2019 400 IM national champion Emma Weyant will be staying at home in Sarasota, Florida this year to train for the Olympic Trials, and is deferring her enrollment to the University of Virginia, where she would have been a freshman this fall. Coach Todd DeSorbo confirmed Weyant’s deferral with Swimming World.
Weyant, who was ranked sixth in the world for 2019 in the 400 IM, will be training one more year with Brent Arckey at the Sarasota Sharks, where she has a legitimate chance to make the Olympic team in the 400 IM. She was noticeably absent from Virginia’s intrasquad meet last weekend as the Cavaliers returned to the racing pool by hosting a time trial on Friday and Saturday afternoon.
Emma Weyant was one of the top recruits in the class of 2020, and joined the growing list of swimmers that have deferred their enrollment to focus on training for the Olympic Trials in a familiar environment, while the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the certainty of the college season. Stanford’s Regan Smith and Lillie Nordmann have already announced deferrals as two of the biggest names in the high school class of 2020.
Virginia notably has one of the best women’s team in place for the 2020-21 school year, even with Weyant staying at home. The Cavaliers have been snagging some of the best recruits in the nation the last few years with Alex Walsh, Gretchen Walsh and Claire Tuggle committing in three consecutive recruiting classes. When Weyant joins the team next year, the Cavaliers will be an extremely tough team to beat, as they were the top seeded team on the NCAA psych sheet a year ago before the NCAA meet was cancelled to slow down the COVID-19 pandemic.
.png "ACC Swimming - logo"){kind=logo}
Gloria Cardoni Kay Weyant