the Big Ten, and Murphy still scored in three events, finishing 10th in the 200 IM, 11th in the 200 back, and 13th in the 400 IM. She qualified for the 2025 NCAA Championships, but missed qualifying for finals, with her highest finish coming in the 400 IM at 31st.
Last season, she had a huge performance at the Big Ten Championships, finishing 1st in the 200 IM, 2nd in the 200 back, and 3rd in the 400 IM, setting all personal best times. At NCAAs, she set two more personal best times, swimming 4:02.22 in the 400 IM prelims before finishing 7th in the final, and 1:51.40 in the 200 back to finish 12th. In the 200 IM, Murphy finished 8th.
Despite her success in short course yards, however, Murphy did not have the same success in long course. In 2019, she qualified for Olympic Trials in the 200 backstroke at just 15-years-old, stopping the clock in 2:14.09. After that swim, however, she struggled to get back to that time at long course meets, though she typically only raced a few long course meets a season.
Last summer, Murphy had a breakthrough in the event, swimming 2:14.09 in July to exactly tie her best time. Just a few weeks later, she swam the race again, stopping the clock in 2:13.72 to set her first best time in six years. Murphy told SwimSwam that this swim made her think, “you know what? I think I just really have more in the tank in terms of long course racing and a seed was planted.”
After that, she emailed Niamh McDonnell, the Performance Operations Manager for Swim Ireland, but didn’t hear anything back at first, though she hadn’t met the National Team Consideration standards in any of her events.
In December, she raced at the U.S. Open Championships, where she had a huge meet, setting personal best times in all three of her events. She swam 2:12.79 in the 200 back, 2:12.50 in the 200 IM, and 4:45.65 in the 400 IM.
Her 200 IM time officially came in under Swim Ireland’s consideration standard for the 200 IM of 2:12.80, which prompted Murphy to email again. Shortly after, they got back to her, and she began coordinating with Steven Beckerleg, the Head Coach at the National Centre in Dublin.
Murphy said at the time, she was “still kind of considering staying in the U.S.” to train, but that “[she has] always had an itch to travel outside the U.S. and go see the world, so [she] thought that the opportunity to get the best of both worlds and travel and have a new experience, and also keep swimming and reignite [her] younger self’s dream of going to the Olympics of swimming Internationally.”
She said the whole process came together pretty quickly after she began speaking to the coaches, and she applied to Trinity College in Dublin, where she was recently accepted to a master’s program in marketing.
In regard to her goals for the future, Murphy said “I want to go to the Olympics, and I know that it’s a big goal, but I think that I can definitely get myself there.”
She also has goals along the way like the Short Course World Championships at the end of this year and Long Course Worlds next summer. She said “I’m really just trying to dip my feet into international swimming and not get too ahead of myself with these big goals and just trying to stay very present because I fell that’s how I do best…I’m definitely being very intentional with it and just taking it as it comes.”
Murphy and the coaching staff are targeting the first World Cup stop in Baku, Azerbaijan as her first meet after her move to Ireland at the end of the summer as she aims for Worlds qualification.
At this summer’s Irish Open Championships, Murphy’s best times would have been 1st in the 200 IM, 2nd in the 400 IM, and 3rd in the 200 back.
Murphy said “I’m very humbled and grateful for this opportunity, and I think that I absolutely would not be in the position that I’m in without my coaches [at UCLA]. The team at UCLA has grown so much since I’ve gotten here… and I just have so much gratitude for UCLA and where it’s brought me and the opportunities it’s presented me. I’m just very very honored that I am able to take this next step in my swimming career.”
That’s my girl!!