Seth Collet has announced he will transfer to Virginia for the upcoming 2026-2027 season after spending his freshman year at UC-Santa Barbara. Collet will be a sophomore academically but a freshman athletically as he took classes but redshirted the year.
“After much thought, I’m excited to announce that I will be continuing my academic and athletic careers at the University of Virginia! I’m incredibly grateful to Coaches Todd, Tyler, and Gary for this opportunity to compete at such a high level, as well as to @uvaswimdive for welcoming me into the Cavalier family.
I also want to thank the UC Santa Barbara swim team for their support throughout this process. I’m deeply appreciative of the friendships I’ve built and the experiences I’ll carry with me moving forward.
Go HOOS! ⚔️⚔️”
Collet graduated from Woodside High School in California last spring. He arrived at UCSB this fall but did not compete for the team this season due to injury.
Collet told SwimSwam, “I took time off after nationals last summer in anticipation my first hard collegiate season, but I started off too hard when I first got back in the water after weeks of being out, and just had some aches and pains in my shoulder when I started. Ended up being normal tendinitis, but I was never injured before and didn’t know what to do, and along with adjusting to college and not knowing if it was the right fit, I talked with my coach and we agreed to redshirt pretty early on. I did some rehab in December and was back to form in January. Since then, I’ve been using the time to work on my technique a lot, which I think has translated into some good practices recently.”
His last meet was back in June 2025 when he finished 40th at US Summer Nationals swimming to a lifetime best 4:30.49 400 IM. He also time trialed the LCM 200 free (1:52.35) and 400 free (4:00.61), both of which were best times as well.
Collet spent his club career with Ladera Oaks out of Portola Valley CA. Ladera Oaks teammate Michael Powell is committed to Virginia for fall 2027.
Collet’s Best SCY Times Are:
- 400 IM: 3:48.05
- 200 IM: 1:48.06
- 200 back: 1:47.73
- 200 free: 1:36.05
- 500 free: 4:19.73
The Virginia men finished 7th at the 2026 ACC Championships and went on to finish 9th at the 2026 NCAA Championships. Freshman Maximus Williamson led the way with NCAA titles in the 200 free and 200 IM.
Based on his best times, Collet would have made the ACC ‘C’ final in the 400 IM as it took a 3:48.98 to make it back. Virginia only had one finalist in the event as Matthew Heilman was 22nd in a 3:46.86. It took a 1:44.99 200 IM and a 1:42.39 200 back to earn a 2nd swim.
Collet will arrive this fall alongside Micah Davis, Ian Heysen Ricci, Nathan Carr, Gerhardt Hoover, and Liam Mac Colla. Collet plans to study kinesiology.
Despite his name, this guy hasn’t been invited to the Sette Colli meet in 2026.
Two of the most beautiful campuses, lucky guy. Hope you enjoyed IV.
He had some great progression leading into this year. Curious to see how he develops moving forward