Swimming

Florida Adds Julia Heimstead and Katelyn Schroeder for 2024-25

April 5, 2024

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The University of Florida women’s swimming and diving team has announced the addition of Julia Heimstead and Katelyn Schroeder for the 2024-25 school year.

Julia Heimstead

Heimstead is a fifth-year transfer from Bloomington, Illinois. She competed at the University of Arizona, where she specialized in fly and free. She was a three-time NCAA qualifier, competing in the 200 IM and 100/200 fly in 2022; the 50/200 free and 200 fly in 2023; and the 50 free and 100/200 fly in 2024. She was also an integral part of the Wildcats’ relays.

At Pac-12 Championships this season, she placed 8th in the 100 fly (52.03), 8th in the 200 free (1:46.60), and 6th in the 200 fly (1:54.57). She also split a 23.11 butterfly leg in the 200 medley relay to help Arizona finish 3rd.

Heimstead was named Pac-12 Women’s Co-Swimmer of the Month in November for the second time in her career with the Wildcats.

Best times:

50 free – 22.41
100 fly – 51.61
200 fly – 1:54.57
200 free – 1:44.69

Katelyn Schroeder

Schroeder hails from Langley, British Columbia, in Canada. She is a member of the Langley Olympians Swim Club and will head to Gainesville after having spent a year at the University of Toronto.

In February, she was named OUA Women’s Rookie of the Year after finishing 1st in the 100 back, 1st in the 200 back, 2nd in the 50 back, 6th in the 100 fly, and 3rd with the 4×50 medley relay at the 2024 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Swimming Championships.

Before Toronto, she ranked 3rd in the 100m backstroke and 5th in the 200m backstroke in the Junior Rankings of Canada. She tied for gold at the 2023 Speedo Canadian Swimming Championships last August and represented Team Canada at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in 2022.

Schroeder is the latest in the Canada-to-Gainesville pipeline. She will join fellow Canadians Lilly Daley, Eric Brown, Josh Liendo, and Ed Fullum-Huot as well as fellow freshman Julie Brousseau, on the Gators’ roster in the fall. Non-Canadians Addison Reese, Gracie Weyant, and Sofia Plaza will also be in that class. Laila Oravsky and Sylvia Statkevicius, two more Canadians, have verbally committed to Florida for the fall of 2025.

Best LCM times:

50 back – 29.21 (25.77)
100 back – 1:01.31 (54.15)
200 back – 2:12.24 (1:56.97)

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