{"id":463734,"date":"2021-02-28T19:30:35","date_gmt":"2021-03-01T02:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=463734"},"modified":"2021-02-28T21:56:51","modified_gmt":"2021-03-01T04:56:51","slug":"world-juniors-gold-medalist-justina-kozan-verbally-commits-to-southern-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/world-juniors-gold-medalist-justina-kozan-verbally-commits-to-southern-california\/","title":{"rendered":"World Juniors Gold Medalist Justina Kozan Verbally Commits to Southern California"},"content":{"rendered":"

World juniors gold medalist\u00a0Justina Kozan\u00a0<\/strong>has verbally committed to the University of Southern California<\/a> for the fall of 2022 as she will be a huge boost to a Trojans team that just finished fourth at the recent Pac-12 championships under first year head coach\u00a0Jeremy Kipp<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Kozan first made a name for herself at the 2018 Juniors when she won the 200 butterfly before she entered high school, and has turned into a solid 200 freestyler and 200 IMer. Kozan, a former member of Brea Aquatics in southern California under head coach\u00a0Jim Johnson<\/strong>, made the 2019 World Juniors team in the 200 IM, where she won the gold medal in Budapest with a 2:11.55 which put her 22nd in the world for 2019 and also seventh in the United States. She also swam on the gold medal winning 4×200 freestyle relay team at that meet.<\/p>\n

During the COVID lockdown<\/a>, Justina Kozan changed clubs<\/a> from Brea to the legendary Mission Viejo Nadadores where she is training under hall of fame coach Mark Schubert\u00a0<\/strong>in hopes of making her first Olympic team.<\/p>\n

Ahead of her college years, Kozan should be a key asset for the Trojans moving forward in the 200 free, 200 fly and 200 and 400 IM, and could also play relay duty with a strong 100 free and 100 fly.<\/p>\n

The Trojans were without\u00a0Laticia Transom<\/strong>,\u00a0Hanna Henderson\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Jade Hannah\u00a0<\/strong>this season, and should those latter two come back to campus by the time Kozan is around, coach Kipp should have a very strong team in place that has historically been one of the great destinations for swimming talent. In the events that Kozan swims, USC has produced NCAA champions\u00a0Louise Hansson<\/strong>,\u00a0Katinka Hosszu<\/strong>,\u00a0Kaitlin Sandeno\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Kristine Quance\u00a0<\/strong>in the last 30 years.<\/p>\n

Justina Kozan’s best times (SCY \/ LCM)<\/strong><\/p>\n