By Claire Wong on SwimSwam
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Cali Watts, a breaststroker who also excels in sprint freestyle, will stay in state next fall (2025) to swim for the Sun Devils at Arizona State University. Watts, a Summer Juniors Qualifier, currently swims for Swim Neptune and attends Millennium High School. At ASU, she will follow in the footsteps of diver Alex Burton, a Millennium alum and current sophomore. Watts will additionally reunite with Alex Sherman, ASU’s assistant coach who was formerly the senior coach at Swim Neptune for six years before joining Arizona State last August.
I’m beyond excited to announce my verbal commitment to continue my academic and athletic careers at Arizona State University! I would like to thank my family, friends, coaches, and teammates for the constant support they have given me. Thank you to the ASU coaches for this amazing opportunity. Forks up!
At the Arizona Division 2 High School State Championships in 2022, Watts was the 100 freestyle champion, taking 1st in 51.36. Then, with a 1:04.91 in the 100 breast, she also took home a silver medal to cap off her sophomore year campaign for Millennium. At this same meet in 2023, Watts improved upon both of her times, collecting two second place showings in the 100 free (51.23) and 100 breast (1:04.59). In 2023, Watts helped Millennium to a 5th place finish out of 38 competing teams.
To wrap up her short course season, Watts showed off her versatility at the Arizona Senior State Championships, where she was a 6x A-finalist. The highlight of her meet came in the 100 breast (1:02.03), where by establishing a new personal best to dip under the 1:03 barrier for the first time, she placed 2nd overall. She went on to place 4th in the 50 free (23.44), 3rd in the 200 IM (2:04.66) and 6th in the 400 IM (4:33.76), all of which were also new bests. Watts additionally contributed to three of Swim Neptune’s relays, leading off the 4×100 free relay in 51.41 and anchoring both the 4×50 and 4×200 relays, splitting times of 22.68 and 1:52.36, respectively.
Watts went on to swim at the Arizona LC Senior State Championships this past June, where she was the state champion in the 100 breast, swimming to a new personal best of 1:12.11 to break 1:13 and secure the Summer Junior qualifying time. Watts also swam to three 4th place finishes, in the 100 free (59.17), 50 free, (27.33), and 200 breast (2:37.15).
Best times:
- 50 free – 23.44
- 100 free – 50.72
- 100 breast – 1:02.03
- 200 breast – 2:18.26
Arizona State, who placed 5th at the 2024 PAC-12s, will join the Big-12 conference this season. The Sun Devils were led by USA National Team Member Lindsay Looney, who scored 84 points at the PAC-12 Championships, but she has since graduated. Regardless, the Sun Devil women haven’t skipped a beat, and are already off to a strong start as they beat UNLV at their first meet of the season and broke a 5-year old school record in the 200 medley relay.
With Texas, the 12-time defending Big-12 champions, having moved on to the SEC, ASU is left with an opportunity to capture a conference championship in their first year in the Big-12. Watts is additionally already under what it took to score at last year’s Big-12s, which featured Texas, as times of 1:03.68/2:19.11 in the 100/200 breast qualified for a second swim.
Joining Watts in the Sun Devil’s class of 2029 include Alexia Sotomayor (fly), Marley Lovick (sprint free), Eleaunuh Phillips (free/IM), and Isabella Tramontana (distance free).
If you have a commitment to report, please send an email with a photo (landscape, or horizontal, looks best) and a quote to Recruits@swimswam.com.
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Read the full story on SwimSwam: Arizona HS State Champion Cali Watts Will Stay In-state to swim for ASU next fall