After another successful season, the FGCU men's basketball prepares for their opening season game against Illinois State University. Although the schedule is not fully complete.
Last season, the Eagles were 26-8 overall with a 12-2 record in the A-SUN. There they claimed the season and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. In the conference tournament, FGCU ousted No. 8 Stetson in the quarterfinals, beat No. 5 Kennesaw State in the semifinals and beat UNF in the finals to secure an automatic bid in the national tournament before falling to Florida State in the first round.
I was at that game in Orlando and it was upsetting, but it was an experience I never had done before until that day.
With a new season, it also means a new team is in line. FGCU lost six players: Marc-Eddy Norelia, Demetris Morant, Kevin Mickle, Reggie Reid, Rayjon Tucker, C.J. Williamson and Maxx Bleecher.
Norelia, Morant and Mickle have graduated from FGCU, but Mickle will be transferring to Ohio with one year of eligibility.
Reid has transferred to NCAA DII Texas A&M-Commerce.
Tucker has transferred to the University of Arkansas-Little Rock.
Williamson was dismissed from the team due to disciplinary actions and transferred to NJCAA Chipola College.
Bleecher left the team for personal reasons.
With seven players gone, head coach Joe Dooley was thankful to have returning players, redshirt senior Brandon Goodwin, redshirt junior Zach Johnson and senior Christian lead the charge.
In addition, redshirt junior Ricky Doyle will get to play this season after sitting out last season due to the NCAA transfer rule after transferring from the University of Michigan.
Other transfers that joined include junior Michael Gilmore (Miami/VCU), redshirt sophomore Brady Ernst (Iowa State/Indian Hills Community College), junior Dinero Mercurius (Daytona State College/UTRGV/USF), sophomore Kyle Hoffman (Ottawa University (Kansas)) and redshirt sophomore Troy Baxter Jr. (UNLV).
Gilmore, a native of Jacksonville, will play this season after transferring from Miami via VCU, but will sit out a duration of the season, but will be eligible in December 2017 and play the full 2018-19 season.
Ernst, a native of Clinton, Iowa, comes to FGCU as a double transfer. Starting at Iowa State, he played only six games before transferring to Indian Hills Community College NJCAA Region XI/ICCAC. Ernst will have three years of eligibility remaining starting this season.
Mercurius, an native of Orlando, comes to FGCU as a triple transfer. Yes I said it: a triple transfer. Mercurius comes to FGCU with two years of eligibility after transferring from Daytona State College of NJCAA Region VIII/FCSAA via USF and Texas-Rio Grand Valley (UTRGV).
Hoffman, a native of Lawrence, Kansas, comes from Ottawa University in Kansas, an Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference private school from the NAIA. He is one of the two new walk-ons for FGCU despite being a transfer..
Baxter, a Tallahassee native, transferred from University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV). He will sit out the whole season due to the NCAA transfer rules, but will have three years of eligibility remaining as a redshirt sophomore starting in the 2018-19 season.
From the true freshman class, Darnell Rogers and Brian Thomas join the team along with walk-on freshman Ryan Rocuant.
Rogers, a Baltimore native, is legitimately the shortest player on the team at 5'3, but his speed is truly legit, leading Shiloh High School as the all-time leading scorer with 1,776 points for his senior year.
Thomas, a 6'9" forward from Kell, Georgia, was tabbed as the 16th-best player in the entire talent-laden state of Georgia.
The 6'10" Rocuant, as noted, is one of the two new walk-on players, and is a local from Estero High School and can add a good amount of height to the team.
Scouting Illinois State:
The Illinois State Redbirds had a successful season as well. The Redbirds went 28-7 overall with a 17-1 record in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC), and claimed the No. 1 seed in the tournament as well as the regular season title. There they beat Evansville 80-69 in the quarterfinals, in state conference rival Southern Illinois 63-50 in the semifinals before falling in the conference championship finals to Wichita State, the No. 2 seeded and then No. 21/22 team in the nation by a score of 71-51.
Although they did not make it to the national tournament, the Redbirds did get an invite to play in the NIT championship. They won in the first round beating UC Irvine 85-71 in the first round before falling to UCF in the second round by a score of 62-63 and were eliminated from postseason play.
The Redbirds did lose Deontae Hawkins and Paris Lee. Hawkins (14 ppg) and Lee (13 ppg) were the top leading scorers on the team.
Hawkins was a member of the All-Missouri Valley Conference Second Team, Missouri Valley Conference Most-Improved Team and All-National Association of Basketball Coaches District 16 Second Team.
Lee was AP All-America Honorable Mention, Missouri Valley Conference Larry Bird Player of the Year, Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year and was members of the All-Missouri Valley Conference First Team, Missouri Valley Conference All-Defensive Team, Missouri Valley Conference All-Tournament Team and All-National Association of Basketball Coaches District 16 First Team.
The Redbirds top returning player is Phil Fayne.
Fayne started 34 of his 35 games played and scored 9.1 points per game, but led the team in blocks (40).
This is the first time FGCU and Illinois State will meet, so it will be a battle of the birds.
The game will start on November 11th at 1 pm. The reason the game is starting in the afternoon rather than at night is because on that day, the volleyball team plays on the same day against Kennesaw State in their final conference home game at 6 pm.
Here is a couple of interesting facts:
1. Since being a DI team, FGCU is 8-2 in home opening season games.
2. FGCU is 8-21 against teams from the midwest (Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa).
FGCU will face three teams from the midwest: Illinois State, Bowling Green and Wichita State.
I'm looking forward to this first game of the season.
About Me
FGCU Women's Soccer: Schedule Released
After the schedules released by the volleyball and men's soccer team, the FGCU women's soccer team released their schedule too.
The Eagles last season went 14-5-1 overall with a 6-0-1 record in the A-SUN. They were the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. After a first round bye, FGCU faced No. 4 Kennesaw, winning 2-1 in the semifinals before beating No. 2 Lipscomb 2-0 in a championship rematch and claiming another automatic bid in the national tournament before falling to Florida in the first round.
The 2017 schedule is comprised of three NCAA Tournament teams from 2016, including a national quarterfinalist, six RPI Top 100 teams and seven programs that broke the 10-win mark last year.
Of course, FGCU will lose players like Paulina Speckmaier and Tabby Tindell as they graduated, but will gain newcomers joining us like sophomores Marjorie Boilesen from UWF and Petra Smetkova from Arkansas and freshman Natalie Schaps.
Teams FGCU faced in the past in non-conference play include Kent State, Liberty, Arizona, UCF and FIU.
FGCU will play South Carolina and Georgia Southern to open the season.
The Gamecocks were 21-2-1 overall with a 11-0 record in the SEC last season and at the time were ranked No. 3 in the nation.
Although they beat Texas A&M in the SEC tournament semifinals, they lost to Florida in finals, but were able to qualify for the national tournament as an at-large bid. They beat Alabama St. 7-0 in the first round, Colorado 1-0 in the second round and Brigham Young (BYU) in the sweet sixteen before falling 1-0 to UNC in the Elite Eight. Currently, South Carolina is ranked No. 5 in the nation after their Elite Eight loss.
Georgia Southern was 6-10-1 overall with a 3-7 record in the Sun Belt Conference. This will be the first time the teams will play each other, so you could say it's the "Battle of the Eagles".
The last time FGCU and South Carolina faced each other was in 2014. The Gamecocks won 2-0.
Kent State was 15-3-2 overall with a 8-1-2 record in the MAC Conference. They won the conference tournament and automatically advanced to the national tournament before falling to Northwestern in the first round.
FGCU and Kent State have faced off in 2010 with the Golden Flashes emerging victorious 2-1.
Liberty University was 14-8 overall with a 7-2 record in the Big South Conference. They won the conference tournament before falling to UNC in the first round.
This will be the second time FGCU and Liberty will face each other. The first time, FGCU beat the Flames 1-0 last season.
The Arizona Wildcats were 9-9-1 overall with a 4-7 record in the Pac-12 Conference. They did not make the national tournament and there was no conference tournament for women's soccer in the Pac-12.
Last time the Eagles and the Wildcats met, FGCU won 2-0 in 2014.
FIU and UCF have played FGCU for numerous seasons. Overall FGCU is 8-1-1 overall against FIU, but have yet to beat UCF (0-4-2).
FIU was 3-11-3 overall with a 2-6-2 record in Conference USA while UCF was 9-8-2 overall with a 4-4-1 record in the AAC. FIU failed to qualify for their conference tournament while UCF fell to Southern Methodist (SMU) in the first round.
Teams that FGCU will play for the first time in program history include Valpariso, Eastern Michigan (EMU), Arizona State, and Webber International (NAIA).
Valpariso was 9-10 overall with a 5-4 record in the Horizon League. The Crusaders would fall to Oakland in the first round of the conference tournament.
Eastern Michigan was 6-10-4 overall with a 4-5-2 record in the MAC Conference. They fell to Kent State in the quarterfinals.
The Arizona State Sun Devils were 6-11-2 overall with a 1-9-1 record in the PAC 12 Conference. Like their in-state conference rival, Arizona, they did not make it to the national tournament.
The only team I would never think FGCU would play in their entire life would be Webber International. I'm curious to know why we are playing them in the first place, let alone why are we playing a team that is from the NAIA?
Webber was 3-9-1 overall with a 2-7-1 record in the NAIA's Sun Conference.
After their first four season games with GSU and South Carolina, Valpariso and EMU, FGCU opens their home part of the season with Kent State and Liberty.
After the game against Webber, FGCU will start conference on the road at Stetson (Sept. 23rd) before playing two games against Lipscomb (Sept. 29th) and Kennesaw (Oct. 1st).
The Eagles will be on the road playing NJIT, USC Upstate and JU before playing a non-conference home game against FIU and wrapping up conference at home against UNF. The game against UNF would assumingly be senior night for seven seniors: Lauren Greene, Paige Law, Nikki Hudson, Kiana Rugar, Ashley Parks, Meghan Mulligan, Elyse Hansen and Varin Ness.
Rugar (Albany) and Ness (NCAA DII Carson-Newman) are the only senior transfers for FGCU, although Rugar is a grad student.
Although listed as a redshirt junior, Hansen will be walking with the other seniors.
Nevertheless, this season is gonna be something for the FGCU women's soccer team.
The Eagles last season went 14-5-1 overall with a 6-0-1 record in the A-SUN. They were the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. After a first round bye, FGCU faced No. 4 Kennesaw, winning 2-1 in the semifinals before beating No. 2 Lipscomb 2-0 in a championship rematch and claiming another automatic bid in the national tournament before falling to Florida in the first round.
The 2017 schedule is comprised of three NCAA Tournament teams from 2016, including a national quarterfinalist, six RPI Top 100 teams and seven programs that broke the 10-win mark last year.
Of course, FGCU will lose players like Paulina Speckmaier and Tabby Tindell as they graduated, but will gain newcomers joining us like sophomores Marjorie Boilesen from UWF and Petra Smetkova from Arkansas and freshman Natalie Schaps.
Teams FGCU faced in the past in non-conference play include Kent State, Liberty, Arizona, UCF and FIU.
FGCU will play South Carolina and Georgia Southern to open the season.
The Gamecocks were 21-2-1 overall with a 11-0 record in the SEC last season and at the time were ranked No. 3 in the nation.
Although they beat Texas A&M in the SEC tournament semifinals, they lost to Florida in finals, but were able to qualify for the national tournament as an at-large bid. They beat Alabama St. 7-0 in the first round, Colorado 1-0 in the second round and Brigham Young (BYU) in the sweet sixteen before falling 1-0 to UNC in the Elite Eight. Currently, South Carolina is ranked No. 5 in the nation after their Elite Eight loss.
Georgia Southern was 6-10-1 overall with a 3-7 record in the Sun Belt Conference. This will be the first time the teams will play each other, so you could say it's the "Battle of the Eagles".
The last time FGCU and South Carolina faced each other was in 2014. The Gamecocks won 2-0.
Kent State was 15-3-2 overall with a 8-1-2 record in the MAC Conference. They won the conference tournament and automatically advanced to the national tournament before falling to Northwestern in the first round.
FGCU and Kent State have faced off in 2010 with the Golden Flashes emerging victorious 2-1.
Liberty University was 14-8 overall with a 7-2 record in the Big South Conference. They won the conference tournament before falling to UNC in the first round.
This will be the second time FGCU and Liberty will face each other. The first time, FGCU beat the Flames 1-0 last season.
The Arizona Wildcats were 9-9-1 overall with a 4-7 record in the Pac-12 Conference. They did not make the national tournament and there was no conference tournament for women's soccer in the Pac-12.
Last time the Eagles and the Wildcats met, FGCU won 2-0 in 2014.
FIU and UCF have played FGCU for numerous seasons. Overall FGCU is 8-1-1 overall against FIU, but have yet to beat UCF (0-4-2).
FIU was 3-11-3 overall with a 2-6-2 record in Conference USA while UCF was 9-8-2 overall with a 4-4-1 record in the AAC. FIU failed to qualify for their conference tournament while UCF fell to Southern Methodist (SMU) in the first round.
Teams that FGCU will play for the first time in program history include Valpariso, Eastern Michigan (EMU), Arizona State, and Webber International (NAIA).
Eastern Michigan was 6-10-4 overall with a 4-5-2 record in the MAC Conference. They fell to Kent State in the quarterfinals.
The Arizona State Sun Devils were 6-11-2 overall with a 1-9-1 record in the PAC 12 Conference. Like their in-state conference rival, Arizona, they did not make it to the national tournament.
The only team I would never think FGCU would play in their entire life would be Webber International. I'm curious to know why we are playing them in the first place, let alone why are we playing a team that is from the NAIA?
Webber was 3-9-1 overall with a 2-7-1 record in the NAIA's Sun Conference.
After their first four season games with GSU and South Carolina, Valpariso and EMU, FGCU opens their home part of the season with Kent State and Liberty.
After the game against Webber, FGCU will start conference on the road at Stetson (Sept. 23rd) before playing two games against Lipscomb (Sept. 29th) and Kennesaw (Oct. 1st).
The Eagles will be on the road playing NJIT, USC Upstate and JU before playing a non-conference home game against FIU and wrapping up conference at home against UNF. The game against UNF would assumingly be senior night for seven seniors: Lauren Greene, Paige Law, Nikki Hudson, Kiana Rugar, Ashley Parks, Meghan Mulligan, Elyse Hansen and Varin Ness.
Rugar (Albany) and Ness (NCAA DII Carson-Newman) are the only senior transfers for FGCU, although Rugar is a grad student.
