Junior Kelsey Zhang’s relationship with swimming began with a splash of irony. At age 2, she was introduced to the pool, but it wasn’t love at first sight. In fact, Zhang had her heart set on other pursuits: “I didn’t really want to do swimming,” she recalled. “I wanted to do gymnastics and all those other sports.”
Despite her initial reluctance, Zhang’s parents encouraged her to give the sport a try and it wasn’t until Zhang actually got into the water to start swimming lessons that everything changed.
Zhang’s swimming career has been marked by dedication and growth across various clubs. She started at PEAK Swimming for two years, then spent seven years with Santa Clara Swim Club, before finally diving into Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics at 11-years-old. Throughout her journey, Dana Kirk, her current mentor, left the most influential mark on Zhang’s swimming career.
As Zhang approached her junior year, she began the college recruitment process. While coaches could officially reach out starting June 15, the timing was complicated by her attendance at the 2024 Olympic Team trials; this delayed communications with coaches’ until around June 30. Despite this, Zhang found the process exciting.
“It was really fun,” she said. “You would set up calls with them, then talk with a couple schools, and then narrow it down to, like, three to four or five to go on visits.”
Zhang’s college tour taken at the beginning of her junior year included stops at the University of Michigan, University of Virginia, UC Berkeley and Stanford University. Ultimately, she narrowed her choices down to two prestigious California schools: UC Berkeley and Stanford. Zhang went on an official visit to Stanford, but in the end, on Oct. 8, she verbally committed to Berkeley.
“It was definitely a hard decision between Berkeley and Stanford,” Zhang said. “But the thing that stood out to me the most about Berkeley was their coach.”
Berkeley’s men and women’s swimming coach is Dave Durden, and for Zhang, he embodies everything she looks for in a mentor.
“He’s just everything I look for in a coach,” she said. “I hopped on a call with him, and then, after the call, I said: ‘Yes, this is the coach I want. He doesn’t just pick out his favorites. He helps the whole team.’”
Beyond coaching benefits, Berkeley offered other advantages that appealed to Zhang. Its proximity to home was a benefit, and she felt a strong connection with the team.
The 2028 Olympics will align with Zhang’s sophomore year at UC Berkeley. While Olympic participation remains an aspiration, her immediate focus lies on more immediate goals such as contributing to the university’s success in the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division I championships. The concentration of skill at Berkeley has her excited about the team’s prospects for bringing home the NCAA trophy, and she’s eager to play her part in their collective achievements.
“Honestly, we just have some really, really good people coming in, going to [Berkeley], so I feel like we could have a pretty high chance of winning the NCAA, which is really, really exciting,” Zhang said. “So I want to contribute to that and hopefully help bring back that trophy.”
Looking beyond college, Zhang is open to the possibility of swimming professionally. She’s drawn inspiration from a former UC Berkeley swimmer, Rachel Klinker, who, after completing her fifth year, turned pro and continues to train with Durden.
“I think if everything goes well, I think I might swim professionally at [Berkeley]… we’ll see how everything plays out,” Zhang said.
Though Zhang has verbally committed to Berkeley with a full scholarship to study whatever she chooses, her signing day won’t be until her senior year.
Beyond the lap lanes, Zhang is diving headfirst into the academic excellence at Berkeley, particularly their renowned Haas School of Business. As she stands on the starting block of her collegiate career, Zhang looks to make waves both in the pool and in the classroom at Berkeley.
“Words cannot describe how excited I am to go to college.” she said. “I can’t wait to be teammates with the other commits in my class. I think the people at [Berkeley] are really special and I love the team culture.”
