After one season with the Indiana Hoosiers, California native Kai Bathurst has announced his transfer to the University of California, Berkeley. He should have three years of eligibility remaining with the Golden Bears.
I’m super stoked to announce my transfer to swim at the University of California, Berkeley. I wanna thank all my coaches, friends and family that helped me get here. Go bears!🐻💛💙
TOP TIMES (SCY)
- 50 free – 20.72 (from high school)
- 100 free – 44.53
- 200 free – 1:35.85
- 500 free – 4:21.50
- 100 fly – 49.72 (from high school)
- 200 fly – 1:44.45
- 200 IM – 1:49.55 (from high school)
On June 14, SwimSwam reported on Bathurst entering the NCAA transfer portal alongside Andrew Couchon, a rising junior who has yet to announce his post-IU plans. You can read about the recent IU departures here.
Bathurst dropped over four seconds in the 200 fly and over three in the 500 free in his one season with the Hoosiers. He also made small improvements in the 100 and 200 free. At the 2020 Big Ten Championships, Bathurst made the 200 fly A-final and placed eighth overall, while adding B-final appearances in the 200 and 500 free. Bathurst ended the 2019-20 season ranked third on IU’s roster in all three events that he swam at the Big Ten Championships, although he didn’t swim on any relays at that meet.
Prior to IU, Bathurst trained with Beach Cities Swimming and swam for Mira Costa High School in Los Angeles County. He was the 2019 CIF Southern Section Division 2 champion in the 200 free.
Bathurst would’ve ranked third in the 200 fly and sixth in the 200 free on Cal’s top times list last season. Cal is graduating mid-distance phenom Zheng Quah (1:33.3 free, 1:38.8 fly), while Trenton Julian (1:33.1 free/1:40.6 fly) has just one year left with the Bears.
Cal is bringing in the SwimSwam-ranked #4 class in the country, and Bathurst’s addition alongside that class with strengthen the Bears’ depth.
Go Bears! Welcome to Berkeley, Kai. We are thrilled to have you here.
The negativity in the comment section needs to stop! This site is for swimming information and media, we do not need the opinions of people who have no idea what is going on behind the scenes. Remember the kids in these articles and college programs read these comments and they actually take a mental toll on them!
We police ourselves just fine. We have Braden as a backup. At this point the Indiana/ASU transfer thing is just a meme for our entertainment. If you don’t want comments on your program go swim D3
The anti-IU/anti-Ray people started it…
We are also trying to understand why there is a high rate of transfers at Indiana. It would only be fair for future college swimmers to know why there is such a high transfer rate. It will help them avoid having to switch schools mid way through their education which I’m sure is not a pleasant process. Remember that these are students first and transferring credits can be difficult sometimes.
Is it possible that student athletes are aware of this? It seems to me that with the high roster size and the ability to know the quality of the swimmers on the team that students already know where they stand coming into the program. I imagine the draw of the program is its success and students go there wanting to improve, which it seems many do there. It could be the possibility of improving and working toward being a participant at conference of NCAA’s. Some might just want to be a part of something great. One of my kids got interest from B1G schools and had to weigh the challenge and desire to improve and make it to the next… Read more »
SWIMFAN5, that was an excellent post and applies to most of Indiana’s transfer situations. Whether they transfer or not, the kids that come to Indiana get a great education, receive specialized training from a world class head coach and coaching staff and have the opportunity to meet and race everyday against fantastic and supportive teammates. Due to the size of the team, the percentage of transfers at IU is, in reality, very small compared to other schools and almost all of those that do transfer get much faster during their time at Indiana University. Unfortunately, after they leave they don’t get any faster because of the lower quality of coaching and team atmosphere.
I don’t think you give today’s media savvy / media skeptical kids enough credit. If the kids read these comments from people who don’t know what is going on behind the scenes while the swimmers do know, I really don’t think it takes a mental toll on them and just reinforces to them how ‘stupid’ people are. For recruits, however, I do think it has an impact and throws another seed of uncertainty and doubt into an already highly stressful process.
To that guy from the ASU transfer article who bet on an Indiana transfer coming this week, great job.
