Meghan Joram from North Carolina has verbally committed to the Pitt Panthers, adding yet another very good distance swimmer to the ACC that was once weak but is suddenly bursting with distance-based recruits.
Her best times in yards:
- 200 free – 1:53.09
- 500 free – 5:00.84
- 1000 free – 10:25.08
- 1650 free – 17:16.61
While she has some work to do to be an immediate scorer within the conference, Joram is joining a Pitt distance group that has had a lot of success in the last few seasons. Last year, they sent then-sophomore Kaleigh Ritter to the NCAA Championships in the 500 and 1650 freestyles, including a 27th-place finish in the latter of those events.
Ritter, in fact, is the reason why Joram can look around and say that she does have a chance to make a big impact on the Panthers in a hurry. Going into her junior season of high school, Ritter had only been 4:59.0 in the 500 free, and was a 4:56 when she graduated high school. That’s a number that’s within reach for Joram in the next year, and along with a reasonable drop in the mile would put her on the same track as Ritter headed toward her freshman year.
Joram swims for the YMCA of Northwest North Carolina Riptyde and West Forsyth High School. At last year’s North Carolina 4A State Championship meet, she didn’t swim the 500 that is her best event, but did place 12th in the 200 free.
In the long-term the high school senior might wind up in open water, though that’s not an official NCAA event. She says that she considers the 500 free to be a sprint, a favorite rallying cry open water swimmers. Her focus there is a little surprising as a relative late-comer to year-round swimming, but Joram was 28th in the 5k at the 2014 Open Water National Championships, showing her promise.