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Turkish swimmer Ece Tanriverdi is the latest in a waive of Turkish swimmers who will come to the United States to swim in college. She has verbally committed to the University of Pittsburgh for the 2022-2023 season.
“I am extremely excited and honored to announce my verbal commitment to continue my athletic and academic career at University of Pittsburgh! I would like to give a huge thanks to who has supported me throughout this journey especially my family, coaches and teammates. Can’t wait to be a panther!!💙💛”
Tanriverdi is part of a generation of Turkish swimmers, especially in distance events, who have rewritten the national record books over the last 2 years. While she has not herself broken any records, she has qualified to represent the country at multiple major international meets.
That includes the 2021 European Championships earlier this year. She swam the 800 free at that meet, placing 23rd in a 9:04. She missed the first part of the meet after a positive COVID test 18 days before the meet, though she did show up in time to race that 800 free – albeit not in full form.
Primarily a distance freestyler, she swam her best times in the 400, 800, and 1500 freestyles in long course in 2021, in spite of the COVID-19 positive test.
Best Times in Long Course Meters/Short Course Meters (SCY Conversions):
- 200 free – 2:09.99/2:06.29 (1:53.7)
- 400 free – 4:21.61/4:19.11 (4:53.12)
- 800 free – 8:49.68/8:41.89 (9:53.4)
- 1500 free – 16:33.71/16:23.26 (16:14.22)
Her progression shows a rapid upward trajectory. Her best time in the 400, for example, was 4:25.10 prior to the 2020-2021 season. By February 2021, she dropped that by three-and-a-half seconds. In that same time period, she’s dropped more than 8 seconds in the 800 free, and 28 seconds in the 1500 free.
All that to say, she’s projects as an immediate A-final scorer in the 1650 free, and is close to scoring in the 500 free as well. For comparison, her long course 1500 free is faster than the long course 1500 best times by Liberty Williams of Louisville, who finished 2nd in the 1500 at ACCs last year, and Chase Travis, who finished 4th. Her converted best in the 1650 free is already comfortably faster than it took to qualify for the 2021 NCAA Championships, although that was a particularly slow year for the invite line in the women’s distance events.
Pitt had a big year in the 1650 free last season. Their 42 points in that event at the ACC Championships was more than they scored in every other individual swimming event combined, which added up to only 31 points. That included a 7th-place finish from freshman Abby Grottle, who was the team’s highest-ever freshman finisher at ACCs, but who has transferred to Texas A&M.
The Pitt women finished 11th out of 12 teams at the 2021 ACC Championships, ahead of BC.
Pitt has a very international roster. Their 2021-2022 listed roster has athletes from 8 countries (men and women combined).
She joins a class of 2022 that includes Emily Bucaro, Olivia Yoo, Rachel Soubier, Yasemine Safargar, Kate Bailey, and Angelina Messina.
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Congratulations Ece!
Congrats!
H2P!