After Spending Freshman Year at UTSA, Maddie Clifton Is Transferring to LSU

Maddie Clifton will transfer to LSU and compete for the Tigers in the fall of 2019 after spending her freshman year at UTSA, which doesn’t have a swim team.

“As I was originally going through the recruiting process junior and senior year I was visiting great schools, but none seemed to fit what I was looking for both academically and with swimming,” Clifton explained. “As I got closer to making a decision senior year I realized that since I had been competitively swimming since I was about 5 I didn’t want to go to a school where I would go in and not be pushed. So I made the tough decision to stay home and train with my club team, Alamo Area Aquatics Association (AAAA) for another year and attend UTSA for my freshman year while continuing my search.”

Clifton says that she was encouraged by family and her coaches to reach out to LSU, and says that when she took an unofficial visit, she fell in love.

“Taking this extra year was the hardest and best decision I’ve ever made, and I wouldn’t change it for a thing,” she concluded.

Clifton’s best event is the 200 IM, though she’s shown sprint free potential as well – her best time in the 50 of 24.40 was done in 2014 when she was only 14-years old.

The 200 IM, though, is what likely got her the big looks from the Tigers. In her freshman year  at UTSA, she knocked almost 3 seconds off her best time in the 200 IM, driven mostly by improvements in breaststroke and backstroke through the middle part of the IM.

Best Times in Yards:

• 50 free – 24.40
• 100 free – 52.43
• 200 free – 1:53.14
• 100 back – 58.35
• 200 back – 2:05.98
• 100 breast – 1:05.75
• 200 breast – 2:23.19
• 100 fly – 58.89
• 200 fly – 2:08.87
• 200 IM – 2:04.09

Clifton attended Brandeis High School in San Antonio and as a senior in 2018 finished 10th at the Texas 6A State Championship meet (big schools) in the 100 breaststroke.