Cierra Runge (born March 7, 1996) is an American competition

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

Career

Runge was born in

Cochranville, Pennsylvania Cochranville is a census-designated place (CDP) in West Fallowfield Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 488 as of the 2022 on the Data Commons website. It is the hometown of Olympic swimmer Cierra Runge. G ...

, to Scott and Diane Runge. She is a 2014 graduate of Octorara High School. She was on the Jennersville YMCA swim team when she was younger (Now KJAY Swim Team). She attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

her freshman year under Teri McKeever and afterwards took a whole year off to focus her efforts on making the 2016 U.S. Olympic team. Runge came back to collegiate swimming attending the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

, where she swam for head coach Whitney Hite. For her last two years of NCAA eligibility, she transferred to

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

, where she worked with Bob Bowman. At the 2012 United States Olympic Trials in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

, Runge placed 25th in the 100-meter freestyle and 26th in the 50-meter freestyle. In 2013, she competed at the World Junior Swimming Championships and won four medals including gold in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay. At the 2014 US National Championships, the qualifying meet for both the

2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships The 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, also known as the 2014 Hancock Prospecting Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, a long course (50 m) event, was held in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, from 21 to 25 August 2014. Qualifying c ...

and the

2015 World Aquatics Championships The 16th FINA World Aquatics Championships, FINA World Championships (), also Aquatics 2015, were held in Kazan, Russia from 24 July to 9 August 2015. Russia hosted this event for the first time. The number of participating national teams (190), ...

, she finished second in the 400- and 800-meter freestyle, and 6th in the 200-meter freestyle. At the

in Gold Coast, Australia, Runge placed 2nd in the 400-meter freestyle, 4th in the 1500-meter freestyle, and 5th in the 800-meter freestyle. In the 400-meter freestyle, she finished behind teammate

Katie Ledecky Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky ( ; born March 17, 1997) is an American competitive Swimming (sport), swimmer. She is the List of individual gold medalists in swimming at the Olympics and World Aquatics Championships (women)#Title leaders, most deco ...

, who set a world record.Jason Marsteller,
Katie Ledecky Smashes 400 Free World Record, Nearly Clears 3:58! (Pan Pacific Championships Results)
" ''Swimming World Magazine'' (August 23, 2014). Retrieved March 3, 2015. She most recently won a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in the 4 x 200 freestyle relay.

References

External links

*
Cierra Runge – University of California athlete profile at CalBears.com
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Runge, Cierra 1996 births Living people American female freestyle swimmers California Golden Bears women's swimmers Wisconsin Badgers women's swimmers Arizona State Sun Devils women's swimmers World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Chester County, Pennsylvania Swimmers from Pennsylvania Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics 21st-century American sportswomen