Although listed as a redshirt junior, Hansen will be walking with the other seniors.
Nevertheless, this season is gonna be something for the FGCU women's soccer team.
FGCU Men's Soccer: Schedule Released
With the FGCU volleyball team releasing their schedule first, I just found out that the FGCU men's soccer team released their schedule and this year is gonna be the toughest that I have ever came encounter in seeing.
FGCU is ranked No. 20 in the nation in men's soccer as of the end of last season going 14-4-3 overall with a 4-1-1 record in conference. After winning the conference championship and an automatic bid in the national tournament last season, they beat USF in the first round by penalty kicks before falling to UNC in double OT.
The Eagles did lose three players as seniors: goalkeeper Jack Blatchford III, defender Santiago "Santi" Ortiz and midfielder Justin Gavin. Blatchford was a graduate student from Bentley University.
With head coach Bob Butehorn parting ways after 10 seasons and now becoming head coach for USF, FGCU will be led by Jessie Cormier. Cormier enters his first season as head and his resume speaks loudly about him.
Prior to FGCU, Cormier was head coach for the University of Vermont for seven years.
Key returners for FGCU include senior forward Albert Ruiz. Ruiz was one of the best players not just for FGCU and the A-SUN Conference, but also in the nation. A native of Barcelona, Spain, Ruiz's resume with FGCU speaks for itself. Ruiz was a A-SUN Player of the Year, two-time A-SUN All-Tournament Team member, A-Sun All-Tournament Team MVP and two time A-SUN Conference First team member.
During last season, Ruiz extended further than that. His 22 goals were not only lead as the most for FGCU and the A-SUN, but in the nation too. As a result of his success, Ruiz was also named a NSCAA All-Southeast Region First Team memeber, NSCAA First Team All-American and one of three finalists for the MAC Hermann Trophy. Ruiz will be one of nine seniors playing their last season.
This year, FGCU will play teams I have never seen us face or that haven't faced in a long time or not at all: The University of Omaha, Air Force, VCU, Vermont, Central Connecticut State, Loyola Marymount and the University of Denver.
FGCU has faced VCU and Loyola Marymount in the past. They split the overall series with VCU (2010: W 2-1 (2OT) and 2012: L 1-2) and lost to LMU 1-2 last season, but they have never played Omaha, AF, Vermont, CCS, or Denver.
The first team FGCU will play to start the season off is against the University of Denver, who was also ranked as the No. 3 team in the nation. The Pioneers were 19-1-3 overall with a 4-0-1 record in the Summit League. They won their conference tournament and an automatic bid in the national tournament. Although even if they lost in the championship, they could still get an at-large bid for their RPI rank. The Pioneers received a first round bye and won against UNLV in the second round (3-0), won against No. 12 Washington in the round of 16 (2-1) and beat No. 5 Clemson in the quarterfinals (1-0) before falling to No. 2 Wake Forest in the semifinals (1-2).
FGCU will be meeting Air Force for the first time in program history. The Falcons last season went 14-7-1 with a 6-3-1 record in the Mountain West Conference (MWC). They made it to the conference championship game, but ultimately fall to UNLV and did not qualify for the national tournament.
The University of Omaha went 10-5-4 overall with 5-0-1 record in the Summit League. They made it to the conference semifinals before falling to eventual winner Denver.
Of all of the teams FGCU will face, Vermont will likely be an awkward home coming for Cormier since FGCU will face the Catamounts and Vermont is Cormier's alma mater. The Catamounts went 14-7-1 overall last season with a 4-3 record in the America East Conference. Although they lost in the conference tournament finals, they still qualified for the national tournament due to a high RPI rank. They beat Rider University 4-1 in the first round before falling to Virginia 2-1 in double overtime in the second round.
Central Connecticut State University would be more of the easiest non-conference team to face. Last season, the Blue Devils went 2-12-3 overall with a 1-5-1 record in the Northeast Conference. They did not qualify for the conference tournament or national tournament.
FGCU opens the first four games of their season on the road. They will start in Colorado from August 25-27 where they will play No. 3 Denver in Denver and Air Force in Colorado Springs before finishing their first road trip heading to Burlington, Vermont to take on Vermont and CCS in the Peter Baldwin Memorial Classic from September 1st- September 3rd.
FGCU will have their home opener against VCU on Sunday, September 10th. They will then have two more non-conference home games against Loyola Marymount and UCF before conference.
The first conference game for FGCU will be against JU on September 23rd before going to UNF on September 30th.
There will be four more non-conference while conference is going on: Omaha (October 3rd), FIU (October 10th), @USF (October 24th) and FAU (October 31st). After the home game against Omaha, FGCU will play Lipscomb on October 7th at and have two away games against Stetson on October 14th and Upstate on October 21st, before concluding conference with a game at home against NJIT, which would also be senior night for the nine seniors.
Aside from Ruiz, the other eight seniors that will be playing their last season are defender Elias Roubos, defender Nicolas "Nico" Samayoa, midfielder Jiro Barigga Toyama, midfielder Robert Ferrer, midfielder Dylan Sacramento, midfielder Miguel Jaime, defender Caleb George and midfielder Kamar Marriott.
Also redshirt freshman players, defender T.C. Anderson and goalkeeper Gustavo Vasconcelos will make their season debuts.
Defender Thomas Delplace will also be returning after suffering a broken leg that ended his season.
With Cormier make his season debut with FGCU, the Eagles will be dominant.
Below are some pics with some of the soccer players from last season:
FGCU is ranked No. 20 in the nation in men's soccer as of the end of last season going 14-4-3 overall with a 4-1-1 record in conference. After winning the conference championship and an automatic bid in the national tournament last season, they beat USF in the first round by penalty kicks before falling to UNC in double OT.
The Eagles did lose three players as seniors: goalkeeper Jack Blatchford III, defender Santiago "Santi" Ortiz and midfielder Justin Gavin. Blatchford was a graduate student from Bentley University.
With head coach Bob Butehorn parting ways after 10 seasons and now becoming head coach for USF, FGCU will be led by Jessie Cormier. Cormier enters his first season as head and his resume speaks loudly about him.
Prior to FGCU, Cormier was head coach for the University of Vermont for seven years.
Key returners for FGCU include senior forward Albert Ruiz. Ruiz was one of the best players not just for FGCU and the A-SUN Conference, but also in the nation. A native of Barcelona, Spain, Ruiz's resume with FGCU speaks for itself. Ruiz was a A-SUN Player of the Year, two-time A-SUN All-Tournament Team member, A-Sun All-Tournament Team MVP and two time A-SUN Conference First team member.
During last season, Ruiz extended further than that. His 22 goals were not only lead as the most for FGCU and the A-SUN, but in the nation too. As a result of his success, Ruiz was also named a NSCAA All-Southeast Region First Team memeber, NSCAA First Team All-American and one of three finalists for the MAC Hermann Trophy. Ruiz will be one of nine seniors playing their last season.
This year, FGCU will play teams I have never seen us face or that haven't faced in a long time or not at all: The University of Omaha, Air Force, VCU, Vermont, Central Connecticut State, Loyola Marymount and the University of Denver.
FGCU has faced VCU and Loyola Marymount in the past. They split the overall series with VCU (2010: W 2-1 (2OT) and 2012: L 1-2) and lost to LMU 1-2 last season, but they have never played Omaha, AF, Vermont, CCS, or Denver.
The first team FGCU will play to start the season off is against the University of Denver, who was also ranked as the No. 3 team in the nation. The Pioneers were 19-1-3 overall with a 4-0-1 record in the Summit League. They won their conference tournament and an automatic bid in the national tournament. Although even if they lost in the championship, they could still get an at-large bid for their RPI rank. The Pioneers received a first round bye and won against UNLV in the second round (3-0), won against No. 12 Washington in the round of 16 (2-1) and beat No. 5 Clemson in the quarterfinals (1-0) before falling to No. 2 Wake Forest in the semifinals (1-2).
FGCU will be meeting Air Force for the first time in program history. The Falcons last season went 14-7-1 with a 6-3-1 record in the Mountain West Conference (MWC). They made it to the conference championship game, but ultimately fall to UNLV and did not qualify for the national tournament.
The University of Omaha went 10-5-4 overall with 5-0-1 record in the Summit League. They made it to the conference semifinals before falling to eventual winner Denver.
Of all of the teams FGCU will face, Vermont will likely be an awkward home coming for Cormier since FGCU will face the Catamounts and Vermont is Cormier's alma mater. The Catamounts went 14-7-1 overall last season with a 4-3 record in the America East Conference. Although they lost in the conference tournament finals, they still qualified for the national tournament due to a high RPI rank. They beat Rider University 4-1 in the first round before falling to Virginia 2-1 in double overtime in the second round.
Central Connecticut State University would be more of the easiest non-conference team to face. Last season, the Blue Devils went 2-12-3 overall with a 1-5-1 record in the Northeast Conference. They did not qualify for the conference tournament or national tournament.
FGCU opens the first four games of their season on the road. They will start in Colorado from August 25-27 where they will play No. 3 Denver in Denver and Air Force in Colorado Springs before finishing their first road trip heading to Burlington, Vermont to take on Vermont and CCS in the Peter Baldwin Memorial Classic from September 1st- September 3rd.
FGCU will have their home opener against VCU on Sunday, September 10th. They will then have two more non-conference home games against Loyola Marymount and UCF before conference.
The first conference game for FGCU will be against JU on September 23rd before going to UNF on September 30th.
There will be four more non-conference while conference is going on: Omaha (October 3rd), FIU (October 10th), @USF (October 24th) and FAU (October 31st). After the home game against Omaha, FGCU will play Lipscomb on October 7th at and have two away games against Stetson on October 14th and Upstate on October 21st, before concluding conference with a game at home against NJIT, which would also be senior night for the nine seniors.
Aside from Ruiz, the other eight seniors that will be playing their last season are defender Elias Roubos, defender Nicolas "Nico" Samayoa, midfielder Jiro Barigga Toyama, midfielder Robert Ferrer, midfielder Dylan Sacramento, midfielder Miguel Jaime, defender Caleb George and midfielder Kamar Marriott.
Also redshirt freshman players, defender T.C. Anderson and goalkeeper Gustavo Vasconcelos will make their season debuts.
Defender Thomas Delplace will also be returning after suffering a broken leg that ended his season.
With Cormier make his season debut with FGCU, the Eagles will be dominant.
Below are some pics with some of the soccer players from last season:
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| With Albert Ruiz |
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| With Miguel Jaime |
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| With Thomas Delplace |
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| With Albert Ruiz |
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| From left to right: Fernanado Ramirez, Gustavo Vasconcelos, Santiago Ortiz, Robert Ferrer and Nico Samayoa |
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| With Shak Adams, Dante Longo, Jared Brown and tennis player Ezequiel Cerrini |
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| With Kamar Marriott |
FGCU Volleyball: Season Opener Preview
Before the new school year starts, the FGCU volleyball prepares themselves for their opening matches at home against Florida International University (FIU), Georgia Southern and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in the FGCU Hilton Garden Inn Invitational.
Last season, FGCU went 27-6 overall with an 11-3 record in conference and made to the conference tournament finals as the No. 3 seed in the tournament. They beat No. 6 JU in the quarterfinals and No. 2 Kennesaw in the semis before falling to No. 1 Lipscomb in the championship for an automatic bid to the national tournament.
During the season, FGCU had the longest winning streak in the nation. Originally, the University of Nebraska had a 28-match winning streak before it was snapped by Big Ten Conference foe Ohio State. FGCU would eventually snap their winning after a 1-3 loss to Kennesaw.
The Eagles are led by Matt Botsford, who enter his fourth season as head coach for the Eagles. With Botsford as head coach since 2014, FGCU has been 67-28 overall and 32-10 in conference.
Botsford has coached some of the greatest volleyball players at FGCU including former libero Vanessa Benke and outside hitter Ella Kazarian. A former volleyball player and graduate from NCAA DIII's Tri-State University (now known as Trine University), Botsford has plenty of coaching experience from his alma mater as well as Notre Dame, Colorado State, University of Miami, IUPUI and University of Indianapolis as well as being an assistant coach for the 2007 USA Select Program for the U.S. National Team where they won a bronze medal in the HP Global Championships and was head coach for the USA Silver team.
Botsford is also joined by assistant coaches Kim Maroon and Daniel Mahy.
Maroon, a former volleyball in her own right from Villanova, still holds the record for most digs per set in a single season (6.87 digs per set) and was recently named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) "Thirty Under 30" list. A former NCAA All-American, Big East Libero of the Year and three time All-Big East selection, Maroon enters her third season as an assistant coach for FGCU with plenty of coaching experience from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Mahy has been a coach with FGCU since 2004, with the exception of coaching two years for NCAA DII Barry University in 2007-09 before returning to FGCU. Mahy enters his 13th season with FGCU.
FGCU will lose five players: outside hitter Leigh Pudwill, defensive specialist Caroline Jordan, middle blocker Marlene Moeller and setter Marina Adami have graduated.
Sophomore outside Bailey Johnson has transferred to NCAA DII San Francisco State.
They did, however, sign four newcomers that will be making their debuts: freshman outside hitter Courtney VanLiew, freshman outsider hiter/opposite hitter/setter Snowy Burnamn, freshman outside hitter Alana Ryan and junior college transfer middle blocker Sharonda Pickering.
Key returners for FGCU include junior outside hitter Amanda Carroll, junior setter Maggie Rick and senior libero Courtney Stephens.
Carroll, a native of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was a A-Sun First Team All-Conference selection and a member of the A-Sun All-Academic Team. She set a program record with 485 total kills and had 39 service aces and 293 digs.
Rick, a native of Alpharetta, Georgia, was named A-Sun Setter of the Year, A-Sun First Team All-Conference selection and a member of the A-Sun All-Academic Team last season after she had 1,260 assists and averaged a conference-leading 10.59 assists per set.
A native of Winter Park, Florida, Stephens is the only senior on the team. Last season, Stephens had 388 digs with 3.37 digs per set.
Also returning to the court is outside hitter Ciara DeBell. DeBell will be listed as a redshirt freshman after suffering a serious knee injury in a match against Indiana. DeBell will still have all four years of eligibility.
Scouting the Panthers:
FIU, last season, went 9-19 overall with a 3-11 record in Conference USA. They failed to make it to the postseason. The Panthers are led by Rita Buck-Crockett. Buck-Crockett enters her fourth season as head coach.
