NCAA Finalist Claire Grover to Return to UCLA for 5th Year

2022 NCAA 50 freestyle ‘B’ finalist Claire Grover has announced via Instagram that she will be returning to UCLA to use her fifth year of eligibility.

Best 4 years at the best school! Can’t wait for one more season tho w @uclaswimanddive 😉 #ucla

Right before the start of the season, Grover had surgery to repair a torn hip labrum which she sustained after the 2021 Pac-12 Championships. This caused her to miss most of the fall 2021-2022 season as her first recorded meet was the Ohio State mid-season Invitational that occurred from November 18-20, 2021.

Although her season started late, Grover hit the ground running going three for three in individual ‘A’ final swims at the 2022 Pac-12 Championships. There Grover finished third in the 100 breast (59.64), fourth in the 50 free (22.10), and sixth in the 100 free (48.52). Grover was UCLA’s highest scorer at Pac-12s as she scored a total of 77 points helping UCLA to a fourth place finish overall as a team.

Grover went on to qualify for NCAAs. There she finished 13th in the 50 free (22.01), her highest NCAA finish ever. She also  swam a 21.82 in prelims which was only her second time ever under the 22 second mark. Grover also competed in prelims of the 100 breast where she finished 23rd (59.54) and the 100 free where she finished 34th (48.58). Her 100 breast was a season best and only 0.04 off of her personal best of 59.50 which she swam at 2019 Pac-12s.

In total, Grover has qualified for NCAAs in all four of her years at UCLA. She is second all time in school history in the 50 free and 100 breast and is tied for third in school history in the 100 free.

Her best SCY times are:

• 50 free: 21.82
• 100 free: 48.52
• 100 breast: 59.50

Grover’s return is huge for UCLA as she made up over half (77) of the team’s 146 points scored by seniors at the 2022 Pac-12 Championships. She also was the team’s lone scorer at 2022 NCAAs as her 50 freestyle earned the school four points earning them a 34th place finish.

Grover told SwimSwam that she will be continuing her major of sociology in her fifth year as well as adding a minor in food studies. She said her motivation to return for a fifth year is that she is now fully healthy after having hip surgery and that she is “hungry for more. I feel like I have a lot left in the pool and in the classroom with ULA and so I’m excited to keep pursuing those goals.”