NEW COMMIT: The University of Southern California has just gained a new verbal commitment from Greece’s Nicole Pavlopoulou, who will join the Trojans as a member of the class of 2023.
She swims for Oceanos Swimming Club of Athens under head coach Dimitris Damasiotis and is a member of Greece’s National Team. Pavlopoulou, who is preparing to travel to Argentina for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games taking place Oct. 6-18 in Buenos Aires, specializes in breaststroke and IM. She holds several Greek national records in both LCM and SCM and also has three European Swimming League Multi-Nations Championship records.
She most recently competed at the European Junior Championships where she finished sixth in both the 200m IM and 200m breast. She represented Greece in all three breaststroke races at the European Championships and made the semi-finals of the 200m IM. She also raced at the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships last summer and advanced to the semi-final of the 100m breast.
She told Swimming World:
“It gives me a great pleasure to announce my verbal commitment to the University of Southern California (USC) and its esteemed swimming program as of Fall ‘19. It is simply an honor to have the opportunity to study in one of the top universities of USA and coached by the legendary David Salo and the rest of his coaching stuff. I will be eagerly awaiting and counting the days to move to LA to be a #trojan and work hard and smart with my coaches and my future teammates. I am looking forward to become a valuable contributor to the Trojan’s Swimming Program and develop further my swimming at the highest possible level. #fighton Trojans”
In LCM, her best times include:
- 200 IM – 2:16.34
- 200 breast – 2:28.68
- 100 breast – 1:10.38
- 50 breast – 32.44
- 50 free – 26.25
In SCY, those times convert to:
- 200 IM – 1:59.57
- 200 breast – 2:12.02
- 100 breast – 1:01.93
- 50 breast – 28.44
- 50 free – 23.12
Pavlopoulou is a valuable pickup for the Trojans when she arrives in California next fall. Her best 200 IM, 100 breast and 200 breast time converted to SCY would’ve all placed in the B-final at the 2018 Pac-12 Championships. She will have two season to train with Maggie Aroesty who won the 200 breast Pac-12 title. Under head coach Dave Salo, USC finished fourth at last year’s conference meet.