FIU will lose five players: right side/outside hitter Katie Hogan, middle blocker Stephanie Harris, defensive specialist/outside hitter Jade Faucette and defensive specialist/libero Maria McLamb. They did sign five newcomers.
Key returners for the Panthers include senior right side hitter Taija Thomas, senior setter Mariana De Paula Silva and redshirt sophomore libero Lina Bernier.
Thomas, a native of Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, was second in kills (221) and points (254.5) behind then player Katie Hogan last season. She was a member of the Maroon Classic All-Tournament Team.
De Paula Silva, a native of São José dos Campos, Brazil and transfer from Pratt Community College, led the team with 721 assists and 25 aces last season.
Bernier, a San Juan, Puerto Rico native, led the team in digs (257) last season.
Series History:
In all 11 matchups between FGCU and FIU, FGCU leads the series 6-5, and the last time FGCU and FIU played each other was last season. FGCU came out on top 3-1. Both FGCU and FIU will play each other twice this season both on their home territories.
Scouting GSU:
Georgia Southern was 15-18 overall last season with a 7-9 record in the Sun Belt Conference. GSU fell to Costal Carolina in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. GSU is led by Dustin Wood, who enters his sixth season as head coach.
GSU will lose redshirt seniors setter Katie Bange and defensive specialist Alex Beecher, but have signed nine newcomers for the team (8 from high school and one transfer from UTEP).
Returning key players for GSU include upcoming senior Cathrine Murray and juniors Kendra Koetter and Lauren Reichard.
Murray, an outside hitter, was second behind Bange team in kills (277) and The native of San Diego is one of four Eagles that had at least 20 service aces (23).
Koetter, a setter from Marietta, Georgia, led the team in assists (626).
Reichard, the middle blocker from Wrightsville, Pennsylvania, led the team in total blocks (136) and was third behind Benge in kills (266).
Series History:
This is the second time FGCU and GSU faced each other since FGCU joined DI. FGCU beat GSU 3-2 during the 2015 season. You could say it would be a battle of the eagles because we're eagles and so is GSU.
Honestly, I'm not looking forward to us playing GSU not because of the competition, but because the Dirty Birds can't say "Let's Go Eagles" and it's a problem because, as I mentioned, GSU's mascot is also the Eagles and this is not the first time I've come encounter with this "problem".
Scouting the Jaguars:
IUPUI was 12-20 overall with a 8-8 record in the Summit League. They made it to the quarterfinals, but fell to North Dakota State.
The Jaguars are led by head coach Steve Payne. Payne enters into his 21st season as IUPUI's head coach.
IUPUI will lose setter Alexis Mapes and middle blocker Logan Walling, but signed four upcoming freshman and one transfer from the University of Indiana.
For the Jaguars, returning players to keep eyes out for are seniors Kori Waelbroeck, Gabby Fisher and Jessica Helms and sophomore Abby Boatman.
Waelbroeck, an opposite hitter, led the team in kills (389), and the Evansville, Indiana native was selected as an Academic All-Summit League honoree, named to the Shocker Volleyball Classic All-Tournament team and earned All-Summit League honors.
Fisher, an outside hitter, finished second to Waelbroeck in kills (354) and led the team in service aces (33). The Martinsville, Indiana native was named to the IUPUI Hampton Inn Invitational All-Tournament team and the Summit League All-Tournament Team.
As a defensive specialist, Helms led the team in digs (414) and was third in service aces (21). The Muncie, Indiana native was named to the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational All-Tournament team
Boatman, a middle blocker from Bloomington, Indiana, led the team in blocks (111) to go with her 185 kills.
Series History:
The last time FGCU and IUPUI met was in 2013. The Jaguars won the matchup 3-0.
Last season, FGCU went 27-6 overall with an 11-3 record in conference and made to the conference tournament finals as the No. 3 seed in the tournament. They beat No. 6 JU in the quarterfinals and No. 2 Kennesaw in the semis before falling to No. 1 Lipscomb in the championship for an automatic bid to the national tournament.
During the season, FGCU had the longest winning streak in the nation. Originally, the University of Nebraska had a 28-match winning streak before it was snapped by Big Ten Conference foe Ohio State. FGCU would eventually snap their winning after a 1-3 loss to Kennesaw.
The Eagles are led by Matt Botsford, who enter his fourth season as head coach for the Eagles. With Botsford as head coach since 2014, FGCU has been 67-28 overall and 32-10 in conference.
Botsford has coached some of the greatest volleyball players at FGCU including former libero Vanessa Benke and outside hitter Ella Kazarian. A former volleyball player and graduate from NCAA DIII's Tri-State University (now known as Trine University), Botsford has plenty of coaching experience from his alma mater as well as Notre Dame, Colorado State, University of Miami, IUPUI and University of Indianapolis as well as being an assistant coach for the 2007 USA Select Program for the U.S. National Team where they won a bronze medal in the HP Global Championships and was head coach for the USA Silver team.
Botsford is also joined by assistant coaches Kim Maroon and Daniel Mahy.
Maroon, a former volleyball in her own right from Villanova, still holds the record for most digs per set in a single season (6.87 digs per set) and was recently named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) "Thirty Under 30" list. A former NCAA All-American, Big East Libero of the Year and three time All-Big East selection, Maroon enters her third season as an assistant coach for FGCU with plenty of coaching experience from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Mahy has been a coach with FGCU since 2004, with the exception of coaching two years for NCAA DII Barry University in 2007-09 before returning to FGCU. Mahy enters his 13th season with FGCU.
FGCU will lose five players: outside hitter Leigh Pudwill, defensive specialist Caroline Jordan, middle blocker Marlene Moeller and setter Marina Adami have graduated.
Sophomore outside Bailey Johnson has transferred to NCAA DII San Francisco State.
They did, however, sign four newcomers that will be making their debuts: freshman outside hitter Courtney VanLiew, freshman outsider hiter/opposite hitter/setter Snowy Burnamn, freshman outside hitter Alana Ryan and junior college transfer middle blocker Sharonda Pickering.
Key returners for FGCU include junior outside hitter Amanda Carroll, junior setter Maggie Rick and senior libero Courtney Stephens.
Carroll, a native of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was a A-Sun First Team All-Conference selection and a member of the A-Sun All-Academic Team. She set a program record with 485 total kills and had 39 service aces and 293 digs.
Rick, a native of Alpharetta, Georgia, was named A-Sun Setter of the Year, A-Sun First Team All-Conference selection and a member of the A-Sun All-Academic Team last season after she had 1,260 assists and averaged a conference-leading 10.59 assists per set.
A native of Winter Park, Florida, Stephens is the only senior on the team. Last season, Stephens had 388 digs with 3.37 digs per set.
Also returning to the court is outside hitter Ciara DeBell. DeBell will be listed as a redshirt freshman after suffering a serious knee injury in a match against Indiana. DeBell will still have all four years of eligibility.
Scouting the Panthers:
FIU, last season, went 9-19 overall with a 3-11 record in Conference USA. They failed to make it to the postseason. The Panthers are led by Rita Buck-Crockett. Buck-Crockett enters her fourth season as head coach.
FIU will lose five players: right side/outside hitter Katie Hogan, middle blocker Stephanie Harris, defensive specialist/outside hitter Jade Faucette and defensive specialist/libero Maria McLamb. They did sign five newcomers.
Key returners for the Panthers include senior right side hitter Taija Thomas, senior setter Mariana De Paula Silva and redshirt sophomore libero Lina Bernier.
Thomas, a native of Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, was second in kills (221) and points (254.5) behind then player Katie Hogan last season. She was a member of the Maroon Classic All-Tournament Team.
De Paula Silva, a native of São José dos Campos, Brazil and transfer from Pratt Community College, led the team with 721 assists and 25 aces last season.
Bernier, a San Juan, Puerto Rico native, led the team in digs (257) last season.
Series History:
In all 11 matchups between FGCU and FIU, FGCU leads the series 6-5, and the last time FGCU and FIU played each other was last season. FGCU came out on top 3-1. Both FGCU and FIU will play each other twice this season both on their home territories.
Scouting GSU:
Georgia Southern was 15-18 overall last season with a 7-9 record in the Sun Belt Conference. GSU fell to Costal Carolina in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. GSU is led by Dustin Wood, who enters his sixth season as head coach.
GSU will lose redshirt seniors setter Katie Bange and defensive specialist Alex Beecher, but have signed nine newcomers for the team (8 from high school and one transfer from UTEP).
Returning key players for GSU include upcoming senior Cathrine Murray and juniors Kendra Koetter and Lauren Reichard.
Murray, an outside hitter, was second behind Bange team in kills (277) and The native of San Diego is one of four Eagles that had at least 20 service aces (23).
Koetter, a setter from Marietta, Georgia, led the team in assists (626).
Reichard, the middle blocker from Wrightsville, Pennsylvania, led the team in total blocks (136) and was third behind Benge in kills (266).
Series History:
This is the second time FGCU and GSU faced each other since FGCU joined DI. FGCU beat GSU 3-2 during the 2015 season. You could say it would be a battle of the eagles because we're eagles and so is GSU.
Honestly, I'm not looking forward to us playing GSU not because of the competition, but because the Dirty Birds can't say "Let's Go Eagles" and it's a problem because, as I mentioned, GSU's mascot is also the Eagles and this is not the first time I've come encounter with this "problem".
Scouting the Jaguars:
IUPUI was 12-20 overall with a 8-8 record in the Summit League. They made it to the quarterfinals, but fell to North Dakota State.
The Jaguars are led by head coach Steve Payne. Payne enters into his 21st season as IUPUI's head coach.
IUPUI will lose setter Alexis Mapes and middle blocker Logan Walling, but signed four upcoming freshman and one transfer from the University of Indiana.
For the Jaguars, returning players to keep eyes out for are seniors Kori Waelbroeck, Gabby Fisher and Jessica Helms and sophomore Abby Boatman.
Waelbroeck, an opposite hitter, led the team in kills (389), and the Evansville, Indiana native was selected as an Academic All-Summit League honoree, named to the Shocker Volleyball Classic All-Tournament team and earned All-Summit League honors.
Fisher, an outside hitter, finished second to Waelbroeck in kills (354) and led the team in service aces (33). The Martinsville, Indiana native was named to the IUPUI Hampton Inn Invitational All-Tournament team and the Summit League All-Tournament Team.
As a defensive specialist, Helms led the team in digs (414) and was third in service aces (21). The Muncie, Indiana native was named to the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational All-Tournament team
Boatman, a middle blocker from Bloomington, Indiana, led the team in blocks (111) to go with her 185 kills.
Series History:
The last time FGCU and IUPUI met was in 2013. The Jaguars won the matchup 3-0.
One interesting fact for FGCU is they are 8-2 when playing home opening matches.
There will be matchups with the other teams before FGCU as followed:
On August 25th, FIU will play GSU at 10 am. Later, GSU will play IUPUI at 4:30 pm before FGCU plays FIU at 7 pm.
On August 26th, FGCU will play GSU at 11 am. IUPUI and FIU will play at 2 pm before FGCU concludes the invitational with a matchup against IUPUI at 7 pm.
All the matches will be held at the Alico Arena.
It is not confirmed yet on what theme it will be to start the season. It could be a Blue Out, Green Out or White Out. It may be a crazy theme like crazy hats or something like that. One thing I do know is there will be a Pink Out somewhere in October.
Below are some pics from the volleyball teams from the 2015 season and 2016 season:
There will be matchups with the other teams before FGCU as followed:
On August 25th, FIU will play GSU at 10 am. Later, GSU will play IUPUI at 4:30 pm before FGCU plays FIU at 7 pm.
On August 26th, FGCU will play GSU at 11 am. IUPUI and FIU will play at 2 pm before FGCU concludes the invitational with a matchup against IUPUI at 7 pm.
All the matches will be held at the Alico Arena.
It is not confirmed yet on what theme it will be to start the season. It could be a Blue Out, Green Out or White Out. It may be a crazy theme like crazy hats or something like that. One thing I do know is there will be a Pink Out somewhere in October.
Below are some pics from the volleyball teams from the 2015 season and 2016 season:
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| With Bailey Johnson |
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| With Courtney Stephens |
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| With Marina Adami |
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| With Danielle Serrano |
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| With Maggie Rick |
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| With Karissa Rhoades |
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| With Marlene Moeller |
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| With Caroline "CJ" Jordan |
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| With Leigh Pudwill |
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| With Amanda Carroll |
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| From left to right: Vanessa Benke, Marina Adami, Caroline Jordan, Mackenzie Allen and Amanda Carroll |
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| With Karissa Rhoades |
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| With from left to right: Amanda Carroll, Mackenzie Allen, Caroline Jordan, Marlene Moeller, Marina Adami and Vanessa Benke |
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| With Amanda Carroll |
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| With Lauren Tutwiler |
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| With Marina Adami and Vanessa Benke |
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| With Ella Kazarian and Marlene Moeller |
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| With Ciara DeBell |
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| With Kaiti Krivdo |
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| With Morgan Waller |
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| With from left to right: Caroline Jordan, Marlene Moeller and Kaiti Krivdo |
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| With Giovanna Borgiotti |
FGCU Swimming and Diving Bios
Now there are a lot of sports at FGCU that are vaguely seen. One of those sports is swimming and diving. Swimming and diving are in my opinion, the hardest sports to compete in and is always overlooked.
The FGCU women's swimming and diving team have a lot of reputation. In fact, two of the former swimmers, Lani Cabrera and Evita Leter, swam in the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio. Cabrera, representing Barbados, finished 6th in the 400 meter freestyle, but did not qualify for the next round. Leter, representing Suriname, finished fifth in the 100 meter breaststroke, but did not qualify for the next round. Both may not have advanced to the next round, but swimming in the Olympics is just as awesome as winning.
After going 12-3 overall record with a 3-0 record in conference, FGCU headed into the first day of the CCSA Championship in third place, but on the second through fourth day, the Eagles finished in first and qualified for the national tournament. In the national tournament, FGCU finished tied for 41st place overall, which was the third highest placing in program history.
One thing I can tell you about the FGCU swimmers: they're smart cookies and pretty much a lot of them get at least an average between a 3.0-3.7 GPA, and you see how many of the swimmers on the team will have either CCSA All-Academic recognition, CCSA All-Academic honors or be a part of the CCSA All-Academic Team. It's crazy, but awesome at the same time, and I'm, at times, a little jealous of them.
Rollins' experience with swimming reads like an NFL playbook. He was a nine-time All-American and national champion for the University of Arizona from 2002-06, and set four Arizona records and was the fastest American breaststroke swimmer in history, as well as being a two-time Summer Olympics trial qualifier for the Athens and Beijing Olympic games.
