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9-time individual Maryland Swimming Champion Caroline Benda has verbally committed to the University of Kentucky. Benda, who attends Hereford High School in suburban Baltimore, which doesn’t have a swim team, and trains with the North Baltimore Aquatic Club.
Benda comes from a big swimming family. Her mom Marci and her dad Brian met when they swam for the University of South Carolina in the late 1980s and early 1990s and are Masters swimmers.
Caroline Benda specializes in the distance freestyle and IM events, and has begun to wade her way into open water.
Caroline Benda’s Best Times in Yards:
- 200 free – 1:52.06
- 500 free – 4:54.09
- 1000 free – 10:02.83
- 1650 free – 16:49.55
- 200 IM – 2:05.58
- 400 IM – 4:20.44
Following in the footsteps of her dad, a former winner of the 4.4-mile Great Chesapeake Bay Swim among other races, Caroline herself won the 2019 Great Chesepeake Bay swim, which was cut in half to 2.2 miles because of rough conditions.
She is also actively involved in Swim Across American open water races as a volunteer. She and her mother Marci volunteer to train novice swimmers to participate in a mile swim either in open water or in a pool as a fundraiser for SAA, which uses swimming to fund cancer research.
In the past 2 years, Benda has won 9 Maryland Swimming individual championships 9 times, including back-to-back wins in the 1000 yard and 1650 yard frees in 2019 and 2020.
She’ll train under Kentucky head coach Lars Jorgensen, one of the great American distance swimmers and the current record holder for the swimming leg of the Ironman World Championships in Kona.
The Wildcats, who placed 3rd at the 2020 SEC Championships overall, took on the image of their coach in some regards: while they scored 0 points at SECs in the 50 free, they picked up 52 points in the 500 free, which was 2nd-best among all teams behind only Florida. They also scored well in the mile and 400 IM, Benda’s two other best events.
It took 16:40 to score in the mile at the 2020 SEC Championships, 4:48 to score in the 500 free, and 4:17 to score in the 400 IM.
She joins a Kentucky women’s class that also includes Kaelen Daly, Maddie Welborn, Megan Ciezczak, Annie Galvin, Emma Hermeston, and Madeline Wenig.
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