Former Junior National Teamer Jorie Caneta has decided to transfer from Arizona State to Texas A&M University after her freshman season in the NCAA and will join a loaded Aggie breaststroke group in the fall.
Caneta is almost exclusively a breaststroker, with yards bests of:
- 100 breaststroke – 1:00.83
- 200 breaststroke – 2:12.73
Both of those best times came during her freshman season at Arizona State, with the 200 notably being done at Texas A&M’s pool during the mid-season Art Adamson Invitational.
Coming out of high school, Caneta’s best times were 1:02.1 in the 100 breast and 2:18.70 in the 200 breast, so this transfer comes despite significant improvements in her rookie campaign that included beating her previous bests on multiple occasions.
Caneta says that her decision to leave Arizona State, though, wasn’t related to her success as a freshman, nor the recent announcement of Michael Phelps’ coach Bob Bowman as the replacement for the recently-fired Dorsey Tierney-Walker.
Rather, the decision was made “long ago” and had to do with a difficult commute for Caneta that included having to take classes in downtown Phoenix, she says.
Texas A&M had four breaststrokers go faster than 1 minute in the 100 last season (out of the 29 nationally who did it), and two of the top 20 in the country in the 200. None of those four primary breaststrokers were seniors last year.
Caneta is originally from Bakersfield, California and represented the United States at the 2014 Junior Pan Pac Championships.
Could it be her boyfriend is at Texas A&M???
I believe that the transfer imposed red shirt-sit out one year does not apply if there is a coaching change and the athlete wishes to transfer. What say you D1 experts? Good for her wish her the best. Having to deal with commuting on public transportation and being a full time student and athlete at such a young age is tough. Hope she enjoys her new digs.
Red Shirt – that is incorrect. There is no guaranteed waiver for “coaching changes,” however schools can waive this rule in most (but not all) circumstances without having to give a reason. Outside of in-conference transfers, it’s very rare for the on-year transfer rule to be enforced in swimming.
Transfers to A&M, transfers from Auburn, red shirts for the year. Looks like a big SEC switch up coming this way for next season
who is transferring from auburn?
Rumor has it freshman Valerie Hull announced she’s leaving from Auburn.
This is fantastic news that I did not know . A train ! MP can go shopping in Phoenix & catch the train home . No more DUI.
Come on, people. I know people see Gina comment nowadays and automatically downvote her, but this one is actually both funny AND coherent.
Fortunately for those of us close to the situation know that it has long been Jorie’s bane to travel between the two campuses (like since week one of school). She doesn’t have a car and thus takes public transportation which takes closer to 45 minutes to get from one campus to the other while the timing of her courses gave her very little leeway in between classes often finding herself running from the train stop just to get to her class on time. On top of the generally atrocious way Arizona State treats their swimmers (and not just by the head coach) compared to the way other top swim schools treat *their* swimmers, this was not the most difficult choice… Read more »
Swim Swami, I’m sure I’m not the only reader here who would love to hear anything you would care to share with us about the current situation for swimmers at Arizona State and how you and your fellow athletes feel about having Bowman as your new coach. I would also suggest, since there seem to be some areas that you/others are unhappy about, that you speak openly with Bob about them ASAP. Generally, when people start a new job they’re looking for allies; if Bob knows that smoothing a few problems out with administration will get the team on his side, I’ll bet he’ll do what he can to help! Good luck, and thanks for your comment! 🙂
I would really like to hear about those “atrocious” ways in which the swimmers are being treated at ASU. Facts are facts but let’s not over exaggerate them. The light rail to go downtown is only 200 yards away from the pool and maybe half mile form her dorm. Also, in the worst possible case scenario it only takes 25 minutes to get from the Tempe campus to Downtown. Trust me I’ve done it for years because my major is also in Downtown Pheonix. Moreover, the fact that she doesn’t have a car is actually an advantage. It would be a huge mistake to prefer driving your personal car from one campus to another because traffic would double the travel… Read more »
Hmm..This one doesn’t pass the sniff test. It seems more than coincidental that Caneta announces this the day after Bowman is officially hired. It could have been in the works between the time the previous ASU coach was let go and Bowman was hired. The drive between the ASU Tempe campus and downtown Phoenix is all of 9-10 miles or at most 20 minutes. Best of luck to Caneta at A&M. But these transitions always occur with major head coaching changes. It’s likely there will be other current members of the ASU swim team transfer out. BUT with Bowman’s reputation I expect a number of 4-year transfers into the ASU program.