Nashville distance specialist Elizabeth Stinson commits to Southern Cal

Elizabeth Stinson, a distance freestyle specialist, has made a verbal commitment to swim for the University of Southern California under head coach Dave Salo for the 2015-2016 season.

Elizabeth trains with John Morse of the Nashville Aquatic Club and is also a member of the Tennessee state champion swim team at Harpeth Hall School.

“There are few swimmers as dedicated and disciplined as Elizabeth Stinson,” said Harpeth Hall varsity head coach Polly Linden. “She has been an invaluable asset to our team since her freshman year and has been instrumental in our success at both the region and state level. We certainly could not have won the 2014 state title without her.  USC is lucky to have her!”

Stinson’s Top Times:

• 1650y Free:     16:25.41
• 1500m Free:    16:38.21

• 1000y Free:       9:56.10
• 800m Free:        8:44.29

• 500y Free:         4:47.02
• 400m Free:        4:18.10

• 200y Free:         1:50.40
• 200m Free:        2:05.50

Stinson is in a position to contribute immediately at the PAC-12 Championships, where she would have placed in the top 8 in the 1650 each of the last two years with her swims at Winter Juniors. She is also within range to score in the 500 with a drop of a few seconds. She has a total of five top 8 finishes at Junior Nationals in her career and also qualified to swim in two events at the 2012 Olympic trials.

Stinson already has her 800 free Trials cut for 2016 and is .11 from qualifying for the 400 free.  Her 1500 this summer at Junior Nationals was the 2^nd fastest 1500 this year among rising seniors (behind only world record-setter Katie Ledecky) and the 60^th fastest swim in the world so far in 2014. She comes from a swimming family as her brother Nathan is in his third year on the US Naval Academy Men’s Swimming and Diving team.

Stinson will be joining former NAC teammates Maclin Davis and Dakota Hodgson, who also swim for the Trojans.