Aside from his swimming records, Rollins also brings 10 years of coaching experience from Ohio State. I look forward to see how he helps the team with his experience for his second year.
Joining Rollins to help the divers out is David Boyko. Boyko enters his fifth season as diving coach and knows his way around the boards.
Prior to FGCU, Boyko went to the University of Missouri. There he was a four-year letter winner and holds four spots in the Mizzou record books in one meter and three meter diving events. Boyko has helped produce some of the best divers including Ashley Wright and Mikala Buening.
With Boyko's diving experience, the diving part of the team will no doubt be the best.
Prior to FGCU, Eichenlaub was a four-year swimmer for Bloomsburg University of NCAA DII Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC)-East Region. There he helped guide the Huskies to 23 team records and numerous top-10 all-time marks.
After graduating, he returned to his alma mater as an volunteer assistant before serving as a graduate assistant for the Nova Southeastern Universty of the NCAA DII Sunshine Conference where helped guide the Nova Southeastern men's team to a fourth-place finish at the 2016 NCAA Division II Championships and helped the women's team win the 2015 Sunshine State Conference Championship and finish fourth at the NCAA Division II Championship.
Recently, Eichenlaub had a one-year stint with Miami University (Ohio) of the Mid-American Conference (MAC), where the RedHawk swimmers had eight top-eight finishes and 11 top-16 finishes at the 2017 MAC Championships.
With his experience, Eichenlaub is gonna be a great part of the team
The first of the junior class is Gracie Redding.
Hailing from Orlando, Florida swim freestyle, Redding swims freestyle for the team.
Prior to FGCU, Redding spent her freshman year swimming at Florida State. There, she competed in various meets in 50 free, 100 free, 100 fly, 200 fly, 200 medley, and 200 free relay. At the Southern Methodist Classic, Redding placed 3rd in the 200 medley and 4th in the 200 free relay, placed 3rd in the 100 fly against Louisville, and made finals in 50 and 100 free at the Georgia Invite.
In her sophomore year, Redding transferred to FGCU and turned heads looked towards her.
Teaming with Katie Latham and Hannah Burdge and former teammate, Teijonsalo, she was a member of the conference champion 800 free relay that turned in a season-best time of 7:15.54 and swam a season best 1:51.67 in the 200 freestyle at the Georgia Tech Invite.
During the CCSA Championship, Redding placed 4th in the 100 free at the conference meet with NCAA 'B' cut of 49.99 seconds and finished 3rd in the 50 free with a NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 22.66 seconds, which were both lifetime best swims. She did so well that she earned CCSA All-Conference honors and was named CSCAA All-American. She was also one of five swimmers to represent FGCU in the NCAA Swimming Championship and placed 15th in the nation in the school record breaking 200 free relay (1:28.76).
For Redding, she will make more impact for her junior year.
If you attempt to beat Hannah Burdge, you will be beaten before you hit the water.
Coming from Stuart, Florida, Burdge swims freestyle for the team. Though still young, Burdge does have speed.
In her freshman year, Burdge clocked a personal-best time in the 50 free as she touched the pads in 23.62 seconds at the Georgia Tech Invite, clocked a 3rd place finish and a personal best in the 100 free in a time of 51.33 seconds, 2nd-place finish in the 200 free against Notre Dame. She did so well that she earned CCSA All-Academic honors for her hard work.
Her sophomore year was where she took it to the limit. Burdge finished first in a total of six events and in the top-three in 14 throughout the season. In the CCSA Championship, she won the 200 free with a personal-best time of 1:48.37, finished 2nd in the 100 free with a personal best and NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 49.48 seconds and finished 5th in the 50 free with a NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 22.93 seconds. Burdge's time in the 200 free was the fastest by any FGCU swimmer during the season and ranks 6th in program history. Burdge, along with Latham, Redding and Teijonsalo, was a member of the conference champion free relay teams, where they won the 200 (1:28.77), 400 (3:17.83) and 800 (7:15.54) free relay. Burdge, as a result of her hard work, earned CCSA All-Conference honors, was tabbed as a CSCAA First Team Scholar All-American and named a CSCAA All-American after finishing 15th in the nation in the school record breaking 200 free relay (1:28.76) at the NCAA Swimming Championships.
Burdge, although is still young, will give it all she's got for her junior year.
If you want someone who can represent the Midwest with style, then you're looking at Kiley Eble.
Hailing from Cleveland, Ohio, Eble swims butterfly, backstroke and individual medley. She represents her hometown more stronger than Andrew Miller.
In her freshman year, she competed in various meet in the 100 free, 100 fly, 200 fly and 100 back. She clocked her personal best times in 100 free (53.16), 100 fly (55.56), 100 back (56.30) and 200 fly (2:05.35) in 4 preliminary events at the CCSA Championship and at UNF, she finished 1st in the 100 fly and 100 back in 59.10 seconds and 1:00.50.
In her sophomore year, Eble turned in season-best time of 23.43 seconds in the 50 free at the CCSA Championships, touched the pads in a season best 52.45 seconds in the 100 free at the Georgia Tech Invite, finished 4th in the 100 fly in a lifetime best 54.07 seconds which was good enough for a NCAA ‘B’ cut, placed sixth in the 100 back in a season-best 55.29 seconds, won the 50 free in a time of 24.84 seconds in dual meet against UNC Asheville and placed in the top-three in four other events.
Although she is still young, Kiley is surely gonna bring an edge for the team.
Giving it another go for FGCU is Hannah Wittman.
Hailing from Jupiter, Florida, Wittman swims backstroke and the individual medley and comes with one goal in mind: winning.
Prior to FGCU, Wittman spent her freshman year at Pittsburgh. She competed in various meets and placed majorly in 2nd or 3rd place in the 200 IM, 200 free, 100 back, 400 IM, 200 back and 200 breast against teams like Duke, Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, and West Virginia.
In her sophomore year, Wittman transferred to FGCU and did extremely well. She finished with season-best times in the 200 IM and 200 back at the CCSA Championships by touching the pads in 2:03.46 and 2:02.78, respectively, in which her performance in the 200 back was more than two seconds faster than any other time she competed in the event during the season. She finished 1st in the 100 back and 2nd in the 200 free against conference foe UNF with times of 59.44 seconds and 1:54.00, respectively, helped the Eagles push past FIU with a 3rd place finish in the 200 IM in 2:07.37 and finished runner-up in the 200 free against FAU (1:54.56).
With her experience against big name schools in the ACC, Whitman is gonna be a great force of the team.
One of the swimmers that brings a lot of extra sparks is Christina Kaas Elmgreen.
The native of Charlottenlund, Denmark swims the butterfly and brings a lot of international experience for the team.
Prior to FGCU, Elmgreen competed in various swim meets representing her native country, including the Danish Short Course Championships, where she finished 3rd in 100 meter IM, turned in a personal-best 200-meter butterfly times of 2:12.98 (short course) and 2:15.38 (long course) at nationals, won the Danish National Championship, and the 100 meter IM at the Eastern Championship.
When she started her freshman year at FGCU, she went on a tear. Elmgreen was the conference champion in the 200 fly, runner-up in the 400 IM, had a 3rd place finish in the 200 IM, and clocked NCAA ‘B’ cut times outside of the NCAA Championship cut line. She also set six of the programs top 8 in the 200 fly and holds the second-best time in FGCU history in the 400 IM. Elmgreen was on fire so much that she earned CCSA All-Conference recognition as well as CCSA All-Academic honors for her outstanding year.
In her sophomore year, it was her time to shine. At the CCSA Championship, Kaas Elmgreen placed 2nd in the 200 fly with a time of 1:57.10, recorded a time of 1:56.24 at the CCSA Championship time trial and broke the FGCU and CCSA record while also qualifying for the NCAA Championship meet, was a member of the conference champion 400 medley relay (3:38.16) and turned in a total of 14 NCAA ‘B’ cuts.
Kaas Elmgreen made some historic moments for FGCU too, as she became the fourth consecutive Eagle to take home CCSA Women’s Swimmer of the Year honors. In addition, she was named the Most Outstanding Female Swimmer of the CCSA Championships and earned CCSA All-Conference recognition after winning the conference crown in the 100 fly (53.53 seconds) and 200 IM (1:59.65). Both times in both events were personal records and the fastest on the team during the season and were ranked 4th and 3rd, respectively, in FGCU program history as well as tabbed CSCAA First Team Scholar All-American with a 3.5 GPA or higher and NCAA Championship appearance. Kass-Elmgreen also was one of five FGCU swimmers to go to the national tournament and finished 43rd in the 200 fly with a time of 1:59.04.
For Kaas Elmgreen, she'll add more to the table this season for the team and give it all she's got.
By her appearance, some would say Margot Kessler would be more like a supermodel than a diver, which could be a bit true in a way with the addition of her being a part of FGCU's Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, but say that to the diver from Boca Raton, Florida, she can prove you wrong.
Although she started late in the season in her freshman year, Margot did very well competing in the CCSA Championships finishing she finished 11th in both the 1m and 3m dives with scores of 131.25 and 119.35.
In her sophomore year, Kessler set a personal best in the 3m dive at the CCSA Championship with a score of 179 and turned in a score of 185.85 in the 1m dive at the conference meet.
With her beauty and diving experience, Kessler will taking the diving world by storm.
Joining the team with the speed of lightning is Doris Eichorn.
Hailing from Berlin, Germany, Doris swims backstroke, freestyle, butterfly and the individual medley, and has a swimming resume that can amaze all the Olympic swimmers.
Prior to FGCU, Eichorn swam for the largest public university in Berlin, let alone East Germany, Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft (HTW) Berlin (German: the University of Applied Sciences for Engineering and Economics). Eichorn competed in various international swim meets, including the International Swim Meeting (ISM) in her hometown, where she won a gold medal in the 200 meter butterfly and the Short European Championships she swam in for five years straight.
She joined the team in the spring semester as a sophomore and took the swimming world by storm. She won a total of three events and didn’t finish outside of the top-four. During the CCSA Championship, Eichorn won the 200 back and placed runner-up in the 100 back with times of 53.65 seconds and 1:58.09 in each of the events, which were both good for season bests and NCAA ‘B’ cuts. She was also a member of the conference champion 400 medley relay team that clocked a season-best time of 3:38.16.
As a result of her hard work, Eichorn tabbed CSCAA Honorable Mention Scholar All-American with 3.5 GPA or higher and NCAA 'B' time standard and earned CCSA All-Conference honors from the CCSA Championship.
For Eichorn, she will keep showing the world what she's got.
Nicole Oppel seems more like a laid back kind of swimmer, but the native of LeClaire, Iowa can make you think different. Oppel swims the butterfly for the team.
In her freshman year, Oppel finished 7th in both the 100 fly and 200 fly at the CCSA Championship in personal-best times of 55.42 seconds and 2:00.56. she also recorded a career-best time in the 200 IM of 2:04.20 and finished in a season-best 2nd place in the 200 fly in the dual meet at UNF and 4th in the event against nationally-ranked FSU. As a result, Oppel earned CCSA All-Academic recognition for her hard work.
She did not compete her sophomore, but you can better she will bounce back and give it all she's got.
The second swimmer representing the UK is Linda Shaw.
Hailing from Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, Shaw swims freestyle in all her competitions and beat them in the dust with ease.
Prior to FGCU, Shaw qualified for the British Championships since 2011 and won gold in the 50 meter freestyle at the 2012 UK School Games. she represented Great Britain at the 2013 European Junior Championships in Poland where she won a bronze medal as part of the 4x100 meter freestyle rellayteam and competed in London at the 2012 Olympic Trials, the same year as Latham.
When Shaw arrived to FGCU her freshman year, she went on a roll. She recorded personal-best times in the 100 free (50.95) and 200 free (1:48.63) at the Georgia Tech Invite, set the CCSA all-time record in the 800 free relay after touching the pads in 7:13.83 at the CCSA Championships with Caraballo and then FGCU swimmers Elise Haan and Lani Cabrera. She also finished 3rd in the 200 free in a time of 1:48.66, as well as finishing runner-up in the 500 free in a career-best time of 4:48.17, thus earning CCSA All-Conference honors and CCSA All-Academic honors as a result.
In her sophomore year, Shaw continued to go on a roll. She turned in nine top-three finished throughout the season and turned in a FGCU top-10 time of 4:50.45 in the 500 free at the Georgia Tech Invite. During the CCSA Championship, Shaw placed 4th in the 500 free with a time of 4:53.60, placed 10th in the 100 free with a season-best time of 51.11 seconds and 2nd in the 200 free after touching the pads in a season-best 1:48.70, which was good for 9th all-time. She did so well that she earned CCSA All-Conference honors with the 2nd place finish.
Shaw is gonna give it all she's got and prove it to the world.
The last of the junior class is Sarah Ubele.
Hailing from Tyngsboro, Massachusetts, Ubele swims freestyle and is a good force for the team.
In her freshman year, Ubele turned in career-best performances in both the 100 back (58.48) and 200 back (2:05.65) and swam a season-best time of 24.84 seconds in the 50 free at the Georgia Tech Invitational. She also won the 200 back at the UNF meet in a time of 2.08.81 and clocked a season-best time of 54.28 seconds in the 100 free at the CCSA Championships.
In her sophomore year, Ubele swam a season-best time in the 100 back at the CCSA Championships, touching the pads in 58.72 seconds in the time trial and turned in season-best performances in the 200 back and 200 IM at the Georgia Tech Invite with times of 2:10.11 and 2:13.90, respectively.
With Ubele on the team, nothing can stop her.
The first of the freshman class is Cassidy Fry.
Coming from Oakwood, Ohio, Fry swims the fly and individual medley.
Prior to FGCU, she competed and graduated from Oakwood HS where she was listed as the 12th-ranked swimmer in Ohio as told by CollegeSwimming.com. She was a four-time state qualifier, where she finished 4th in the 100 fly and 6th in the 200 free at the 2016 Ohio State Championship. She was also a Scholastic All-American honoree, four-time NCSA Junior National qualifier and Winter Junior National qualifier.
In her freshman year at FGCU, Fry finished in a season-best first place in the 100 fly in dual meets against UNF and FAU, finished runner-up in the 50 fly versus UNF and runner-up in the 200 free against UNC Asheville and turned in season and personal best times in the 100 and 200 fly during the CCSA Championship meet by touching the pads in 54.31 seconds and 2:01.85, respectively, which was good for a NCAA ‘B’ cut. She was tabbed CSCAA Honorable Mention Scholar All-American with 3.5 GPA or higher and NCAA 'B' time standard.
