USC senior Laticia-Leigh Transom has entered the NCAA transfer portal with the intention of using her bonus 5th year of eligibility at a new program next season.
Transom, a native of New Zealand, was the 2021 Pac-12 Champion in both the 100 yard and 200 yard freestyles. While she would have been a high seed for the NCAA Championships, she wound up not racing at that meet.
With 1 season of eligibility remaining, Transom will offer an immediate boost, both in relays and individually, for wherever she winds up.
So far this season, she ranks 4th in the NCAA in the 100 free, with a time of 47.76, and 5th in the 200 free in 1:43.94. Both times, along with a 22.41 in the 50 free and a best time in the 100 fly, came at the Art Adamson Invitational two weeks ago in College Station, Texas.
Best Times in Yards:
- 50 free – 22.20
- 100 free – 47.76
- 200 free – 1:42.47
- 100 back – 53.37
- 100 fly – 53.53
While Transom was born in New Zealand, she attended high school in Brisbane, Australia where she trained with Brisbane Grammar. She represented New Zealand internationally at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, where she was a semifinalist in the 50 and 100 free.
A year earlier, at the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games, she won the 200 free, took silver in the 100 free, and took bronze in the 50 free.
The NCAA has granted all Division I student-athletes who competed in the 2020-2021 season an extra season of eligibility in recognition of the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This season, student-athletes who use that 5th year at their same institution don’t have their scholarships counted against a team’s limit; but starting next season, those 5th-year scholarships will count against a team’s allotment.
Transom is one of two high profile Trojans who have entered the portal to explore the possibility of transferring for a 5th year of eligibility. Swedish Olympian Victor Johansson, on the USC men’s team, has also entered the NCAA transfer portal with an eye on the 2022-2023 season.
PLEASE GO TO CAL
Yes!
Off to UVA…
Or the wolfpack
I’ll put money it’s UVA 🙂
Auburn
Wouldn’t it just be for her last season since she didn’t race during the COVID year, so she wouldn’t get the 5th year? If I’m wrong, please feel free to correct me on this.
If she didnt race the covid year, then she has only raced for 3 years. So still has one more year of eligibility. Either way, she will have the year I believe
She did race in the COVID year. She won the Pac-12 Championship. She just didn’t race at the NCAA Championships.
The rule to receive the 5th year doesn’t require an athlete to have raced at the NCAA Championships.
She actually sat out the year prior – 2020/2021, where COVID canceled the NCAA Championships. There was no waiver granted for that season, however. She might still get that year back for a redshirt, though USC lists her as a senior
In summation:
-She’s raced 3 years of collegiate swimming
-She swam during the year that gets her the bonus year
-USC lists her as a senior
-Eligibility for international swimmers is sometimes not as straight-forward.
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Y’all should really clarify grad transfers in the headline.
Because reading the first line of the article to find that info is just too hard.