USA Swimming National Team member Sarah Gibson is returning to Aggieland to resume training. After 7 months with David Marsh’s Team Elite squad in San Diego, Gibson will return to training at Texas A&M, where she swam in college from 2013-2017.
“Training in San Diego taught me many things about myself as an athlete and a person, and I bring that knowledge back with me to Aggieland,” Gibson said of her decision to move. “I’m very excited to work with [Texas A&M women’s head swim coach] Steve [Bultman] again; he’s always believed in my swimming in spite of my own doubts and fears. While there’s some familiarity with Texas A&M, we have a plan to take my training to new heights that my previous academic demands never permitted. I’ll miss my fellow athletes and coaches at Team Elite, but if there’s anything I’ve discovered in my first year as a professional, it’s that distance is no object in a community as small and tightly knit as our sport. Whatever the future holds, I know I’ll be able to close out my career with no regrets. Gig ‘Em!”
Gibson is a native of San Antonio, which is about a 3 hour drive to College Station. During her time at Texas A&M, she was a 5-time SEC Champion, 15-time CSCAA All-American, and the 2017 CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year. She swam on the U.S. team at the 2017 World Championships in the 50 and 100 fly, and also swam in the prelims group of the gold-medal winning women’s 400 medley relay.
While Gibson’s 2018 season best in the 100 fly, her best event, wasn’t far from her lifetime best, that time (58.09) came in prelims. In finals, she added half-a-second to tie Veronica Burchill for 6th place. Her lifetime best would’ve been enough for 5th.
Gibson’s Season-Best Times:
- 2018 – 58.09 (after first year as a pro)
- 2017 – 57.96 (after senior season)
- 2016 – 58.02 (after junior season)
- 2015 – 59.68 (after sophomore season)
- 2014 – 1:02.38 (after freshman season)
Gibson graduated high school as primarily a sprint freestyler, with bests of 23.80/50.14 in the 50 and 100 yard freestyles before joining Texas A&M. By graduation, those times had improved to 22.49/48.40, but she really blossomed as a butterflier. She graduated high school with yards bests of 58.51/2:29.55 in the 100 and 200 yard butterflies (the latter of which came when she was just 13). By the time she finished at A&M, she had been 50.61 in the 100 and 1:52.64 in the 200, which rank her 14th and 20th all-time, respectively.