On Friday, Virginia fourth-year, Olympic bronze medalist, and eight-time NCAA champion Kate Douglass said on The Social Kick podcast that the 2023 NCAA Championships would be her final collegiate competition, meaning that she will not be using the fifth year of eligibility offered to all NCAA winter student-athletes that competed during the COVID-19-affected 2020-21 NCAA season.
“Well it’s my last one, which is kind of crazy,” Douglass said when asked about what she was looking forward to at this year’s NCAAs. “I think it’s going to be really emotional, especially just with the other girls in my class…I’ll be really sentimental probably, so I’m kind of just looking forward to enjoying the moment with my teammates and taking it all in. It’s just kind of crazy that this will be my last college meet ever.”
Also on the podcast, Douglass said she was still deciding between swimming the 50 free and 200 IM on the first day of NCAAs. While she is the defending champion and NCAA record holder in the 50 free, she is currently the fastest swimmer in the 200 IM this season by over a second and recently won gold in the event at the 2022 Short Course World Championships.
SwimSwam has reached out to Douglass for further comment, but has not received a response.
Regardless of how she swims at NCAAs this season, Douglass will leave UVA as one of the greatest college swimmers in history. She has won a total of four individual NCAA titles, which include going three-for-three in the 50 free (20.84), 100 fly (49.04), and 200 breast (2:02.19) at last year’s NCAA championships—with all of her wins being done in American record fashion. She’s also a major relay contributor for UVA, swimming on all four of her team’s relays (200 free relay, 200 medley relay, 400 free relay, 400 medley relay) that won NCAA titles and broke American records.
Douglass’ performances last season got her named as the 2022 CSCAA female swimmer of the year, as well as the 2022 Honda Sport Award winner for swimming and diving.
Throughout her career, Douglass has also shown incredible versatility, being elite in freestyle, breaststroke, and butterfly.
Kate Douglass, Best Times:
- 50 free: 20.84 (NCAA record)
- 100 free: 46.30 (#8 performer all-time)
- 100 fly: 49.04 (American record, #2 performer-all time)
- 200 breast: 2:01.87 (NCAA record)
- 200 IM: 1:50.92 (#4 performer all-time)
Losing Douglass next season will have tremendous impact on UVA. Last year, she and Alex Walsh both scored 60 individual points at NCAAs, which was the most out of any swimmer at the meet. In addition, UVA relays will likely have to be completely rearranged without her, considering that she was an X-factor on their four strongest relays.
Not swimming in college next year will give Douglass the opportunity to focus on long course in preparation for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Previously, in an interview with Brett Hawke, she said that she planned on staying to train at UVA leading up to the Olympics regardless of whether she was taking a fifth year or not.
SwimSwam: Eight-Time NCAA Champion Kate Douglass Says 2023 NCAAs Will Be Her Final College Meet
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