Honors & Awards
- 2020 Tokyo Olympian (200M Free)
- Costa Rican National Team Member (2015-present)
- No. 153 World Recruit (CollegeSwimming)
- No. 46 International Recruit (CollegeSwimming)
- FINA LC World Championships Qualifier (2017, 2019)
- FINA SC World Championships Qualifier (2018)
- Youth Olympic Games Semifinalist (2018)
- Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll (Fall 2021; Spring 2022)
- Tom Osborne Citizenship Team (2022)
Freshman (2021-22)
Beatriz Padron's collegiate debut at the South Dakota State dual was highlighted by a victory in the 500 freestyle by over seven seconds. She also finished second in the 200 free relay and fifth in the 200 medley relay.
Padron raced to victory in the 200 freestyle (1:54.01) while adding a runner-up finish in the 100 butterfly (57.12) in a dual victory over Iowa (Oct. 23). She also helped the Huskers to another win against the Hawkeyes by swimming the leadoff leg in the 400 free relay.
In the Iowa State and Minnesota duals, Padron raced to four top-five finishes, including third in the 200 freestyle and fourth in the 100 freestyle against Iowa State. She added a fourth-place swim in the 100 butterfly and fifth in the 200 freestyle in the Minnesota dual. Padron produced a ninth-place finish in the 100 butterfly (56.19) and an 11th-place finish in the 100 freestyle (51.39) at the mid-season Mizzou Invitational. Padron claimed a trio of top-five finishes at Illinois in the 100 free, 200 free and 100 fly to wrap up dual season.
At the Big Ten Championships, Padron swam in a trio of individual freestyle events with her top finish coming from the 200 freestyle, where she finished 45th with a 1:51.71.
Before Nebraska
Padron competed at the Tokyo Olympic in the 200 free, racing to a career-best 2:04.56. A Costa Rican National Team member since 2015, Padron was a semifinalist at the FINA World Junior Championships in Budapest, Hungary, in August of 2019. She raced to a career-best 58.27 in the 100-meter free, before adding a then-career-best 2:06.55 in the 200 at Budapest. Padron also posted a career-best time of 1:06.62 in the 100-meter backstroke in Hungary.
Padron swam to a career-best 26.52 in the 50-meter free at the FINA World Short-Course Championships in Hangzhou, China, in December of 2018. She also added career-best times in the 50 butterfly (27.75) and the 100 fly (1:02.15) in China. A semifinalist at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina in October of 2018, Padron swam a long-course career-best time of 1:01.99 in the 100-meter butterfly.
Padron also competed for the Costa Rican National Team at CCCAN in 2015 and 2017, CAMEX in 2016, the Central American Games in 2017, Junior World Championships in 2017 and and the Central American and Caribbean Games in 2018. She was named the Best Female Athlete in Swimming at Costa Rica’s National Age Group Games in 2017. She swam for Coach Pablo Camacho and the Belen Swimming Association, which has been the top
Personal
The daughter of Adolfo Padron and Carolina Salazar, Maria Beatriz (Bea) Padron Salazar was born on April 5, 2003, in San Jose, Costa Rica. She has one younger sister, Mariana. Beatriz is majoring in biological systems engineering and earned spots on the Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll in the fall and spring semesters of 2021-22. She was also a member of the 2022 Tom Osborne Citizenship Team.
“I chose Nebraska because Coach Pablo (Morales) and Coach Patrick (Rowan) were very consistent and supportive of me throughout the recruiting process,” Padron said. “Both of them, along with the girls of the team, made me feel like I was in the right place. Also, the support and the atmosphere that UNL provides to students for their development, both as athletes and as people, left me amazed. It really was the best place I could think of to reach my swimming and academic goals.”
Career-Best Times
| Event | Time | Meet (Date) |
| 100 Fly | 56.19 | Mizzou Invite (2021) |
| 50 Free | 23.87 | Mizzou Invite (2021) |
| 100 Free | 51.15 | Big Ten Championships (2022) |
| 200 Free | 1:51.71 | Big Ten Championships (2022) |
| 500 Free | 5:02.34 | Mizzou Invite (2021) |