Former Sahuaro swimmer Caitlin Leverenz qualifies for US Olympic Team
by Andy Morales on Jun. 25, 2012, under Sports
Caitlin Leverenz. Citizen File Photo.
Caitlin Leverenz came in second in the 400-meter individual medley on Monday with a time of 4:34.48. Elizabeth Beisel (Florida) won in 4:31.74.
Leverenz also swam for El Dorado Aquatics as a youth and she chose to swim for Cal and coach Teri McKeever over several other major programs.
Fresh off a national championship in the 400 IM and a national high school record (Sahuaro) in the 200 IM, Leverenz was arguably one of the top recruits in the country at the time. She was very prophetic when she explained to Tucson Citizen’s Geoff Grammer in 2008 why she chose Cal:
“I think that as soon as I got on campus, I definitely knew that was the school I was going to,” said Leverenz. “The girls on the team, I felt like I really clicked . . . and coach McKeever is awesome.
“She knows 100 percent my goal is to make the 2012 Olympics and she knows what is needed to help me reach that goal.”
What a year Leverenz has had: Cal won an NCAA championship, Leverenz won four NCAA individual/relay titles, she was the NCAA Swimmer of the Meet Award, she won the Honda Sports Award for Swimming, Cal won a Pac-12 title, she took three Pac-12 individual/relay championships and was named the Pac-12 Swimmer of the Meet Award.
