World juniors gold medalist Justina Kozan has verbally committed to the University of Southern California for the fall of 2022 as she will be a huge boost to a Trojans team that just finished fourth at the recent Pac-12 championships under first year head coach Jeremy Kipp.
Kozan first made a name for herself at the 2018 Juniors when she won the 200 butterfly before she entered high school, and has turned into a solid 200 freestyler and 200 IMer. Kozan, a former member of Brea Aquatics in southern California under head coach Jim Johnson, made the 2019 World Juniors team in the 200 IM, where she won the gold medal in Budapest with a 2:11.55 which put her 22nd in the world for 2019 and also seventh in the United States. She also swam on the gold medal winning 4×200 freestyle relay team at that meet.
During the COVID lockdown, Justina Kozan changed clubs from Brea to the legendary Mission Viejo Nadadores where she is training under hall of fame coach Mark Schubert in hopes of making her first Olympic team.
Ahead of her college years, Kozan should be a key asset for the Trojans moving forward in the 200 free, 200 fly and 200 and 400 IM, and could also play relay duty with a strong 100 free and 100 fly.
The Trojans were without Laticia Transom, Hanna Henderson and Jade Hannah this season, and should those latter two come back to campus by the time Kozan is around, coach Kipp should have a very strong team in place that has historically been one of the great destinations for swimming talent. In the events that Kozan swims, USC has produced NCAA champions Louise Hansson, Katinka Hosszu, Kaitlin Sandeno and Kristine Quance in the last 30 years.
Justina Kozan’s best times (SCY / LCM)
- 100 free: 49.05 / 55.87
- 200 free: 1:45.15 / 1:59.21
- 100 fly: 52.42 / 59.50
- 200 fly: 1:54.75 / 2:09.68
- 200 IM: 1:56.31 / 2:11.55
- 400 IM: 4:05.67 / 4:44.45
Justina Kozan will join Ella Flowers, Nisha Kijkanakorn and Ashley McMillan as fellow Trojans on campus in the fall of 2022.