On Thursday night, University of Texas swimmer and seven-time first-team NCAA All-American Kelly Pash confirmed to SwimSwam that she would be using her fifth year of eligibility for the 2023-24 NCAA season. Due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, an extra fifth year of eligibility was given to all winter sport athletes that competed in the 2020-21 NCAA season.
Pash’s return will be a big boost to the Longhorns, as she has consistently been one of their top and most versatile swimmers over the last three seasons. Although she was off her season-best times at 2023 NCAAs, she still scored 29 individual points, which was the fourth most on her team. She was also Texas’s top individual scorer at 2022 NCAAs and their second-highest scorer at 2021 NCAAs.
With the exception of the 200 free and 200 IM at 2023 NCAAs (where she was in the ‘B’ final), Pash has ‘A’ finaled in every single NCAA Championship event that she has swum in. She had arguably the best meet of her career at the 2022 NCAA Championships, where she was third in the 200 free (1:42.38), fifth in the 200 fly (1:52.01), and fifth in the 200 IM (1:53.31). In total, she scored 44 individual points, which was the tenth-most out of any athlete at that meet.
Pash has strong times in almost every event discipline except for distance freestyle and breaststroke, which makes her an extremely valuable asset both individually and on relays. In particular, she excels in sprint free, IM, and butterfly.
Kelly Pash‘s Best Times, Short Course Yards:
- 50 free: 22.27
- 100 free: 47.35
- 200 free: 1:42.38
- 100 back: 52.57
- 200 back: 1:54.97
- 100 fly: 51.01
- 200 fly: 1:51.45
- 200 IM: 1:53.31
- 400 IM: 4:04.93
Texas is coming off of two straight runner-up finishes behind Virginia at the NCAA Championships. With Pash and top recruits like Erin Gemmell, Campbell Stoll, Jillian Cox, and Berit Berglund coming to Austin next fall, they are poised to be one of the top teams in the country once more.
She seems quite jovial
I do like how the article mentions the loaded recruiting class but somehow still manages to ignore Jillian Cox who literally just made the worlds team
I was about to search where Cox was going because I thought for sure it was Texas.
Buf Boost to UT for 2024. Have Fun Kelly!