With her best rankings, Cassidy is gonna be a great force for the team.
Madison Jean has a lot of impact on the team.
Hailing from Parrish, Florida, Jean's swimming resume is more looked at than any NCAA National Championship.
Prior to FGCU, Jean competed and graduated from Lakewood Ranch High School and was listed as the 13th-ranked swimmer in Florida as told by CollegeSwimming.com and the 236th ranked swimmer in the nation. Jean was two-time All-American in the 100 fly, FHSAA state runner-up in the 100 fly on three occasions, 2015 FHSAA District 6 Champion in the 100 fly, 2x Bradenton Herald Swimmer of the Year and owns four school records.
In her freshman year, Jean turned in a season-best time of 55.22 seconds in the 100 fly at the Georgia Tech Invite, placed 4th in the 200 fly in a dual against Miami with a season-best time of 2:04.87, won the 50 fly (25.55 seconds) and finished 3rd in the 100 fly (57.51 seconds) in a dual against UNF, finished 2nd in the 100 free (53.05 seconds) vs. UNC Asheville and in the 100 fly (56.42 seconds) against Liberty.
Being ranked in the top 20 of all Florida High Schools is one thing, but for Madison being at FGCU brings a whole lot of impact.
For Lindsay Manganiello, FGCU was a whole new ballgame or this case a whole new swim meet, but now it was on.
Hailing from Miami, Florida, Manganiello swims freestyle.
Prior to FGCU, Manganiello swam for Coral Reef Senior High School. She was the 2015 FHSAA Region 4 Champion in the 100 back, 2015 FHSAA District 12 and Region 4 Champion in the 100 back and an All-Dade Second Team honoree.
In her freshman year at FGCU, Manganiello turned in season-best times in the 200 back and 200 IM at the Georgia Tech Invite in times of 2:10.15 and 2:16.81, respectively, finished 2nd in the 100 back against conference foe FAU to gain major points for the Eagles and swam a season-best time in the 100 back at the CCSA Championships in a time of 59.19 seconds.
For Lindsay, she will give it all she's got.
One of three returning divers is Stevie Meyerson.
Meyerson comes from Suffern, New York and I can say is a diving machine.
She graduated from Suffern High School under coach Victor Byrne. At the 2014 NYSPHSAA State Championships, she finished 4th with a personal-best score of 461.90 and was a NYSPHSAA All-Section, All-League and All-County honoree.
In her freshman year at FGCU, Meyerson finished with top scores in the 1m dive and 3m dive at the Blue-Green Scrimmage with marks of 211.45 and 203.25, respectively, placed 5th in both events against FAU with scores of 194.40 and 178.20 and finished 6th in both events against Miami.
With her diving experience in New York and at FGCU, Stevie will take diving to a whole new level.
By her appearance, Karin Schienvar looks more of a model than a swimmer, but say that to the native from Holmdel, New Jersey, she would laugh and then beat you in the dust before you hit the pool.
Schienvar swims freestyle, breaststroke and the individual medley.
She graduated from Holmdel High School and was tabbed by CollegeSwimming.com as the 22nd-ranked swimmer in New Jersey. Schienvar was All-State and All-Conference honoree, q mutli-year finalist at the YMCA National Championships and swam a personal best of 1:03.91 and finished 16th in the 100 breast at the 2016 Short Course National Championship.
In her freshman year at FGCU, Schienvar swam season-best times in the 100 breast and 200 breast at the Georgia Tech Invite with times of 1:04.89 and 2:26.30, respectively, placed 3rd in the 100 breast against UNF (1:07.08) and FAU (1:08.00), finished 4th in the 100 fly against UNC Asheville with a time of 59.62 seconds and finished with a lifetime best time in the 100 fly at the CCSA Championships with a time of 56.67 seconds.
With her recognition as a top 25 swimmer in New Jersey and new experience at FGCU, Karin will show that she can give it all she's got.
The other returning diver on the team is Natalie Keffer.
Keffer comes from San Gabriel, California. Keffer went to Gabrielino High School and competed under head coach Deliang Li. She finished 12th at the 2014-15 Division 3 Championships with a score of 284.30.
In her freshman year at FGCU, Keffer set a personal best at the CCSA Championships in the 3m dive with a score of 242.10 and turned in a mark of 218.80 in the 1m dive at the conference meet and placed 4th with a personal best of 230.70 in the 3m dive at the Green-Blue Scrimmage.
Keffer is surely gonna bring a excellent amount of impact to the team this year.
One of two Elizabeth's on the team is Elizabeth White.
White is a local from Ft. Myers, Florida and swims butterfly.
Prior to FGCU, White graduated from Riverdale High School and competed for coach Pam Barry. White was a two-time FHSAA State Championship Finalist and finished 4th in the 100 breast at the 2015 FHSAA State Championship in a personal-best time of 1:05.51. a 2015 FHSAA Region 3 runner-up in the 100 breast and a 2015 FHSAA District 9 Champion in the 100 breast.
In her freshman year at FGCU, White finished with season best times in the 100 breast (1:04.14), 200 breast (2:19.85) and 200 IM (2:13.12) at the CCSA Championships, which in the 200 IM was 4.5 seconds faster than any other performance in the event during the season. She also finished 1st in the 100 breast against FAU with a time of 1:06.31 and placed 4th in the 200 breast against FSU (2:21.16) and 3rd in the event against Miami (2:22.53). White didn’t finish outside the top-six in the 200 breast throughout the season
Lizzy is gonna be a great force on the team this year.
The last member of the sophomore that comes into play is Elizabeth Zeiger.
Zeiger comes from Cumberland, Rhode Island and swims freestyle and in the individual medley.
Prior to FGCU, Zeiger was homeschooled and competed for Crimson Aquatics, and was considered as one of FGCU's highest-ranked recruits in program history. She was tabbed by CollegeSwimming.com as the No.1 swimmer in Rhode Island and the 91st ranked swimmer in the nation. Zeiger was a two-time Junior National Finalist, a 2014 National Select Camp Qualifier and a 2016 US Olympic Trials qualifier in the 200 IM and 400 IM.
In her freshman year at FGCU, Zeiger finished 1st in the 400 IM with a season-best and NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 4:18.28 against FSU, good for 3rd all-time fastest in FGCU history, finished 2nd in the 1000 free against USC, a top-5 nationally ranked team, turned in the Eagles fastest times in the 500 free, 1000 free and 1650 free last season. She did so well, she earned CCSA All-Conference honors.
With her speed, Zeiger will once again blowout all her competition in the dust.
The FGCU women's swimming and diving team have a lot of reputation. In fact, two of the former swimmers, Lani Cabrera and Evita Leter, swam in the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio. Cabrera, representing Barbados, finished 6th in the 400 meter freestyle, but did not qualify for the next round. Leter, representing Suriname, finished fifth in the 100 meter breaststroke, but did not qualify for the next round. Both may not have advanced to the next round, but swimming in the Olympics is just as awesome as winning.
After going 12-3 overall record with a 3-0 record in conference, FGCU headed into the first day of the CCSA Championship in third place, but on the second through fourth day, the Eagles finished in first and qualified for the national tournament. In the national tournament, FGCU finished tied for 41st place overall, which was the third highest placing in program history.
One thing I can tell you about the FGCU swimmers: they're smart cookies and pretty much a lot of them get at least an average between a 3.0-3.7 GPA, and you see how many of the swimmers on the team will have either CCSA All-Academic recognition, CCSA All-Academic honors or be a part of the CCSA All-Academic Team. It's crazy, but awesome at the same time, and I'm, at times, a little jealous of them.
The team is led by Dave Rollins. Rollins is entering his second season as head coach for the swim team after Studd received an offer to coach for FSU.
Rollins' experience with swimming reads like an NFL playbook. He was a nine-time All-American and national champion for the University of Arizona from 2002-06, and set four Arizona records and was the fastest American breaststroke swimmer in history, as well as being a two-time Summer Olympics trial qualifier for the Athens and Beijing Olympic games.
Aside from his swimming records, Rollins also brings 10 years of coaching experience from Ohio State. I look forward to see how he helps the team with his experience for his second year.
With the departure of Amanda Smith, Rollins will have assistant coach Melissa Steele, diving coach David Boyko and volunteer assistant Jack Eichenlaub to help him out.
The first is new assistant coach Melissa Steele. Prior to FGCU coaching career, Steele, a native of Jacksonville, Florida, was a swimmer for University of Louisville, where she was a four-year letter winner with the Cardinals and earned Big East All-Academic Team honors following each season to help the Cardinals to a Big East Championship in 2011 and 2012. Capping off her career, Steele is ranked third all-time in the 1,650 free and sixth in the 200 fly.
Steele she served two seasons as a graduate assistant for the University of Arkansas under head coach Neil Harper before becoming an assistant coach for Arkansas.
For Steele's first year, I know she's gonna a great part of the swimming and diving coaching staff.
For Steele's first year, I know she's gonna a great part of the swimming and diving coaching staff.
Joining Rollins to help the divers out is David Boyko. Boyko enters his fifth season as diving coach and knows his way around the boards.
Prior to FGCU, Boyko went to the University of Missouri. There he was a four-year letter winner and holds four spots in the Mizzou record books in one meter and three meter diving events. Boyko has helped produce some of the best divers including Ashley Wright and Mikala Buening.
With Boyko's diving experience, the diving part of the team will no doubt be the best.
The last member of the coaching staff is Jack Eichenlaub. Coming to FGCU as a volunteer assistant coach, the Ambler, Pennsylvania native also brings swimming experience to the table.
Prior to FGCU, Eichenlaub was a four-year swimmer for Bloomsburg University of NCAA DII Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC)-East Region. There he helped guide the Huskies to 23 team records and numerous top-10 all-time marks.
After graduating, he returned to his alma mater as an volunteer assistant before serving as a graduate assistant for the Nova Southeastern Universty of the NCAA DII Sunshine Conference where helped guide the Nova Southeastern men's team to a fourth-place finish at the 2016 NCAA Division II Championships and helped the women's team win the 2015 Sunshine State Conference Championship and finish fourth at the NCAA Division II Championship.
Recently, Eichenlaub had a one-year stint with Miami University (Ohio) of the Mid-American Conference (MAC), where the RedHawk swimmers had eight top-eight finishes and 11 top-16 finishes at the 2017 MAC Championships.
With his experience, Eichenlaub is gonna be a great part of the team
FGCU will lose 11 swimmers and divers: Ashley Wright (Diver), Mikala Buening (Diver), Evita Leter (Breaststroke/IM), Marcella Marinheiro (Back/Free), Barbara Caraballo (Free/Fly/IM) and Sandra Wilk (back/free) have graduated.
Juniors Melissa Marinheiro (Free) and Georgie Gardener (Free/Back) and sophomore Elizabeth Zubero (Breast/IM) have departed from the team and transferred to FSU.
Junior Fanny Teijonsalo has also transferred, and will be enrolling at Arizona State.
Junior Katie Latham has departed from the team and went back to the UK.
Juniors Melissa Marinheiro (Free) and Georgie Gardener (Free/Back) and sophomore Elizabeth Zubero (Breast/IM) have departed from the team and transferred to FSU.
Junior Fanny Teijonsalo has also transferred, and will be enrolling at Arizona State.
Junior Katie Latham has departed from the team and went back to the UK.
This year, The swimming and diving team have 6 seniors for the team: Madeleine Clarke (Fly/Free), Sommer Harris (Breast/IM), Christina Herfurth (Fly), Vanessa Rivas (Breast/IM), Yee Ching Wong (Fly) and Hannah Soutar (Breast/IM).
The first of the 2018 senior class is Madeline Clarke.
Hailing from Treasure Island, Florida, Clarke swims butterfly and freestyle.
In her freshman year, Clarke competed in the 100 fly, 100 free and 200 free at the CCSA Championships.
By sophomore year, Clarke clocked season and personal-best times in four events during the preliminary round of the CCSA Championships including the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free and 100 fly and touched the pads in the 100 free and 100 fly at the Georgia Tech Invite.
In her junior year, Clarke turned in lifetime best performances throughout the year in all events. She competed in the 50 free and 200 free at the CCSA Championship and turned in times of 23.89 seconds and 1:53.45, respectively, and during the 200 free at the championship, her time, in the event, was a new personal best record, won the 100 free at FAU, touched the pads at the Georgia Tech Invite in the 100 free in a season best 52.23 seconds and clocked a time of 54.83 seconds in the 100 fly at the FGCU quad meet.
For Clarke and her senior year, she will give it all she's got.
Joining as Clarke's partner in crime is Sommer Harris.
Hailing from Richmond, Virginia, Harris swims breaststroke and does the individual medley.
In her freshman year, Harris finished fifth in the 200 breast (2:16.32) and seventh in the 400 IM (4:27.31) at the CCSA Championships. As a result of her good work, she earned CCSA All-Academic recognition.
By sophomore year, she clocked personal-best times in both the 200 IM and 200 fly at the CCSA Championship in times of 2:04.69 and 2:07.38, respectively, finished 9th in the 400 IM in a time of 4:27.46 and swam to a season-best 5th-place finish in the 100 IM at UNF along with an 8th place finish in the 100 fly vs. FIU. Harris earned CCSA All-Academic recognition for the 2nd straight season.
Harris's junior year topped it. After recording personal best times and winning the 100 breast (1:01.40) and 200 breast (2:15.57) at the CCSA Championships, Harris earned NCAA ‘B’ cuts in both events, in which her times in both events were the fastest on the team this season and her mark in the 100 breast ranks 6th in program history and swam nearly three seconds faster than her previous season-best in the 100 breast (1:04.08) and nearly seven seconds faster in the 200 breast (2:22.39). Harris would also win the CCSA Championship in the 400 medley relay in a season-best time of 3:38.16 and finish 11th in the 200 IM at the CCSA Championship meet in a time of 2:04.74. Because of her success, she was tabbed CSCAA Honorable Mention Scholar All-American with 3.5 GPA or higher and NCAA 'B' time standard and earned CCSA All-Conference honors from the CCSA Championship.
With that success, Harris will make that happen again for her senior year.
If you want to see a swimmer who can butterfly so fast that the Flash wouldn't catch her, then you're looking a Christina Herfurth.
Hailing from Greenacres, Florida, Herfurth has more speed than imagined.
