Former NCAA Record holder and 49-point scorer at the 2015 NCAA Championships Cierra Runge has decided to transfer to the University of Wisconsin after the 2015-2016 season.
Runge, who already had announced that she was sitting out the 2015-2016 season to train with Bob Bowman at Arizona State, won’t return to the Cal program where she was so valuable last season as a freshman.
Runge told Swimming World Magazine, who first reported the news, that she was excited to reunite with coach Chris Collier, who did a lot of her direct coaching in the distance program while at NBAC under Bowman’s leadership. Once in Madison, Runge will join a distance group with Danielle Valley, who was a finalist in the 800 free at the 2012 Olympic Trials and was also a transfer in to that program.
While Teri McKeever’s squad did win the 2016 title, this means that by the time the 2016-2017 season rolls around, the Golden Bears will have lost at least 249.5 out of their 327 individual points from last year’s NCAA Championship meet to a combination of graduations, transfers, and Missy Franklin turning pro. That means the squad will have to rebuild in a hurry in the final year of eligibility of its world-class seniors Liz Pelton and Rachel Bootsma, as well as emerging sprint star Farida Osman.
In the summer before coming to Cal, Runge qualified for the U.S. World Championships team as a part of the 400 free individually and as a part of Team USA’s 800 free relay. After a record-setting freshman season at Cal, that at one point saw her break the NCAA Record in the 500 yard free, her summer of long course wasn’t quite as successful as she added three seconds and finished 9th at Worlds in the 400 free. That swim was off of the 4:04 that she swam the summer prior to qualify for the team.
Not quite sure what Gina is getting at for Madison Wisconsin not being a subject of any movie or TV show but since you are bringing up that subject, why don’t you look up the aquatic cult classic
with Rodney Dangerfield and Sally Kellerman called BACK TO SCHOOL…the backdrop is MADISON/ Univ of Wisconsin!! Watch it and you’ll learn about the”Lindy”…it is also highlighted in
the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Ft Lauderdale !!
It went under Great Lakes univ . Also the swim/ dive scenes filmed at Industry Hills Ca .
So unless you are in the know – UW – madison will never be known other than Mickey Mouse .
Not that there is anything wrong with that & yes Hank – after Adventures in Dairyland , Annette & Darin went on to great things .
To clarify Weiss and Martin are no longer on the US National Team. Wisco has nobody on the US National Team.
The list of Movies & TV shows set in Madison Wisconsin .- one result .
Adventures in Dairyland . 1956 . Series 2 of The Mickey Mouse Show .
You could not make this up . Bwahbwahbwah .
The movie Public Enemies, featuring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale was shot partly in Madison
Apparently this whole Madison Hollywood curse is a real thing: http://www.isthmus.com/screens/movies/madison-in-the-movies/
To clarify Weiss and Martin are no longer on the US National Team. Wisco has nobody on that roster.
Really “INTHEKNOW” ? You are definitely NOT your name!! No major swimmers have departed
from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and only one of the four coaches you mentioned departed voluntarily. Whitney is no- nonsense and a great coach who does what is necessary to
create a positive environment for his swimmers. He didn’t recruit Weiss and Martin( two US NATIONAL TEAM members) but you might want to ask those two.. who got them to their elite status? ( they are training at UW post-grad). Cierra made a very smart decision to go to a rising program at a great academic and athletic institution.
As far as Coach Bowman and ASU goes…just ask the Michigan swim alums
… Read more »
someone who has it right
Did you or your daughter swim for the Badgers?
Hite has only been there 4 years but the 2 swimmers that were on the national team ie Weiss and Martin were not even recruited by him. They were recruited by Eric Hanson. Furthermore, Martin is a sprinter and Hite never coached the sprint group. I don’t think they’ve been sadly underrated at all.
Sometimes comments on this site are so silly we should just let them pass, but this one is particularly ridiculous and merits a response. So here we go: True, Ivy and Michael were not recruited by Hite; they were there when he arrived–although Ivy was a freshman and never actually swam for the previous coach, I believe.
Inconveniently for this poster, USA Swimming keeps records of everyone’s times, and they’re easily accessible on the Internet. So here are the facts about Ivy: When she and coach Hite both arrived on the Madison campus, Ivy was a 57.6 SCY Flyer, and had best times of 23.10 in 50 Free and 51.18 in 100 Free. I don’t think her LC times… Read more »
And how many UW/National teamers have there been? I saw a list recently of top 10 centers of where most OT/national team qualifiers are from and they’re on list w Stanford, Cal, UGA. Not “all these other better program” And UW are not all imports, but developed there). Frankly, UW has been sadly underrated in what they’ve done nationally/internationally. Not bad considering Hite’s only been there 4years?
Smart Girl………Are you joking? I’m sure many programs would pick her up in a heart beat that are way better than Wisconsin. Let’s not forget in 4 short years 4 great coaches left Whitney’s program: Shane Ryan, Carrie Nixon, Beth and Evan. He can’t seem to retain a good staff. And plenty of swimmers left too. Unfortunate she could not stay on at ASU, that’s where the great coaching is.
Well said, couldn’t agree more. I think the difference is that she trained with Collier before college-Hite will get the credit but probably little to do with her decision.
what swimmers have transferred from Wisconsin in the past few years?
Also, look how many great swimmers have transferred TO Wisconsin. The program is up and coming, and it’s women’s team has gone from being one of the worst programs in the Big Ten to fourth last year under Hite. I’m sure that Cierra will thrive there, and whether she does or not, it’s her choice. I doubt many people commenting have experienced college swimming or the recruiting process, let alone being in shoes of someone as talented as Cierra. She decided to make a change, and whether or not it benefits her swimming will be from her effort, commitment, and ability to buy into the new program.