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Ava Kilpatrick of Hendersonville, North Carolina has announced that she will be making the short drive North next fall, announcing her commitment to swim at the University of North Carolina, Asheville beginning in 2022. Kilpatrick is currently in the midst of finishing her senior year at West Henderson High School.
I’m so excited to announce my commitment to swim for UNC Asheville!!! Thank you to my coaches, teammates, family, and friends for all of the support! Go Bulldogs!
Swimming for her high school, Kilpatrick has finished in the top-8 at the NCHSAA 3A Swimming and Diving State Championships on two occasions. As a sophomore in 2020, she made it into the A-final of the 100 free, taking 8th in the event in a time of 53.44. That year she also added an 8th place finish in the 200 free (1:55.73). In 2021 she improved upon that 200 free finish, taking 6th in the event in timed finals. She was over half a second faster in the event than she had been a year earlier, touching in 1:55.15.
In the long course pool, her best times all come from the North Carolina Long Course Senior Championships swum in July. There, she hit 27.66 in the 50 free, 1:00.04 in the 100 free, 2:11.62 in the 200 free, and 4:40.97 in the 400 free.
Best SCY Times
- 50 free – 24.60
- 100 free – 53.20
- 200 free – 1:54.59
- 500 free – 5:17.54
UNC-Asheville competes in the CCSA, where the team finished in third at the conference championships in 2021. That meet saw Florida Gulf Coast and Liberty tie for the title, with Incarnate Word taking third. Asheville’s best showing came in the 50 free, where Delaney Carlton and Abigail Parks both made it onto the podium, with Carlton claiming silver and Parks taking bronze. Kilpatrick will have overlap with both of them when she joins the team next season.
The CCSA used a slightly different format than most conferences in 2021, with each final having 9 swimmers and the top-27 scoring points. While Kilpatrick wouldn’t have made it into finals of the 50 and 100, she would have earned a spot in the B-final of the 200 with her best time in the event.
The UNC-Asheville Bulldogs are already off to a historic start to their 2021-22 season. In October the team competed in a tri-meet against Campbell and UNC-Wilmington, claiming the victory over both in-state rivals. Those wins marked the first time in program history that the team had bested either in dual meet competition and moved the program to 5-0 on the season. The team currently sits at 6-0 on the season and 14-1-1 in dual meets dating back to November of 2019. The team has been dominant in their performances this season, with their wins coming by an average of 70 points.
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