Although she did not compete in her freshman year, her sophomore year was a success. Herfurth recorded personal-best times in both the 100 fly and 200 IM at CCSA Championship, as well as a career best in the 200 fly at Georgia Tech Invitational, won the 200 fly at UNF and finished in the top-10 on seven other occasions throughout the season. She did so phenomenal that she earned CCSA All-Academic honors.
By junior year, Herfurth turned in a season-best time of 57.15 seconds in 100 fly at the Georgia Tech Invite, clocked a season-best time in the 200 fly with a mark of 2:05.05 in a quad meet against FSU, Florida Southern and West Florida and clocked a time of 5:13.82 in the 500 free at the CCSA Championship.
With all that, Christina is gonna make great strides this season for her senior year.
If you try to go toe-to-toe with Vanessa Rivas, chances are you will lose.
Coming to you from White Rock, British Columbia, Canada, Vanessa swims the breaststroke and the individual medley.
In her freshman year, Rivas placed third in the 200-yard breaststroke at the CCSA Championships, clocked personal-best times in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:03.97) and 200-yard IM (2:08.11), and touched pads in the 400 IM in 4:34.04 at the Georgia Tech Invitational. She earned CCSA All-Academic honors with her hard work.
At sophomore year, Rivas swam a season-best time of 1:04.53 in the 100 breast at the Georgia Tech Invitational, clocked a season-best in the 200 breast at the CCSA Championships after touching the pads in 2:19.13, and placed 4th place in the 200 breast at the Miami/FAU meet in a time of 2:23.25, thus earning CCSA All-Academic honors for the second time.
For her junior year, Rivas swam season-best times in the 100 breast and 200 IM at the CCSA Championships as she touched the pads 1:04.03 and 2:08.40, respectively, finished 8th in the 200 breast, swam a season-best time of 2:18.26 in the 200 breast at the Georgia Tech Invite, placed runner-up in the 100 breast against FAU and finished 5th in the 200 breast against in-state rival FSU.
Rivas even broke her own Dominican Republic national record in the 100 breast at the World Championships
Rivas is gonna ball out or in this case, "swim out," her competition.
When you hear this swimmer's name be announced, and her teammates saying her name in their best Chinese accent, chances are that swimmer is Yee Ching Wong.
Hailing from Hong Kong, China, Wong swims butterfly for the team and every time her name is announced, the rest of the team repeats and says "Yee Ching Wong" in their best Chinese accent, and I'll admit, I do it every now and then.
In her freshman year, Wong finished third in the 200-yard butterfly and set an FGCU and CCSA record in the 400-yard IM relay with now former FGCU swimmers, Katie Armitage, Emma Svensson and Kira Toussaint at the CCSA Championship. Wong, along with her relay teammates, finished 21st in the event at the NCAA Championship. Wong earned CCSA All-Conference honors as a result in the end.
By sophomore year, Wong won the 100 fly against Rice and FIU, finished third in the 100 fly and 200 fly, Made the NCAA 'B' cut in the 100 yard fly and holds a top-10 time in program history in both the 100 and 200 fly. She earned CCSA All-Conference honors and CCSA All-Academic honors for the 2nd straight year.
In her junior year, Wong went on a tear. Wong finished 4th in the 200 fly with a time of 2:03.12, 6th in the 100 fly with a personal-record time of 54.43 seconds, which was good for a NCAA 'B' cut, 7th in the 200 IM with a personal record of 2:03.08. and clocked a season-best time of 2:02.33 in the 200 fly in the CCSA Championship.
Wong also won the 100 fly against state rival Miami with a time of 55.00 seconds and placed 3rd in the 200 fly with a time of 2:02.70, finished 3rd in the 400 IM against conference foe Liberty in a time of 4:33.55 and helped the Eagles edge out FIU with a 2nd place finish in the 200 fly and 100 fly while finishing in the top-three on 12 occasions throughout the season, and just like Rivas, Wong competed in the World University Games representing Hong Kong.
For Yee, she's gonna be an awesome force for her senior year.
The last of the senior class and make her return to the pool is Hannah Soutar.
Hailing from Edinburgh, Sctoland, Soutar makes her comeback to the team as a grad student.
In her freshman year, Soutar recorded three career-best times at the Georgia Tech Fall Invite, clocking a 58.79 in the 100-yard backstroke, a 2:05.58 in the 200-yard backstroke and a 1:06.77 in the 100-yard breaststroke. She also set two career records at the CCSA Championships with a time of 2:23.41 in the 200-yard breaststroke and a 2:05.51 in the 200 IM.
She did not compete in her sophomore year, but in her junior year, she placed 4th in the 200 breast at the CCSA Championship in a time of 2.17.27. Her preliminary time of 2:15.75 in the event was good for a NCAA ‘B’ cut. She also finished 6th in the 100 breast in a time of 1.03.69, swam a career best in the 200 IM in a time of 2.04.67, finished 1st in the 100 breast and 200 IM in the dual meet at UNF, and finished 3rd in the 200 breast in the tri meet with Miami and FAU.
Because of her strong performance, Soutar earned CCSA All-Academic honors for the 3rd straight season.
Although she did not compete in her senior year, Soutar will vow that nothing will stop her from swimming one last time and making her comeback.
The true junior class is pretty much the majority of the team: Gracie Redding (Free), Hannah Burdge (Free), Kiley Eble (Fly/Back/IM), Hannah Wittman (Back/IM), Christina Kaas Elmgreen (Fly), Katie Latham (Free/Back), Margot Kessler (Diving), Doris Eichorn (Fly/Back/IM), Nicole Oppel (Fly), Linda Shaw (Free) and Sarah Ubele (Free).
The first of the 2018 senior class is Madeline Clarke.
Hailing from Treasure Island, Florida, Clarke swims butterfly and freestyle.
In her freshman year, Clarke competed in the 100 fly, 100 free and 200 free at the CCSA Championships.
By sophomore year, Clarke clocked season and personal-best times in four events during the preliminary round of the CCSA Championships including the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free and 100 fly and touched the pads in the 100 free and 100 fly at the Georgia Tech Invite.
In her junior year, Clarke turned in lifetime best performances throughout the year in all events. She competed in the 50 free and 200 free at the CCSA Championship and turned in times of 23.89 seconds and 1:53.45, respectively, and during the 200 free at the championship, her time, in the event, was a new personal best record, won the 100 free at FAU, touched the pads at the Georgia Tech Invite in the 100 free in a season best 52.23 seconds and clocked a time of 54.83 seconds in the 100 fly at the FGCU quad meet.
For Clarke and her senior year, she will give it all she's got.
Joining as Clarke's partner in crime is Sommer Harris.
Hailing from Richmond, Virginia, Harris swims breaststroke and does the individual medley.
In her freshman year, Harris finished fifth in the 200 breast (2:16.32) and seventh in the 400 IM (4:27.31) at the CCSA Championships. As a result of her good work, she earned CCSA All-Academic recognition.
By sophomore year, she clocked personal-best times in both the 200 IM and 200 fly at the CCSA Championship in times of 2:04.69 and 2:07.38, respectively, finished 9th in the 400 IM in a time of 4:27.46 and swam to a season-best 5th-place finish in the 100 IM at UNF along with an 8th place finish in the 100 fly vs. FIU. Harris earned CCSA All-Academic recognition for the 2nd straight season.
Harris's junior year topped it. After recording personal best times and winning the 100 breast (1:01.40) and 200 breast (2:15.57) at the CCSA Championships, Harris earned NCAA ‘B’ cuts in both events, in which her times in both events were the fastest on the team this season and her mark in the 100 breast ranks 6th in program history and swam nearly three seconds faster than her previous season-best in the 100 breast (1:04.08) and nearly seven seconds faster in the 200 breast (2:22.39). Harris would also win the CCSA Championship in the 400 medley relay in a season-best time of 3:38.16 and finish 11th in the 200 IM at the CCSA Championship meet in a time of 2:04.74. Because of her success, she was tabbed CSCAA Honorable Mention Scholar All-American with 3.5 GPA or higher and NCAA 'B' time standard and earned CCSA All-Conference honors from the CCSA Championship.
With that success, Harris will make that happen again for her senior year.
If you want to see a swimmer who can butterfly so fast that the Flash wouldn't catch her, then you're looking a Christina Herfurth.
Hailing from Greenacres, Florida, Herfurth has more speed than imagined.
Although she did not compete in her freshman year, her sophomore year was a success. Herfurth recorded personal-best times in both the 100 fly and 200 IM at CCSA Championship, as well as a career best in the 200 fly at Georgia Tech Invitational, won the 200 fly at UNF and finished in the top-10 on seven other occasions throughout the season. She did so phenomenal that she earned CCSA All-Academic honors.
By junior year, Herfurth turned in a season-best time of 57.15 seconds in 100 fly at the Georgia Tech Invite, clocked a season-best time in the 200 fly with a mark of 2:05.05 in a quad meet against FSU, Florida Southern and West Florida and clocked a time of 5:13.82 in the 500 free at the CCSA Championship.
With all that, Christina is gonna make great strides this season for her senior year.
If you try to go toe-to-toe with Vanessa Rivas, chances are you will lose.
Coming to you from White Rock, British Columbia, Canada, Vanessa swims the breaststroke and the individual medley.
In her freshman year, Rivas placed third in the 200-yard breaststroke at the CCSA Championships, clocked personal-best times in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:03.97) and 200-yard IM (2:08.11), and touched pads in the 400 IM in 4:34.04 at the Georgia Tech Invitational. She earned CCSA All-Academic honors with her hard work.
At sophomore year, Rivas swam a season-best time of 1:04.53 in the 100 breast at the Georgia Tech Invitational, clocked a season-best in the 200 breast at the CCSA Championships after touching the pads in 2:19.13, and placed 4th place in the 200 breast at the Miami/FAU meet in a time of 2:23.25, thus earning CCSA All-Academic honors for the second time.
For her junior year, Rivas swam season-best times in the 100 breast and 200 IM at the CCSA Championships as she touched the pads 1:04.03 and 2:08.40, respectively, finished 8th in the 200 breast, swam a season-best time of 2:18.26 in the 200 breast at the Georgia Tech Invite, placed runner-up in the 100 breast against FAU and finished 5th in the 200 breast against in-state rival FSU.
Rivas even broke her own Dominican Republic national record in the 100 breast at the World Championships
Rivas is gonna ball out or in this case, "swim out," her competition.
When you hear this swimmer's name be announced, and her teammates saying her name in their best Chinese accent, chances are that swimmer is Yee Ching Wong.
Hailing from Hong Kong, China, Wong swims butterfly for the team and every time her name is announced, the rest of the team repeats and says "Yee Ching Wong" in their best Chinese accent, and I'll admit, I do it every now and then.
In her freshman year, Wong finished third in the 200-yard butterfly and set an FGCU and CCSA record in the 400-yard IM relay with now former FGCU swimmers, Katie Armitage, Emma Svensson and Kira Toussaint at the CCSA Championship. Wong, along with her relay teammates, finished 21st in the event at the NCAA Championship. Wong earned CCSA All-Conference honors as a result in the end.
By sophomore year, Wong won the 100 fly against Rice and FIU, finished third in the 100 fly and 200 fly, Made the NCAA 'B' cut in the 100 yard fly and holds a top-10 time in program history in both the 100 and 200 fly. She earned CCSA All-Conference honors and CCSA All-Academic honors for the 2nd straight year.
In her junior year, Wong went on a tear. Wong finished 4th in the 200 fly with a time of 2:03.12, 6th in the 100 fly with a personal-record time of 54.43 seconds, which was good for a NCAA 'B' cut, 7th in the 200 IM with a personal record of 2:03.08. and clocked a season-best time of 2:02.33 in the 200 fly in the CCSA Championship.
Wong also won the 100 fly against state rival Miami with a time of 55.00 seconds and placed 3rd in the 200 fly with a time of 2:02.70, finished 3rd in the 400 IM against conference foe Liberty in a time of 4:33.55 and helped the Eagles edge out FIU with a 2nd place finish in the 200 fly and 100 fly while finishing in the top-three on 12 occasions throughout the season, and just like Rivas, Wong competed in the World University Games representing Hong Kong.
For Yee, she's gonna be an awesome force for her senior year.
The last of the senior class and make her return to the pool is Hannah Soutar.
Hailing from Edinburgh, Sctoland, Soutar makes her comeback to the team as a grad student.
In her freshman year, Soutar recorded three career-best times at the Georgia Tech Fall Invite, clocking a 58.79 in the 100-yard backstroke, a 2:05.58 in the 200-yard backstroke and a 1:06.77 in the 100-yard breaststroke. She also set two career records at the CCSA Championships with a time of 2:23.41 in the 200-yard breaststroke and a 2:05.51 in the 200 IM.
She did not compete in her sophomore year, but in her junior year, she placed 4th in the 200 breast at the CCSA Championship in a time of 2.17.27. Her preliminary time of 2:15.75 in the event was good for a NCAA ‘B’ cut. She also finished 6th in the 100 breast in a time of 1.03.69, swam a career best in the 200 IM in a time of 2.04.67, finished 1st in the 100 breast and 200 IM in the dual meet at UNF, and finished 3rd in the 200 breast in the tri meet with Miami and FAU.
Because of her strong performance, Soutar earned CCSA All-Academic honors for the 3rd straight season.
Although she did not compete in her senior year, Soutar will vow that nothing will stop her from swimming one last time and making her comeback.
The true junior class is pretty much the majority of the team: Gracie Redding (Free), Hannah Burdge (Free), Kiley Eble (Fly/Back/IM), Hannah Wittman (Back/IM), Christina Kaas Elmgreen (Fly), Katie Latham (Free/Back), Margot Kessler (Diving), Doris Eichorn (Fly/Back/IM), Nicole Oppel (Fly), Linda Shaw (Free) and Sarah Ubele (Free).
The first of the junior class is Gracie Redding.
Hailing from Orlando, Florida swim freestyle, Redding swims freestyle for the team.
Prior to FGCU, Redding spent her freshman year swimming at Florida State. There, she competed in various meets in 50 free, 100 free, 100 fly, 200 fly, 200 medley, and 200 free relay. At the Southern Methodist Classic, Redding placed 3rd in the 200 medley and 4th in the 200 free relay, placed 3rd in the 100 fly against Louisville, and made finals in 50 and 100 free at the Georgia Invite.
In her sophomore year, Redding transferred to FGCU and turned heads looked towards her.
Teaming with Katie Latham and Hannah Burdge and former teammate, Teijonsalo, she was a member of the conference champion 800 free relay that turned in a season-best time of 7:15.54 and swam a season best 1:51.67 in the 200 freestyle at the Georgia Tech Invite.
