After the East Carolina University swimming program was cut, athletes were forced to find another option to stay in the water. Lyubomir Epitropov has decided to transfer to the University of Tennessee.
He confirmed the move to Swimming World and will join the Volunteers between semesters, after the holidays.
“There are many reasons why I chose Tennessee,” he told Swimming World. “One of them is, that, in my opinion I can benefit a lot from racing and practicing with such a fast group of people; hopefully I can help the team become slightly better too. Also the coaches, when we spoke, left me with the impression that the team spirit and efforts are always at the highest of levels at training and this is something I need — a focused swimming environment. I believe that I will be held to a high standard and pushed to reach my potential goals and will meet many many people with similar ones, which makes everything so much easier. There’s no need to say that facility wise, there’s hardly anything more you could ask for. Athletes at Tennessee are given all they could need and it’s up to them and their will to achieve all they’ve set their minds to. And that’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
Epitropov is the Bulgarian record-holder in the 200-meter breaststroke.
His top time in short-course yards is 1:52.32, while he has been as fast as 53.29 in the 100 breast and 1:48.90 in the 200 IM.
At the 2019 World Championships, he finished 25th in the 200 breast (2:11.78) to set the Bulgarian record and also took 40th in the 100 breast (1:02.04).
In February, at the 2020 AAC Championships, Epitropov placed third in both breaststroke events and ninth in the 200 IM. His times would have placed him in the top eight at SECs in the 200 breaststroke and top 16 in the 100 breast. At his conference championship meet, he also split 24.1 and 53.1 on breaststroke legs of both of ECU’s medley relays that went on to claim conference titles.
Lyubomir Epitropov joins Michael Houlie, Brett Champlin and Jarel Dillard to form a formidable breaststroke group in the SEC.
