Freestyler McKaley Goldblum has announced her transfer to UNC Wilmington beginning in the fall of 2022. Goldblum swam her freshman season, and the first two meets of the 2021-2022 season, at NC State University.
“First off I would like to thank NC State for everything they did for me and getting me to where I am today,” Goldblum said in announcing her decision. “I will be transferring to UNCW because being closer to home was more important to me than I thought, and what better school to go to than one in my own hometown!
“I am super excited for the program that Bobby and the other coaches are building and all of the incredible athletes that they have so far. So happy to be entering this new chapter of my life!”
Goldblum is a native of Wilmington, North Carolina, where she swam for the Waves of Wilmington in the last two years of her high school career after moving from Florida.
When she committed to swim for NC State in Raleigh, which is about 2 hours north of Wilmington, she was being recruited by the program’s then-sprint coach Bobby Guntoro. Prior to Goldblum’s freshman season at NC State, though, Guntoro left NC State to take over as the head coach of his alma mater UNC Wilmington.
Now the two will be reunited in the fall of 2022, with Goldblum anticipating two years of regular eligibility, plus the bonus season awarded by the NCAA waiver because of the challenges presented last season by the COVID-19 pandemic, if she chooses.
In her first season at NC State, Goldblum showed her biggest improvements in the middle-distance freestyle events, especially the 200 free, where she dropped 2.14 seconds in short course and 5.15 seconds in long course.
SCY:
| Prior to NC State | Best Time at NC State | Improvement | |
| 50 free | 23.39 | 23.75 | N/A |
| 100 free | 50.21 | 49.97 | -.24s |
| 200 free | 1:49.11 | 1:46.97 | -2.14s |
| 500 free | 4:59.90 | 4:56.90 | -.30s |
LCM:
| 50 free | 27.15 | 27.06 | -.09s |
| 100 free | 58.03 | 57.42 | -0.61s |
| 200 free | 2:08.81 | 2:03.67 | -5.15s |
| 400 free | 4:32.99 | 4:23.14 | -9.85s |
That 200 free time in long course is a Winter US Open qualifying time based on 2021 standards.
She becomes a huge instant-impact performer for UNCW in the CAA. The team’s top 100 freestylers so far this season are freshman Brooke Morgan (51.28) and junior Tink Niebel; Drexel’s Lera Nasedkina leads the conference in 49.61 – just three tenths better than Goldblum’s best.
Her 200 free time would be a school record by more than two seconds.
At last year’s CAA Championship meet, the Seahawks finished 5th out of 6 teams. They scored only 5 points in the women’s 200 free, and their lone top-12 finisher int he 100 free was the now-graduated Evan Arsenault, who won the conference title in the event. They had no A-finalists in the 500 free.
Goldblum was not a member of NC State’s team at the 2021 ACC Championships at the end of her freshman season, instead finishing her short course season at the UNC Last Chance meet. Her time in the 200 free at that meet would have qualified her for the A final at ACCs in an event where they had only one scorer (senior Julia Poole, who finished 3rd).
Wonder how much scholarship UNCW have.. with Guntoro’s reputation and recruiting, they can be very good very quick. I hope UNCW realizes how big an asset Guntoro is for that program.
What a nice win-win for McKaley and UNCW!!
She is going to be such a huge help to UNCW’s team! It looks like her times will have an instant impact like it was said, and based off the progress that was posted from last year she’s still only getting better! Might have to become the Seahawks newest fan!!! Excited to see what she does!
Very exciting for her and UNCW… I do want to mention the all-time conference record and CAA championship record is actually a 1:45.21 held by Bonnie Zhang of JMU though
Feel like 2 hours is very close to home already, but good for her!
definitely is pretty close on an absolute scale but im guessing the difference between being able to see her family on the weekend vs every single day is important for her
I was 90 minutes away from NCSU only went home occasionally for weekends and of course holidays. It took awhile to get used to the meal plan but I was happy not being in my parents backyard.