During the CCSA Championship, Redding placed 4th in the 100 free at the conference meet with NCAA 'B' cut of 49.99 seconds and finished 3rd in the 50 free with a NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 22.66 seconds, which were both lifetime best swims. She did so well that she earned CCSA All-Conference honors and was named CSCAA All-American. She was also one of five swimmers to represent FGCU in the NCAA Swimming Championship and placed 15th in the nation in the school record breaking 200 free relay (1:28.76).
For Redding, she will make more impact for her junior year.
If you attempt to beat Hannah Burdge, you will be beaten before you hit the water.
Coming from Stuart, Florida, Burdge swims freestyle for the team. Though still young, Burdge does have speed.
In her freshman year, Burdge clocked a personal-best time in the 50 free as she touched the pads in 23.62 seconds at the Georgia Tech Invite, clocked a 3rd place finish and a personal best in the 100 free in a time of 51.33 seconds, 2nd-place finish in the 200 free against Notre Dame. She did so well that she earned CCSA All-Academic honors for her hard work.
Her sophomore year was where she took it to the limit. Burdge finished first in a total of six events and in the top-three in 14 throughout the season. In the CCSA Championship, she won the 200 free with a personal-best time of 1:48.37, finished 2nd in the 100 free with a personal best and NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 49.48 seconds and finished 5th in the 50 free with a NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 22.93 seconds. Burdge's time in the 200 free was the fastest by any FGCU swimmer during the season and ranks 6th in program history. Burdge, along with Latham, Redding and Teijonsalo, was a member of the conference champion free relay teams, where they won the 200 (1:28.77), 400 (3:17.83) and 800 (7:15.54) free relay. Burdge, as a result of her hard work, earned CCSA All-Conference honors, was tabbed as a CSCAA First Team Scholar All-American and named a CSCAA All-American after finishing 15th in the nation in the school record breaking 200 free relay (1:28.76) at the NCAA Swimming Championships.
Burdge, although is still young, will give it all she's got for her junior year.
If you want someone who can represent the Midwest with style, then you're looking at Kiley Eble.
Hailing from Cleveland, Ohio, Eble swims butterfly, backstroke and individual medley. She represents her hometown more stronger than Andrew Miller.
In her freshman year, she competed in various meet in the 100 free, 100 fly, 200 fly and 100 back. She clocked her personal best times in 100 free (53.16), 100 fly (55.56), 100 back (56.30) and 200 fly (2:05.35) in 4 preliminary events at the CCSA Championship and at UNF, she finished 1st in the 100 fly and 100 back in 59.10 seconds and 1:00.50.
In her sophomore year, Eble turned in season-best time of 23.43 seconds in the 50 free at the CCSA Championships, touched the pads in a season best 52.45 seconds in the 100 free at the Georgia Tech Invite, finished 4th in the 100 fly in a lifetime best 54.07 seconds which was good enough for a NCAA ‘B’ cut, placed sixth in the 100 back in a season-best 55.29 seconds, won the 50 free in a time of 24.84 seconds in dual meet against UNC Asheville and placed in the top-three in four other events.
Although she is still young, Kiley is surely gonna bring an edge for the team.
Giving it another go for FGCU is Hannah Wittman.
Hailing from Jupiter, Florida, Wittman swims backstroke and the individual medley and comes with one goal in mind: winning.
Prior to FGCU, Wittman spent her freshman year at Pittsburgh. She competed in various meets and placed majorly in 2nd or 3rd place in the 200 IM, 200 free, 100 back, 400 IM, 200 back and 200 breast against teams like Duke, Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, and West Virginia.
In her sophomore year, Wittman transferred to FGCU and did extremely well. She finished with season-best times in the 200 IM and 200 back at the CCSA Championships by touching the pads in 2:03.46 and 2:02.78, respectively, in which her performance in the 200 back was more than two seconds faster than any other time she competed in the event during the season. She finished 1st in the 100 back and 2nd in the 200 free against conference foe UNF with times of 59.44 seconds and 1:54.00, respectively, helped the Eagles push past FIU with a 3rd place finish in the 200 IM in 2:07.37 and finished runner-up in the 200 free against FAU (1:54.56).
With her experience against big name schools in the ACC, Whitman is gonna be a great force of the team.
One of the swimmers that brings a lot of extra sparks is Christina Kaas Elmgreen.
The native of Charlottenlund, Denmark swims the butterfly and brings a lot of international experience for the team.
Prior to FGCU, Elmgreen competed in various swim meets representing her native country, including the Danish Short Course Championships, where she finished 3rd in 100 meter IM, turned in a personal-best 200-meter butterfly times of 2:12.98 (short course) and 2:15.38 (long course) at nationals, won the Danish National Championship, and the 100 meter IM at the Eastern Championship.
When she started her freshman year at FGCU, she went on a tear. Elmgreen was the conference champion in the 200 fly, runner-up in the 400 IM, had a 3rd place finish in the 200 IM, and clocked NCAA ‘B’ cut times outside of the NCAA Championship cut line. She also set six of the programs top 8 in the 200 fly and holds the second-best time in FGCU history in the 400 IM. Elmgreen was on fire so much that she earned CCSA All-Conference recognition as well as CCSA All-Academic honors for her outstanding year.
In her sophomore year, it was her time to shine. At the CCSA Championship, Kaas Elmgreen placed 2nd in the 200 fly with a time of 1:57.10, recorded a time of 1:56.24 at the CCSA Championship time trial and broke the FGCU and CCSA record while also qualifying for the NCAA Championship meet, was a member of the conference champion 400 medley relay (3:38.16) and turned in a total of 14 NCAA ‘B’ cuts.
Kaas Elmgreen made some historic moments for FGCU too, as she became the fourth consecutive Eagle to take home CCSA Women’s Swimmer of the Year honors. In addition, she was named the Most Outstanding Female Swimmer of the CCSA Championships and earned CCSA All-Conference recognition after winning the conference crown in the 100 fly (53.53 seconds) and 200 IM (1:59.65). Both times in both events were personal records and the fastest on the team during the season and were ranked 4th and 3rd, respectively, in FGCU program history as well as tabbed CSCAA First Team Scholar All-American with a 3.5 GPA or higher and NCAA Championship appearance. Kass-Elmgreen also was one of five FGCU swimmers to go to the national tournament and finished 43rd in the 200 fly with a time of 1:59.04.
For Kaas Elmgreen, she'll add more to the table this season for the team and give it all she's got.
By her appearance, some would say Margot Kessler would be more like a supermodel than a diver, which could be a bit true in a way with the addition of her being a part of FGCU's Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, but say that to the diver from Boca Raton, Florida, she can prove you wrong.
Although she started late in the season in her freshman year, Margot did very well competing in the CCSA Championships finishing she finished 11th in both the 1m and 3m dives with scores of 131.25 and 119.35.
In her sophomore year, Kessler set a personal best in the 3m dive at the CCSA Championship with a score of 179 and turned in a score of 185.85 in the 1m dive at the conference meet.
With her beauty and diving experience, Kessler will taking the diving world by storm.
Joining the team with the speed of lightning is Doris Eichorn.
Hailing from Berlin, Germany, Doris swims backstroke, freestyle, butterfly and the individual medley, and has a swimming resume that can amaze all the Olympic swimmers.
Prior to FGCU, Eichorn swam for the largest public university in Berlin, let alone East Germany, Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft (HTW) Berlin (German: the University of Applied Sciences for Engineering and Economics). Eichorn competed in various international swim meets, including the International Swim Meeting (ISM) in her hometown, where she won a gold medal in the 200 meter butterfly and the Short European Championships she swam in for five years straight.
She joined the team in the spring semester as a sophomore and took the swimming world by storm. She won a total of three events and didn’t finish outside of the top-four. During the CCSA Championship, Eichorn won the 200 back and placed runner-up in the 100 back with times of 53.65 seconds and 1:58.09 in each of the events, which were both good for season bests and NCAA ‘B’ cuts. She was also a member of the conference champion 400 medley relay team that clocked a season-best time of 3:38.16.
As a result of her hard work, Eichorn tabbed CSCAA Honorable Mention Scholar All-American with 3.5 GPA or higher and NCAA 'B' time standard and earned CCSA All-Conference honors from the CCSA Championship.
For Eichorn, she will keep showing the world what she's got.
Nicole Oppel seems more like a laid back kind of swimmer, but the native of LeClaire, Iowa can make you think different. Oppel swims the butterfly for the team.
In her freshman year, Oppel finished 7th in both the 100 fly and 200 fly at the CCSA Championship in personal-best times of 55.42 seconds and 2:00.56. she also recorded a career-best time in the 200 IM of 2:04.20 and finished in a season-best 2nd place in the 200 fly in the dual meet at UNF and 4th in the event against nationally-ranked FSU. As a result, Oppel earned CCSA All-Academic recognition for her hard work.
She did not compete her sophomore, but you can better she will bounce back and give it all she's got.
The second swimmer representing the UK is Linda Shaw.
Hailing from Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, Shaw swims freestyle in all her competitions and beat them in the dust with ease.
Prior to FGCU, Shaw qualified for the British Championships since 2011 and won gold in the 50 meter freestyle at the 2012 UK School Games. she represented Great Britain at the 2013 European Junior Championships in Poland where she won a bronze medal as part of the 4x100 meter freestyle rellayteam and competed in London at the 2012 Olympic Trials, the same year as Latham.
When Shaw arrived to FGCU her freshman year, she went on a roll. She recorded personal-best times in the 100 free (50.95) and 200 free (1:48.63) at the Georgia Tech Invite, set the CCSA all-time record in the 800 free relay after touching the pads in 7:13.83 at the CCSA Championships with Caraballo and then FGCU swimmers Elise Haan and Lani Cabrera. She also finished 3rd in the 200 free in a time of 1:48.66, as well as finishing runner-up in the 500 free in a career-best time of 4:48.17, thus earning CCSA All-Conference honors and CCSA All-Academic honors as a result.
In her sophomore year, Shaw continued to go on a roll. She turned in nine top-three finished throughout the season and turned in a FGCU top-10 time of 4:50.45 in the 500 free at the Georgia Tech Invite. During the CCSA Championship, Shaw placed 4th in the 500 free with a time of 4:53.60, placed 10th in the 100 free with a season-best time of 51.11 seconds and 2nd in the 200 free after touching the pads in a season-best 1:48.70, which was good for 9th all-time. She did so well that she earned CCSA All-Conference honors with the 2nd place finish.
Shaw is gonna give it all she's got and prove it to the world.
The last of the junior class is Sarah Ubele.
Hailing from Tyngsboro, Massachusetts, Ubele swims freestyle and is a good force for the team.
In her freshman year, Ubele turned in career-best performances in both the 100 back (58.48) and 200 back (2:05.65) and swam a season-best time of 24.84 seconds in the 50 free at the Georgia Tech Invitational. She also won the 200 back at the UNF meet in a time of 2.08.81 and clocked a season-best time of 54.28 seconds in the 100 free at the CCSA Championships.
In her sophomore year, Ubele swam a season-best time in the 100 back at the CCSA Championships, touching the pads in 58.72 seconds in the time trial and turned in season-best performances in the 200 back and 200 IM at the Georgia Tech Invite with times of 2:10.11 and 2:13.90, respectively.
With Ubele on the team, nothing can stop her.
During the offseason, FGCU managed to land a transfer: Antonia "Toni" Baerens.
Hailing from Ottobrunn, Germany, Baerens joins FGCU as a junior where she will swim freestyle and butterfly.
Prior to FGCU, Baerens stared her collegiate swimming career at the University of Nevada.
In her freshman year, Baerens helped lead the Wolf Pack to an undefeated 10-0 record, the first Mountain West championship in program history and a top 25 CSCAA national ranking, tallied three first place finishes in the regular season, winning the 500 free at UNLV and against Boise State while also winning the 1,000 free vs. UC Davis, swam the final leg of Nevada’s 800-yard freestyle relay team in the conference meet, which set a school record time and achieved an NCAA 'A' cut qualification, placed fourth in the 1,650-yard freestyle finals at the Mountain West Championships with the fourth-best time in school history (16:36.47), seventh in the 200 free (1:47.69) and eighth in the 500 free (4:49.34) with season-best times at the MW championships. She did so well for the Wolf Pack, she earned All-Mountain West honors in three events as one of the top true freshman in the conference and earned Mountain West Scholar-Athlete honors while being named to the MW All-Academic Team.
By sophomore year, Baerens finished the season participating in all of the Pack’s regular season competitions and the Mountain West Championships, recorded six top-five finishes on the year with her top finish being third in the 200-yard butterfly at Fresno State with a time of 2:08.42, served as one of Nevada’s primary distance swimmers, competing in both the 1,000 and 1,650-yard free, posted a season-low 56.73 in the 100-yard butterfly at the UNLV Invitational, placed ninth in the 100-yard freestyle at the UNLV Invitational after swimming the event in 51.51, contributed 27 points to the Pack’s overall score at the MW Championships and was a Silver and Blue Scholar-Athlete before transferring to FGCU.
Barens joins FGCU with two years of eligibility remaining, but with her experience in the MWC, Baerens is surely gonna bring impact to the team.
Hailing from Ottobrunn, Germany, Baerens joins FGCU as a junior where she will swim freestyle and butterfly.
Prior to FGCU, Baerens stared her collegiate swimming career at the University of Nevada.
In her freshman year, Baerens helped lead the Wolf Pack to an undefeated 10-0 record, the first Mountain West championship in program history and a top 25 CSCAA national ranking, tallied three first place finishes in the regular season, winning the 500 free at UNLV and against Boise State while also winning the 1,000 free vs. UC Davis, swam the final leg of Nevada’s 800-yard freestyle relay team in the conference meet, which set a school record time and achieved an NCAA 'A' cut qualification, placed fourth in the 1,650-yard freestyle finals at the Mountain West Championships with the fourth-best time in school history (16:36.47), seventh in the 200 free (1:47.69) and eighth in the 500 free (4:49.34) with season-best times at the MW championships. She did so well for the Wolf Pack, she earned All-Mountain West honors in three events as one of the top true freshman in the conference and earned Mountain West Scholar-Athlete honors while being named to the MW All-Academic Team.
