Caitlin Leverenz

Caitlin Leverenz (born February 26, 1991) is an American competition swimmer who specializes in breaststroke and medley events. She won the bronze medal in the 200-meter individual medley event at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Caitlin Leverenz
Caitlin Leverenz, October 2014
Personal information
National team United States
Born (1991-02-26) February 26, 1991
Tucson, Arizona
Height5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesBreaststroke, individual medley
ClubCalifornia Aquatics
College teamUniversity of California, Berkeley

Early years

Leverenz was born in Tucson, Arizona. She attended Sahuaro High School in Tucson and was a member of the Sahauro Cougars High School swim team. She was one of the top college swimming recruits in the nation as a high school senior. She also trained with and swam for the El Dorado Aquatics Club in Tucson.

College career

Leverenz received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of California, Berkeley, where she swam for coach Teri McKeever's California Golden Bears swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition. At the NCAA national championships in 2011, she swam the breaststroke legs for the Golden Bears' winning relay teams in the 4x50-yard and 4x100-yard medley relay events; the Bears set a new American and NCAA record time of 1:35.03 in the 4x50 medley. At the 2012 NCAA national championships, she again was a member of the Bears' winning 4x50-yard and 4x100-yard medley relay teams, as well as winning individual national championships in the 200-yard individual medley and the 200-yard breaststroke events. She was a key contributor to the Golden Bears winning two NCAA national team championships in three years. She was the recipient of the Honda Sports Award for Swimming and Diving, recognizing her as the outstanding college female swimmer of 2011–12.[1][2]

International career

Leverenz represented the United States in Brazil for the World Youth Championships and in the Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool. She won the gold medal and broke the meet record in the 200-meter breaststroke at the 2007 Pan American Games.[3][4] At the United States Swimming National Championships in 2007, she won the U.S. championship in the 400-meter individual medley.[4][5]

At the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials, she placed fourth in both the 200-meter and 400-meter individual medley. She also finished third in the 200-meter breaststroke, just missing out on making the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team.

2012 Summer Olympics
See also: Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics

At the 2012 United States Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska, Leverenz made the U.S. Olympic team by finishing first in the 200-meter individual medley and second in the 400-meter individual medley. She also competed in the 200-meter breaststroke, but finished in eighth place in the final.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, she won her first Olympic medal, a bronze, in the finals of the 200-meter individual medley. She also competed in the 400-meter individual medley, where she tied for sixth in the finals.

After the 2012 Olympic Games Leverenz went on to represent the United States in many international competitions. At the 2014 Pan Pacific Championships she won a bronze medal in the 200-m individual medley.[6] Leverenz went on to earn two gold medals at the 2015 Pan American Games in the 200-meter inidivual medley and 400-meter individual medley.[7] Leverenz was also elected by her peers to be team captain of the 2015 Pan American Games Team.[8] Leverenz was the top female American finisher the Arena Pro Swim Series, winning her a BMW lease, for the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 seasons.[9]

In her final career competition, Leverenz missed qualifying for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in the 200-m individual medley by .05 seconds.[10] Leverenz retired from professional swimming in March of 2017.[11]

Personal life

Leverenz was born in Tucson, Arizona. She graduated from Sahuaro High School in 2009 and then attended the University of California, Berkeley and swam for the California Golden Bears Women's Swimming and Diving team.[12]

Leverenz married Collin Smith, who played water polo at Cal, in January of 2015.[13]

She is currently attending Stanford Graduate School of Business.[14]

See also

References
  1. Collegiate Women Sports Awards, Past Honda Sports Award Winners for Swimming & Diving Archived December 3, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
  2. "Local digest: Cal's Caitlin Leverenz receives Honda Sports Award for Swimming". The Mercury News. March 27, 2012. Archived from the original on March 23, 2020. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
  3. "Pierse swims to 2 silvers at Pan Am Games". CBC Sports. July 22, 2007. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved December 17, 2007.
  4. John Lohn (August 1, 2007). "USA Swimming Nationals: Caitlin Leverenz Wins Women's 400 individual medley". Swimming World. Archived from the original on January 26, 2012. Retrieved December 18, 2007.
  5. "Phelps back in grand style at US titles". People's Daily. August 3, 2007. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved December 17, 2007.
  6. "2014 Pan Pacific Championships - Day 4 Finals Live Recap". SwimSwam.com. August 24, 2014. Archived from the original on September 10, 2015. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
  7. Metcalfe, Jeff. "Tucson's Caitlin Leverenz wins second Pan American Games swim gold medal". azcentral.com.
  8. "Cullen Jones And Caitlin Leverenz Named Captains Of American Pan Am Games Team". SwimSwam.com. July 12, 2015. Archived from the original on May 4, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
  9. "Hosszu, Dwyer repeat as Pro Swim Series champs, Leverenz once again wins BMW lease". SwimSwam.com. June 22, 2015. Archived from the original on April 10, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
  10. "OLYMPIC TRIALS: Caitlin Leverenz misses out on Olympic berth by 0.05 seconds". AllSportsTucson.com. June 30, 2016. Archived from the original on October 20, 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
  11. ""Do You Miss It?" by Caitlin Leverenz". PickyBars.com.
  12. "Caitlin Leverenz". CalBears.com. University of California Golden Bears Athletics.
  13. Metcalfe, Jeff. "Keeping it fresh: Leverenz marries, trains in Australia". azcentral.com.
  14. "About". bigcsociety.org. The Big C Society.
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