NCAA qualifier Kristen Stege of East Carolina has decided to transfer to the University of Tennessee, she announced in March shortly after the season ended. Stege, primarily a distance freestyler, will be joining a strong Tennessee squad that was seeded to finish second at NCAAs this season, which would have been an all-time high for the program. The Volunteers are coming off their first SEC championship in school history.
Stege is transferring from East Carolina, whose program just got cut. But her decision came before that was announced.
Stege qualified for NCAAs in the 1650, where she was seeded 28th in the 1650 at 16:11.96. That time would have put her eighth at SECs in 2020 and second on Tennessee’s roster behind Amanda Nunan, who has one more year of eligibility. Stege was seeded 57th at NCAAs in the 500 with her time of 4:43.85, which would have put her in the B-Final at SECs.
Tennessee is losing perhaps its most successful senior class in history as four of the 12 NCAA qualifiers this season were all seniors. Erika Brown, Tess Cieplucha, Stanzi Moseley and Meghan Small all exhausted their eligibility with the Volunteers.
Stege will be joining a Tennessee recruiting class that already includes: Jordan Aurnou-Rhees, Lauren Barakey, Aly Breslin, Elle Caldow, Olivia Harper, Nicola Lane, Margaret Marando, Berit Quass, Annie Rimmer, Jasmine Rumley and Katie Yule.
Kristen Stege is the older sister of World Juniors medalist Rachel Stege, who will join her older sister in the Southeastern Conference in the fall of 2021, as Rachel will be at the University of Georgia.