It’s a gift.
this was announced here well before the ASU transfer article.
I’m here before the comments section has 1 million comments. Let’s be honest, if IU cut their program right now, would we feel bad for them? Or would we just make jokes about “they would’ve transferred away anyway?” We need to stop this negativity. If current IU swimmers who do not intend to transfer are reading this, they will feel like something is wrong about their program. They will be less proud of their team. If they’re reading the comments it will put a lot of unnecessary pressure on them, in addition to all the stressful things in the world, including some of their friends and coaches leaving.
With that said, congrats to Kai! You will do great things… Read more »
I mean how many swimmers transferred out over the past 2 years? Something up with the program.
Ray’s recruiting philosophy has always been to cast a wide net. Some programs are very selective and control their numbers. Ray has always brought in large classes.
Good point, COACH. Ray does a great job with a large group of accomplished athletes. The competition within practice Is amazing and, from what I’ve observed, the kids on the team are very supportive of one another.
From what I’ve heard from many past swimmers from IU., Ray is a yeller! That’s not everyone’s cup of tea!
Yes there could be something up… And there could not be. IU has large #s and recruit a ton each year (38 men on their 2019 roster) which means there is a good chunk that dont travel, make conference rosters etc. Not in this case with Kai, but wasnt Jake Marcum 4th on the depth chart in the 2 back and transferred to Alabama where he would have been #2? Better fit for him maybe?
Higher than normal roster size in a top 5 program is going to naturally have a little higher attrition than others.
It could be a mess over there, but it could also not. With 38 guys on last years mens roster 4 or 5 transfers… Read more »
You mean similar to the article published about Coley last fall?
Great choice and huge get for Cal!
How many does that make?
Don’t worry haters, Indiana is well stocked and will be a top-5 program at NCAAs and well represented on US Olympic team. If you notice, unlike other programs, the kids actually get faster before they transfer. The assistant coach exodus with Mike and Jonty was no fault of Ray’s and the team is adjusting just fine. There’s a big difference between what goes on at Indiana and what happens at Arizona State with Bowman. The kids are actually being coached up at IU.
This is hilarious. Guerra seems to rip on everyone and everything swimming and then out of the blue he praises Indiana and Ray Looze.
What can I say??? I appreciate greatness and loathe mediocrity!
Coached up😂😂😂 News flash ASU coaching staff! Stable, engaging, caring, student centered. When you feel you have to tear something down to build your program up…well it speaks volumes
SWIMMOM. you should have added – …and five years of great recruiting classes, numerous transfers afterwards and ZERO top-“19” finishes at NCAAs. Face it, the man that is called your “head coach” is really just a personal trainer and not a coach.
Guerra that’s just not true. The Arizona State women had a top 20 finish at the most recent NCAA Championship meet. In fact, they were exactly 20th.
The men were 20th in 2018 as well, and 14th in 2017.
Maybe you meant to say no top 19 finishes in the last 2 seasons? Doesn’t have the same ring to it I suppose, but at least it’s true…
Pfff…. Really??? sorry it did sound better!
We can’t overlook that the men would have almost certainly been top 20 this year as well. While the women were seeded to be 16th, and so had a chance too.
I predict they would have folded up like a cheap tent at NCAAs and been out of the Top-19…
Hey Guerra, I honestly feel real bad for you. Someone who obviously is so intrigued by ASU but has not done their research. I know this NCAAs didn’t happen this year but ASU was ranked 7th going into the meet if you added up the psych sheet. Wanna know what improvement looks like? Just keep watchin and stop hatin
For accuracy….
ASU Men: 2016/44th/2pts, 2017/14th/100pts, 2018/20th/45pts, 2019/21st/75.5pts
ASU Women: 2016/31st/16pts, 2017/29th/22pts, 2018/23rd/34pts, 2019/20th/60pts
I am tempted to give you a downvote just because you are providing facts. They have no place on this comments board. (wink)
Words to live by…
“Never let the facts get in the way of a good post!”
Indiana is Loozing all their swimmers
Why did I laugh so much at this
That is good! How did we go this long without this joke?!