Swimming World celebrates the NCAA women’s swimming senior class of 2020.
The cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships caused many careers of senior student athletes to go unfinished as a lot of swimmers will have an asterisk next to their names in the history books due to the fact they could not end their careers on their own terms. A disease pandemic cancelling an NCAA championships is unheard of, especially in this modern world. So having no NCAAs this season was a huge blow to fans of the sport of swimming as well as the athletes that worked so hard to finish their amateur careers this year.
We at Swimming World wanted to honor this year’s senior class by applauding their accomplishments in the pool as well as revisit their commitments from their various schools.
Rather than play a “what-if” game, we wanted to acknowledge the achievements these various seniors accomplished in their three full seasons.
Celebrating the NCAA Women’s Swimming Class of 2020
First up is Wisconsin’s Beata Nelson. She was Swimming World’s High School Swimmer of the Year in 2016 and became the most decorated swimmer in Wisconsin history in winning three individual titles in 2019. A native of Madison, Nelson was a home grown Badger and helped make Wisconsin one of the elite powers in the Big Ten.
Beata Nelson in high school. Photo Courtesy: Jessi Schoville
“I always thought I would go somewhere else,” Nelson said of the University of Wisconsin. “I ended up where I belonged, but it is definitely full circle realizing how many people saw the journey unfold right in front of them. My club coach was there. I had family and friends that were there. It was crazy to see how much love and support followed me,” she said. “Senior day was great. We knew it was going to be a tough meet. I enjoyed the day so much. It’s crazy being back at the Nat instead of our new facility. That was super nostalgic for me swimming there growing up.”
Fellow Wisconsin native Katie Drabot chose to go west and swim for Stanford University. One of the most versatile swimmers in the class of 2016, she joined a stacked Stanford team in the fall of 2016 with all the momentum going its way. Drabot helped the Cardinal win three NCAA team titles and never lost a duel meet in her four year career. Although she never did win an individual NCAA title, she was able to celebrate three relay titles, including the 800 free relay her sophomore and junior year.
Katie Drabot in high school. Photo Courtesy: Taylor Brien
Arguably the most successful swimmer in this year’s NCAA women’s swimming senior class was Cal’s Abbey Weitzeil. She originally deferred her enrollment in the fall of 2015 to Berkeley so she could fully focus on swimming with her club coach Coley Stickels to try and make the 2016 Olympic team. She was successful, reaching the final of the 100 freestyle in Rio, giving her a lot of momentum heading into college. But Weitzeil struggled in her first two years with the Golden Bears. She was overshadowed by fellow Olympian Simone Manuel of Stanford and didn’t win an individual title in 2017 or 2018.
But in her junior season, she blossomed into the star she was expected to be. At the 2019 NCAAs, she won three national titles in one night, setting American records in the individual 5o free and 200 free relay, as well as anchoring the victorious 400 medley relay. A dislocated elbow robbed fans of a healthy Weitzeil in the 100 free final, where some believe she could have chased Manuel’s American record and broken 46 seconds.
In her senior season, she became the first woman to break 21 seconds from a flat start at the Minnesota invitational in December, and again had a chance to take down the 100 free record at NCAAs as well as a potential third title in the 200.
Abbey Weitzeil at the Olympic Trials. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Weitzeil recently received the Honda Award and has also been named a finalist for the AAU Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the country.
Then there is USC’s Louise Hansson, who was the top butterflyer in the NCAA women’s swimming senior class of 2020. She represented Sweden at the 2016 Olympics where she was 32nd in the 100 butterfly and swam on all three of Sweden’s relays, two of which made the final. After Rio, she moved to Los Angeles to start her new life in the United States. She quickly adjusted to short course yards and won three NCAA titles in three seasons with the Trojans.
“I would say that moving here and swimming in college has probably been the best thing I have ever chosen to do because I’ve grown so much as a person.” A moment later, she added, “But as a swimmer, I’ve grown even more.”
She was the second woman to break 50 seconds in the 100 butterfly in yards and is currently tied for number one all-time in that event. Her short course prowess has helped her in long course as she has an outside shot at a medal in 2021 in the 100 butterfly, reaching the final at the World Championships this past summer for the first time in her career.
