Canadian Butterfly Specialist Breckin Gormley Transfers From Kentucky to South Carolina

Canadian butterfly specialist Breckin Gormley announced her transfer from Kentucky to South Carolina last month, leaving the Wildcats for an SEC rival after just one year in Lexington.

“Round 2,” Gormley wrote on Instagram. “Very thankful for my time at Kentucky and the people I met along the way, but I can’t wait for the next 3 years at the University of South Carolina! Go Gamecocks🌴🐓🤙🏽”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Csg5SdUOG_V/?hl=en

The rising sophomore brings immediate SEC scoring potential in the 200 fly with at least three years remaining to continue dropping time in other events such as the 100 fly, 200 free, and 500 free. Gormley clocked a personal-best 1:57.67 in the 200 fly at February’s Ohio State Winter Invite, which would have qualified for the B-final at the 2023 SEC Championships. In her first full season training in short course yards instead of long course meters, she posted her first sub-2:00 time in January (1:59.70) before shaving more than two seconds off her lifetime best the following month.

Gormley also showed improvement in the 200 free and 500 free, dropping about three and six seconds, respectively. She dropped less than a second in the 100 fly, going from 55.05 to 54.36.

Best Times (SCY)

• 100 fly – 54.36
• 200 fly – 1:57.67
• 200 free – 1:48.68
• 500 free – 4:48.17

Gormley would have been the fifth-fastest Gamecock last season behind Greta Pelzek (1:55.64), Victoria Kwan (1:57.07), Nicholle Toh (1:57.13), and Emily Horomanski (1:57.56), but Kwan and Horomanski won’t be returning next year.

She is the second former Kentucky swimmer in her class to transfer to South Carolina in the past year, following in the footsteps of Jordan Agliano.

Since South Carolina head coach Jeff Poppell took the program over in the spring of 2021, the Gamecocks have seen steady improvement at the conference level. In 2023, their 8th-place finish at the SEC Championships equaled their highest placing while their 587 points was the second most in program history. They finished in 10th with 460 points in 2022.

Kentucky finished 3rd at SECs this season, one spot back from the Wildcats’ runner-up finish last year. The departure of head coach Lars Jorgensen earlier this week allowed all Kentucky swimmers to enter the transfer portal outside of the designated window, but Gormley entered the portal just before the May 1 deadline.

The SEC eliminated its intraconference transfer rules in 2021, so Gormley is eligible to compete immediately.