The UCLA Bruins are continuing to beef up their backstroking corps this recruiting season, adding Hannah Grubbs of Orinda Aquatics just up the Pacific coast in Lamorinda, California.
Grubbs will join current UCLA freshmen Madison White and Linnea Mack and current sophomore Katie Kinnear in what should be a deep, youthful group with plenty of Pac-12 scoring potential moving forward.
With lifetime bests that would have scored in both backstrokes at last year’s Pac-12 Championships, Grubbs looks like an instant contributor for the Bruins. She could also be a factor in the 100 fly.
Grubbs’ Top Times:
100 back: 55.43
200 back: 2:00.55
100 fly: 55.79
UCLA was 5th at the 2012 Pac-12s, but will need big contributions from its young swimmers to make a run at the top 4 in the next few seasons. Kinnear scored in three events as a freshman, and White and Mack have already put up potentially scoring times this fall. With the addition of Grubbs in 2014, the Bruins should have an exciting young nucleus in the backstroke and butterfly races.
Lamorinda’s not a town, it’s a mash up of three adjoining East Bay towns (Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda). Hannah’s from Moraga and attends Campolindo High, which produced Matt Biondi, Kim Vandenberg (also UCLA and Orinda Aquatics), Steve Strumph, and Sven Campbell.