Weitzeil and Hansson have been so good, that they have left some pretty dominant swimmers Erika Brown and Anna Hopkin off the top of the podium at the NCAA championships. Brown helped Tennessee win the 200 medley relay in her junior year, but had not been an individual champion in her time with the Vols.
Although she had a promising senior year NCAAs ahead of her, we will celebrate Brown for what she did do. She helped Tennessee win its first ever SEC women’s team title in 2020 and also was the SEC swimmer of the year in her junior and senior seasons.
Erika Brown in high school. Photo Courtesy: Donna Nelson
Brown is in the top three all-time in the 50 & 100 free (2nd) and the 100 fly (3rd) and will be regarded as one of the best swimmers to never win an individual NCAA title.
Hopkin was just at Arkansas for two seasons as she was getting her Masters degree but she had a successful career for the Razorbacks in the short period. She is fourth all-time in the 50 free and third all-time in the 100 and also added a strong 200 free to her repertoire this season. Like Hansson, swimming yards in the United States helped her become a better long course swimmer on the international stage while representing Great Britain. At the 2019 Worlds, she reached her first major final in the 50 freestyle and could also play a big role in British relays in Tokyo if she is to make her first Olympic team.
“When I started in the US, I chatted with Neil and he gave me a check list I wanted to work on,” Hopkin said. “A lot of it was stretching out my stroke and lengthening everything out which is obviously good for long course. And so we always had the long course season in mind throughout the entire time being here.
“The end goal is to be good long course. I think we just never let that get out of our minds. My turns and breakouts, all the little things have improved which have been applied to long course as well. It’s just an accumulation of things, I think.”
Meghan Small at the 2015 Pan American Games. Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher/USA Today Sports Images
Brown’s Tennessee teammate Meghan Small also played a big role in Tennessee’s rise to a national title contender this season. Small swam at the 2015 Pan American Games for the United States and was also a member of Tennessee’s national championship 200 medley relay team last season. She came in as the top IM’er in the class out of high school and although she never won an individual title, she provided a huge boost for Tennessee in her career.
Small was one of the unsung heroes in this NCAA women’s swimming senior class of 2020, scoring seven gold medals at SECs across her four years, including three 200 IM titles in 2017, 2019 and 2020.
The top breaststrokers in this senior class were Michigan’s Miranda Tucker and Minnesota’s Lindsey Kozelsky. Tucker was originally apart of the high school class of 2015 when she signed on to swim at Indiana, including finishing second in the 200 breast at NCAAs and third in the 100 behind American record holder Lilly King. Ultimately, Tucker left Indiana to be closer to home and joined a strong Michigan team that finished top four nationally in 2018 & 19 in historic back-to-back seasons. Tucker never did win an individual NCAA title, but she won four Big Ten titles including her one and only individual title coming in her senior year in 2020.
Kozelsky was there with Tucker stroke for stroke in their years battling in the Big Ten and at NCAAs. Kozelsky, a native of Minnesota, joined the Gophers after coming off a successful high school career where she was the national high school record holder in the 100 breast at 58.56. That has ultimately been broken by Kaitlyn Dobler this season, but Kozelsky had a good career in her home state Minnesota. She is 11th all-time in the 100 breaststroke and also swam in three 100 breast A-Finals in her NCAA career.
One of the more underrated swimmers in the NCAA women’s swimming senior class of 2020 was Kentucky’s Asia Seidt. She was another swimmer who stayed close to home as the Louisville native went down the road to Lexington to join the Wildcats. She helped Kentucky reach as high as third at the SEC Championships in 2017 and 2019, their highest finish since 1999, and won four individual SEC titles in her career.
Swimming World wanted to throw it back to when this year’s seniors announced their verbal commitments as well as highlight some of their best accomplishments in the pool over the last four years.
