2024 NCAA ‘A’ finalist in the 200 freestyle Chloe Stepanek will return to Texas A&M to use her COVID-19 fifth year. Stepanek’s return is a huge boost for the transition into the Blaire Anderson era.
Stepanek has consistently made an impact at the NCAA level throughout her undergraduate career with the Aggies. As a freshman, Stepanek finished 4th in the 200 free and 8th in the 100 free at NCAAs, scoring a total of 26 individual points.
She made NCAAs once again as a sophomore and finished 16th in the 200 freestyle. She was just off of making the final in the 100 free as well with a 17th place finish in prelims. She rebounded as a junior finishing 7th in the 200 free and 13th in the 100 free at NCAAs.
This past season, she finished 5th in the 200 free and 15th in the 100 free at NCAAs. She was the 2nd highest scoring swimmer at 2024 NCAAs with 16 individual points.
Stepanek’s return is even more important as the team transitions under newly hired head coach Blaire Anderson who most recently was an associate head coach at Virginia. Anderson was hired this offseason and will serve as the Director of Swimming for both men’s and women’s programs. Most recently, the women’s program was coached by Steve Bultman who retired at the end of the season after 25 years in College Station.
Stepanek also is the highest scoring swimmer who will return to the team as Miranda Grana (24 individual NCAA points) has already announced her transfer to Indiana. Stepanek had originally entered the transfer portal to explore her options as a graduate transfer.