#4 Olivia Bray Goes Out of State, Verbals to Texas for 2020

Olivia Bray of the Virginia Gators has verbally committed to the Texas Longhorns. Bray, ranked 4th in the class in the HS 2020 SwimSwam rankings, will join the Longhorns’ class of 2024.

I am so thrilled to announce my verbal commitment to further my academic and swimming career at the University of Texas! Thank you to my support team who have supported me and helped me to get where I am today!! I cannot wait to be a part of such an amazing team!! #hookem

TOP TIMES

• 50y back – 24.22
• 100y back – 52.02
• 50y fly – 23.87
• 100y fly – 51.48
• 200y fly – 1:54.21
• 200y free – 1:46.37

Bray is a fantastic backstroke/butterfly combo, but her real strength is butterfly. She would’ve made the 100 fly A final at NCAAs last year, and B final in the 200 fly. In long course, she brings in tantalizing bests of 26.96/58.89/2:10.44; her LCM bests came this summer, a great sign after she didn’t post any SCY bests this spring.

Bray joins a rising Texas team, and one that has produced butterfly Olympian Kathleen Hersey and All-Americans Remedy Rule and Lauren Case. Rule is a senior and Case is a junior, so they’ll both be gone by the time Bray joins the program – though it provides continuity in that butterfly group. Bray is actually faster than both of them in the 100 fly, so the Longhorns will be getting a great sprint fly presence. Additionally, she’s only .08 off of Hersey’s program record of 51.40 in the 100 fly.

Of the four Virginia-based swimmers on the top 20 ranking for 2020’s girls, UVA had already snagged two in Abby Harter and Anna Keating— Bray has decided to take her talents down to Austin, though, instead. #6 Phoebe Bacon is the final uncommitted Virginia girl on the list.

Bray is the seventh member of the SwimSwam top 20 to verbally commit to a school for 2020, and the 2nd of the top 10.

If you have a commitment to report, please send an email with a photo (landscape, or horizontal, looks best) and a quote to [email protected].