Here are all the seniors that qualified for the women’s NCAAs in 2020:
- Alexis Preski – Alabama
- Alexandria Surrency – Alabama
- Hannah Cox – Arizona
- Kirsten Jacobsen – Arizona
- Mallory Korenwinder – Arizona
- Allyson Macias Alba – Arizona
- Kendall Dawson – Arizona State
- Silja Kansakoski – Arizona State
- Cierra Runge – Arizona State
- Anna Hopkin – Arkansas
- Robyn Clevenger – Auburn
- Claire Fisch – Auburn
- Julie Meynen – Auburn
- Keaton Blovad – California
- Maddie Murphy – California
- Courtney Mykkanen – California
- Abbey Weitzeil – California
- Kylie Jordan – Duke
- Alyssa Marsh – Duke
- Emma Ball – Florida
- Sherridon Dressel – Florida
- Savanna Faulconer – Florida
- Kelly Fertel – Florida
- Isabella Garofalo – Florida
- Veronica Burchill – Georgia
- Sofia Carnevale – Georgia
- Mikki Dahlke – Harvard
- Phoebe Hines – Hawaii
- Zarena Brown – Houston
- Peyton Kondis – Houston
- Laura Laderoute – Houston
- Maria Heitmann – Indiana
- Cassy Jernberg – Indiana
- Hannah Burvill – Iowa
- Bonnie Zhang – James Madison
- Ali Galyer – Kentucky
- Asia Seidt – Kentucky
- Sophie Cattermole – Louisville
- Casey Fanz – Louisville
- Grace Oglesby – Louisville
- Lainey Visscher – Louisville
- Chloe Hicks – Michigan
- Vanessa Krause – Michigan
- Miranda Tucker – Michigan
- Lindsey Kozelsky – Minnesota
- Tevyn Waddell – Minnesota
- Jennifer King – Missouri
- Mackenzie Glover – NC State
- Ky-Lee Perry – NC State
- Makayla Sargent – NC State
- Bryanna Cameron – North Carolina
- Megan Clark – Northeastern
- Krystal Lara – Northwestern
- Abigail Dolan – Notre Dame
- Rebekah Bradley – Ohio State
- Kathrin Demler – Ohio State
- Molly Kowal – Ohio State
- Madison Hart – Penn State
- Morganne McKennan – San Diego State
- Courtney Vincent – San Diego State
- Erin Trahan – SMU
- Emily Cornell – South Carolina
- Margaret Higgs – South Carolina
- Christina Lappin – South Carolina
- Louise Hansson – Southern Cal
- Catherine Sanchez – Southern Cal
- Tatum Wade – Southern Cal
- Katie Drabot – Stanford
- Allie Szekely – Stanford
- Erin Voss – Stanford
- Erika Brown – Tennessee
- Tess Cieplucha – Tennessee
- Stanzi Moseley – Tennessee
- Meghan Small – Tennessee
- Claire Adams – Texas
- Anna Belousova – Texas A&M
- Raena Eldridge – Texas A&M
- Karling Hemstreet – Texas A&M
- Katie Portz – Texas A&M
- Olivia Johnson – Tulane
- Kenisha Liu – UCLA
- Amy Okada – UCLA
- Morgan Hill – Virginia
- Megan Moroney – Virginia
- Beata Nelson – Wisconsin
Beata Nelson
NCAA Titles: 3
Abbey Weitzeil
NCAA Titles: 5
- 2017: 200 Free Relay
- 2019: 200 Free Relay, 50 Free, 400 Medley Relay, 400 Free Relay
- 50 free: 1st all-time
- 100 free: 5th all-time
- 200 free: 14th all-time
Louise Hansson
NCAA Titles: 3
- 2018: 100 fly
- 2019: 100 fly, 200 fly
- 100 fly: 1st all-time
- 200 fly: 3rd all-time
- 200 IM: 11th all-time
Erika Brown
NCAA Titles: 1
- 2019: 200 medley relay
- 50 free: 2nd all-time
- 100 fly: 3rd all-time
- 100 free: 2nd all-time
Asia Seidt
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
NCAA Titles: 0
- 200 IM: 18th all-time
- 100 back: 24th all-time
- 200 back: 10th all-time
Meghan Small
Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher/USA Today Sports Images
NCAA Titles: 1
- 2019: 200 medley relay
- 200 IM: 6th all-time
Katie Drabot
NCAA Titles: 3
- 2018: 800 free relay, 400 free relay
- 2019: 800 free relay
- 200 fly: 11th all-time
Grace Oglesby
Photo Courtesy:
NCAA Titles: 0
- 200 fly: 5th all-time
Anna Hopkin
NCAA Titles: 0
- 50 free: 4th all-time
- 100 free: 3rd all-time
- 200 free: 17th all-time
Miranda Tucker
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
NCAA Titles: 0
- 100 breast: 13th all-time