Kristen Hepler

2017-18 ACC Academic Honor Roll
2017-18 CSCAA Scholar All-American Honorable Mention

2019-20 (Senior): The Yellow Jackets’ top breaststroke swimmer this season, also competed in the 200 and 400 IM and 500 free this season … Also swam with all five relay groups this season … Her 200 IM time of 2:00.64 at the Georgia Tech Invitational ranks third on the program’s all-time list … Earned an NCAA B qualifying time and a new personal best in the 400 IM at the ACC Championships (4:16.16), which ranks third on Georgia Tech’s all-time list … Part of the team’s fastest 400 free relay (3:23.20) and 800 free relay (7:14.08) groups this season at the ACC Championships … Touched the wall first in the 200 IM at the Rice Invitational (2:05.18), and in the 100 breast (1:04.30) and 200 IM (2:04.52) against Georgia Southern, SCAD … Finished second in the 100 breast (1:04.50), 200 breast (2:18.66) and 200 IM (2:05.18) against Florida State, in the 200 breast (2:17.16) and 200 IM (2:04.31) against Auburn … Placed third in the 100 breast (1:05.49), 200 breast (2:21.02) and 400 IM (4:25.04) at the Rice Invitational, in the 200 breast (2:18.23) and 200 IM (2:06.16) against South Carolina … Swam her fastest 100 breast of the season at the Georgia Tech Invitational (1:02.61).

2018-19 (Junior): Recorded the second best 200 breast time in program history at the Conference USA Time time trials, finishing in 2:13.52 … Recorded a B time in the 400 IM prelim at the ACC Championships, finishing 12th with a time of 4:16.52, the third fastest time in program history … Her 200 IM (2:01.98) at the ACC Championships ranks sixth in program history … Finished with the seventh fastest 100 breast time in program history while setting a PR with a time of 1:02.59 at the ACC Championships … Set a PR in the 200 free with a time of 1:53.57 at vs. South Carolina … Swam a prelim time of 2:13.69 (17th) and final time of 2:14.39 (21st) in the 200 breast at the ACC Championships … Recorded her fastest 200 IM time of the season at the Georgia Tech Invitational, finishing in 2:04.08 … Also swam the 100 breast (1:03.77) at the Georgia Tech Invitational … Set a PR in the 50 breast, finishing in 29:62 at the ACC Championships … Competed in the 200 IM vs. Denver, finishing in 2:05.88 … Set a PR in the 100 back at the FAU Fun in the Sun Invite with a time of 1:02.07.

2017-18 (Sophomore): Competed for the Yellow Jackets in a number of events including the 200 free, 100 and 200 breast, 200 and 400 IM … Posted a pair of NCAA B qualifying times in the 200 breast at the ACC Championships – 2:13.68 and 2:14.31 … Turned in career-best times in the 200 free (1:55.29), 100 breast (1:02.90), 200 breast (2:13.68) and 200 IM (2:01.98) on the season … Recorded the fastest time on the team on the year in the 200 breast (2:13.68), which is also the second-best time for the event in school history … Also recorded the third-fastest time on the team in the 100 breast (1:02.90), the sixth-best time in Tech history … Turned in the third-best time for the Jackets on the season in the 200 IM (2:01.98), also the sixth-best time in Tech history, and the fourth-fastest time on the team in the 400 IM (4:34.98) … Had the 10th-best time on the team in the 200 free (1:55.29) … Totaled 13 top-five finishes on the season … Touched the wall in second-place overall in the 200 breast (2:22.46) in the dual meet versus Delta State … Posted a pair of runner-up finishes in the 200 free (1:57.55) and in the 200 breast (2:22.79) in the dual meet at SCAD … Placed third in the 200 IM (2:09.71) at South Carolina and in the 200 free (1:55.29) versus Emory … Finished fourth overall in the 200 breast versus Pittsburgh (2:22.84), at Notre Dame (2:21.09) and at Northwestern (2:20.97) in dual meet action … Also recorded a fourth-place showing in the 200 IM (2:09.78) at Notre Dame, in the 100 breast (1:06.62) on the road at Northwestern, and again in the 200 IM (2:20.12) at nationally ranked Georgia … Registered a fifth-place finish in the 200 IM (2:08.59) at Northwestern and in the 200 breast (2:20.59) at Georgia … Finished 10th in the 200 breast (2:18.64) and 20th in the 200 IM (2:06.93) in the finals at the Georgia Tech Invitational … Reached the finals and placed 15th overall in the 200 breast at the ACC Championships with a finals time of 2:14.31 … Also placed 26th in the 100 breast with a prelims time of 1:02.90 … Recognized as a 2017-18 CSCAA scholar all-American honorable mention.

2016-17 (Freshman): Made an immediate impact in her first year on The Flats … Competed for the Jackets in the breaststroke and IM events … Set new career-best marks in the 100 breast (1:03.34), 200 breast (2:14.33) and 400 IM (4:22.33) at the 2017 ACC Championships … Recorded the second-fastest time on the year for the Jackets in the 200 breast (2:14.33) … Also turned in the third-fastest times for Tech on the season in the 100 breast (1:03.34), 200 IM (2:05.16) and 400 IM (4:22.33) … Had the ninth-best time among all Jackets in the 200 free (1:54.38) … Totaled 18 top-10 finishes on the season for Tech … Posted a runner-up finish in the 150 breast (1:44.06) versus Georgia Southern, in the 400 IM (4:29.38) against Notre Dame and in the 400 IM (4:28.17) against both Cincinnati and FAU … Finished third in the 200 IM (2:08.18) versus Boston College and Pitt, in the 200 breast (2:19.63) against Georgia and in the 200 breast versus Cincinnati and FAU (2:19.89) and against Alabama (2:19.69) … Touched the wall in fourth-place in the 200 breast (2:22.16) versus BC and Pitt, in the 200 breast (2:20.31) against Notre Dame and in the 200 IM (2:07.61) versus UGA … Finished 18th in both the 400 IM (4:23.73) and 200 breast (2:17.75) at the Georgia Tech Invitational … Also placed 20th overall in the 100 breast (1:04.00) at the GT Invite … Finished 23rd in the 200 breast (2:14.33), 25th in the 400 IM (4:22.33) and 28th in the 100 breast (1:03.34) at the ACC Championship meet.

Before Tech: Lettered for three years at Seven Lakes High School under coach Jordan Beck … Competed in both the breast and IM events … Served as a team captain as a senior … Ranked as high as 11th overall in the state of Texas … Named to the first-team all-state team in the 100 breast in both 2015 and 2016 … Earned a spot on the second-team all-state team in the 200 IM in both 2015 and 2016 … Was an all-state honorable mention selection in 2015 in the 200 medley and 400 free relay events … Also an all-state honorable mention pick in the 100 breast and 200 free relay in 2013 … Tabbed the female MVP of the district championship meet in both 2015 and 2016 … Also named the team MVP in both 2015 and 2016 … A member of the National Honor Society.

Personal: Has two sisters … Sister, Melissa, swam at Eastern Illinois University … Enjoys spending time with her family, friends and teammates … Listed most memorable athletic accomplishment as being congratulated by Olympian Breeja Larson after making her first summer junior national cut in the 200 breast … Started swimming at the age of six and competitively at the age of eight … Chose Tech because of the amazing opportunities that it has to offer, the outstanding academics especially in engineering and the great swimming program … Has not yet decided on a major.