By sophomore year, Baerens finished the season participating in all of the Pack’s regular season competitions and the Mountain West Championships, recorded six top-five finishes on the year with her top finish being third in the 200-yard butterfly at Fresno State with a time of 2:08.42, served as one of Nevada’s primary distance swimmers, competing in both the 1,000 and 1,650-yard free, posted a season-low 56.73 in the 100-yard butterfly at the UNLV Invitational, placed ninth in the 100-yard freestyle at the UNLV Invitational after swimming the event in 51.51, contributed 27 points to the Pack’s overall score at the MW Championships and was a Silver and Blue Scholar-Athlete before transferring to FGCU.
Barens joins FGCU with two years of eligibility remaining, but with her experience in the MWC, Baerens is surely gonna bring impact to the team.
Eight sophomores also return to the team and join the mix: Cassidy Fry (Fly/IM), Madison Jean (Fly/Back), Lindsay Manganiello (Back), Stevie Meyerson (diving), Karin Schienvar (Free/Breast/IM), Natalie Keffer (Diving), Elizabeth White (Fly) and Elizabeth Zeiger (IM).
The first of the freshman class is Cassidy Fry.
Coming from Oakwood, Ohio, Fry swims the fly and individual medley.
Prior to FGCU, she competed and graduated from Oakwood HS where she was listed as the 12th-ranked swimmer in Ohio as told by CollegeSwimming.com. She was a four-time state qualifier, where she finished 4th in the 100 fly and 6th in the 200 free at the 2016 Ohio State Championship. She was also a Scholastic All-American honoree, four-time NCSA Junior National qualifier and Winter Junior National qualifier.
In her freshman year at FGCU, Fry finished in a season-best first place in the 100 fly in dual meets against UNF and FAU, finished runner-up in the 50 fly versus UNF and runner-up in the 200 free against UNC Asheville and turned in season and personal best times in the 100 and 200 fly during the CCSA Championship meet by touching the pads in 54.31 seconds and 2:01.85, respectively, which was good for a NCAA ‘B’ cut. She was tabbed CSCAA Honorable Mention Scholar All-American with 3.5 GPA or higher and NCAA 'B' time standard.
With her best rankings, Cassidy is gonna be a great force for the team.
Madison Jean has a lot of impact on the team.
Hailing from Parrish, Florida, Jean's swimming resume is more looked at than any NCAA National Championship.
Prior to FGCU, Jean competed and graduated from Lakewood Ranch High School and was listed as the 13th-ranked swimmer in Florida as told by CollegeSwimming.com and the 236th ranked swimmer in the nation. Jean was two-time All-American in the 100 fly, FHSAA state runner-up in the 100 fly on three occasions, 2015 FHSAA District 6 Champion in the 100 fly, 2x Bradenton Herald Swimmer of the Year and owns four school records.
In her freshman year, Jean turned in a season-best time of 55.22 seconds in the 100 fly at the Georgia Tech Invite, placed 4th in the 200 fly in a dual against Miami with a season-best time of 2:04.87, won the 50 fly (25.55 seconds) and finished 3rd in the 100 fly (57.51 seconds) in a dual against UNF, finished 2nd in the 100 free (53.05 seconds) vs. UNC Asheville and in the 100 fly (56.42 seconds) against Liberty.
Being ranked in the top 20 of all Florida High Schools is one thing, but for Madison being at FGCU brings a whole lot of impact.
For Lindsay Manganiello, FGCU was a whole new ballgame or this case a whole new swim meet, but now it was on.
Hailing from Miami, Florida, Manganiello swims freestyle.
Prior to FGCU, Manganiello swam for Coral Reef Senior High School. She was the 2015 FHSAA Region 4 Champion in the 100 back, 2015 FHSAA District 12 and Region 4 Champion in the 100 back and an All-Dade Second Team honoree.
In her freshman year at FGCU, Manganiello turned in season-best times in the 200 back and 200 IM at the Georgia Tech Invite in times of 2:10.15 and 2:16.81, respectively, finished 2nd in the 100 back against conference foe FAU to gain major points for the Eagles and swam a season-best time in the 100 back at the CCSA Championships in a time of 59.19 seconds.
For Lindsay, she will give it all she's got.
One of three returning divers is Stevie Meyerson.
Meyerson comes from Suffern, New York and I can say is a diving machine.
She graduated from Suffern High School under coach Victor Byrne. At the 2014 NYSPHSAA State Championships, she finished 4th with a personal-best score of 461.90 and was a NYSPHSAA All-Section, All-League and All-County honoree.
In her freshman year at FGCU, Meyerson finished with top scores in the 1m dive and 3m dive at the Blue-Green Scrimmage with marks of 211.45 and 203.25, respectively, placed 5th in both events against FAU with scores of 194.40 and 178.20 and finished 6th in both events against Miami.
With her diving experience in New York and at FGCU, Stevie will take diving to a whole new level.
By her appearance, Karin Schienvar looks more of a model than a swimmer, but say that to the native from Holmdel, New Jersey, she would laugh and then beat you in the dust before you hit the pool.
Schienvar swims freestyle, breaststroke and the individual medley.
She graduated from Holmdel High School and was tabbed by CollegeSwimming.com as the 22nd-ranked swimmer in New Jersey. Schienvar was All-State and All-Conference honoree, q mutli-year finalist at the YMCA National Championships and swam a personal best of 1:03.91 and finished 16th in the 100 breast at the 2016 Short Course National Championship.
In her freshman year at FGCU, Schienvar swam season-best times in the 100 breast and 200 breast at the Georgia Tech Invite with times of 1:04.89 and 2:26.30, respectively, placed 3rd in the 100 breast against UNF (1:07.08) and FAU (1:08.00), finished 4th in the 100 fly against UNC Asheville with a time of 59.62 seconds and finished with a lifetime best time in the 100 fly at the CCSA Championships with a time of 56.67 seconds.
With her recognition as a top 25 swimmer in New Jersey and new experience at FGCU, Karin will show that she can give it all she's got.
The other returning diver on the team is Natalie Keffer.
Keffer comes from San Gabriel, California. Keffer went to Gabrielino High School and competed under head coach Deliang Li. She finished 12th at the 2014-15 Division 3 Championships with a score of 284.30.
In her freshman year at FGCU, Keffer set a personal best at the CCSA Championships in the 3m dive with a score of 242.10 and turned in a mark of 218.80 in the 1m dive at the conference meet and placed 4th with a personal best of 230.70 in the 3m dive at the Green-Blue Scrimmage.
Keffer is surely gonna bring a excellent amount of impact to the team this year.
One of two Elizabeth's on the team is Elizabeth White.
White is a local from Ft. Myers, Florida and swims butterfly.
Prior to FGCU, White graduated from Riverdale High School and competed for coach Pam Barry. White was a two-time FHSAA State Championship Finalist and finished 4th in the 100 breast at the 2015 FHSAA State Championship in a personal-best time of 1:05.51. a 2015 FHSAA Region 3 runner-up in the 100 breast and a 2015 FHSAA District 9 Champion in the 100 breast.
In her freshman year at FGCU, White finished with season best times in the 100 breast (1:04.14), 200 breast (2:19.85) and 200 IM (2:13.12) at the CCSA Championships, which in the 200 IM was 4.5 seconds faster than any other performance in the event during the season. She also finished 1st in the 100 breast against FAU with a time of 1:06.31 and placed 4th in the 200 breast against FSU (2:21.16) and 3rd in the event against Miami (2:22.53). White didn’t finish outside the top-six in the 200 breast throughout the season
Lizzy is gonna be a great force on the team this year.
The last member of the sophomore that comes into play is Elizabeth Zeiger.
Zeiger comes from Cumberland, Rhode Island and swims freestyle and in the individual medley.
Prior to FGCU, Zeiger was homeschooled and competed for Crimson Aquatics, and was considered as one of FGCU's highest-ranked recruits in program history. She was tabbed by CollegeSwimming.com as the No.1 swimmer in Rhode Island and the 91st ranked swimmer in the nation. Zeiger was a two-time Junior National Finalist, a 2014 National Select Camp Qualifier and a 2016 US Olympic Trials qualifier in the 200 IM and 400 IM.
In her freshman year at FGCU, Zeiger finished 1st in the 400 IM with a season-best and NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 4:18.28 against FSU, good for 3rd all-time fastest in FGCU history, finished 2nd in the 1000 free against USC, a top-5 nationally ranked team, turned in the Eagles fastest times in the 500 free, 1000 free and 1650 free last season. She did so well, she earned CCSA All-Conference honors.
With her speed, Zeiger will once again blowout all her competition in the dust.
You can never be a team if you don't have any freshman to teach the ropes to, and these five freshman definetly come into play: Izzi Clark (back), Petra Halmai (IM/Fly/Breast), Rebecca Moynihan (Free/Back), Melissa Novak (Diving) and Megan Wakefield (Diving).
The first of five freshman is Izzi Clark.
Hailing from Wildwood, Missouri, Clark represents the Midwest in style and swims backstroke.
Prior to FGCU, Clark attended and graduated Fort Zumwalt West High School. She was rated as the 15th best swimmer in Missouri and has competed in numerous meets including the 2016 USA Swimming Futures Championships, the 2017 Speedo Sectionals - Central, the 2017 NCSA Spring Junior National Championships and the 2017 Arena Pro Swim Series - Mesa. She did that while earning both all-state and all-conference honors.
With her experience in competition, Izzi will show the Midwest and the world what she's got.
Joining FGCU with international experience is Petra Halmai.
Hailing from Dombovar, Hungary, Halmai swims butterfly, breaststroke and the individual medley.
Prior to FGCU, Halmai attended and graduated from Lanczos Kornel Secondari Grammar School and was coached by Laszlo Devay and Akos Sardi.
Selected as the best swimmer in her region five times, Halmai was a member of the winning 400 medley relay team and placed second in the 50 and 100 LCM back at the 2015 World Cup earning Olympic B times in the 200 breast, 200 IM and 100 back and finished third in the 50 breast at the 2016 Hungarian Championships.
With her swimming experience internationally, Petra will give it all she's got for her first year.
Another swimmer joining with international experience is Rebecca Moynihan.
Coming to FGCU from Palmerston North, New Zealand, Moynihan swims freestyle and backstroke and brings a whole new meaning to swimming.
Prior to FGCU, Moynihan attended Waiopehu College where she was named sportsperson of the year three years in a row. She won the gold medal and set the Wellington Regional record in the 50 free with a converted time of 23.33 seconds at the 2016 New Zealand Short Course Championships, finished in third in the 100 free, sixth in the 200 free, ninth in the 50 back and seventh in the 100 back at the event, placed fourth in the 50 free and 13th in the 100 free at the 2016 New Zealand Open Championships, which serves as the nation’s Olympic Trials and earned academic honors after finishing top of her class two years in a row as well as a runner-up academically last year.
With her experience from New Zealand, Moynihan will give it all she's got.
Joining the diving portion as one of two freshman is Melissa Novak.
Hailing from Frederick, Maryland, Novak brings a whole lot of meaning to diving.
Prior to FGCU, Novak competed for Oakdale High School under John Henderson and her diving resume tells all. She was the 2017 Maryland State Diving Champion, named First Team County Diver and county champion from 2015-2017.
Novak also had numerous Top 20 to Top 50 finishes in the 2017 USA Diving Zone A National Championships, 2016 USA Diving ATT National Championships and 2016 USA Diving Region 2 Junior Championships in one meter and three meter dives.
The last freshman and the other new diver is Megan Wakefield.
Hailing from Guelph, Ontario, Canada, Wakefield represents Canada in style like Rivas.
Prior to FGCU, Wakefield attended Centennial CVI under head coach Rob Wells. There she competed for Kitchener Waterloo Diving Club and competed at Canadian Nationals on three occasions while holding personal-best 3m score of 214.50 and excelled as a platform diver, where she turned in a personal record of 334.35.
For Wakefield, she will give diving a whole new journey of a lifetime.
Swimming and diving at FGCU is not always talked about and to see how much work they put in the pool and in the classroom, you know they are real smart cookies.
It is upsetting that some of our swimmers have transferred to other universities, but they did phenomenal for us and will never be forgotten.
Nevertheless, the swimming and diving will give a whole new meaning with a whole team and seeing returners like Soutar and Oppel comeback from injuries and seeing the newcomers like Halmai and Novak make the magic, it will show what they can do and what they are made of.
Below are a few pics with some of the swimmers and divers from last year.
PC:FGCUathletics.com for individual pics.
The first of five freshman is Izzi Clark.
Hailing from Wildwood, Missouri, Clark represents the Midwest in style and swims backstroke.
Prior to FGCU, Clark attended and graduated Fort Zumwalt West High School. She was rated as the 15th best swimmer in Missouri and has competed in numerous meets including the 2016 USA Swimming Futures Championships, the 2017 Speedo Sectionals - Central, the 2017 NCSA Spring Junior National Championships and the 2017 Arena Pro Swim Series - Mesa. She did that while earning both all-state and all-conference honors.
With her experience in competition, Izzi will show the Midwest and the world what she's got.
Joining FGCU with international experience is Petra Halmai.
Hailing from Dombovar, Hungary, Halmai swims butterfly, breaststroke and the individual medley.
Prior to FGCU, Halmai attended and graduated from Lanczos Kornel Secondari Grammar School and was coached by Laszlo Devay and Akos Sardi.
Selected as the best swimmer in her region five times, Halmai was a member of the winning 400 medley relay team and placed second in the 50 and 100 LCM back at the 2015 World Cup earning Olympic B times in the 200 breast, 200 IM and 100 back and finished third in the 50 breast at the 2016 Hungarian Championships.
With her swimming experience internationally, Petra will give it all she's got for her first year.
Another swimmer joining with international experience is Rebecca Moynihan.
Coming to FGCU from Palmerston North, New Zealand, Moynihan swims freestyle and backstroke and brings a whole new meaning to swimming.
Prior to FGCU, Moynihan attended Waiopehu College where she was named sportsperson of the year three years in a row. She won the gold medal and set the Wellington Regional record in the 50 free with a converted time of 23.33 seconds at the 2016 New Zealand Short Course Championships, finished in third in the 100 free, sixth in the 200 free, ninth in the 50 back and seventh in the 100 back at the event, placed fourth in the 50 free and 13th in the 100 free at the 2016 New Zealand Open Championships, which serves as the nation’s Olympic Trials and earned academic honors after finishing top of her class two years in a row as well as a runner-up academically last year.
With her experience from New Zealand, Moynihan will give it all she's got.
Joining the diving portion as one of two freshman is Melissa Novak.
Hailing from Frederick, Maryland, Novak brings a whole lot of meaning to diving.
Prior to FGCU, Novak competed for Oakdale High School under John Henderson and her diving resume tells all. She was the 2017 Maryland State Diving Champion, named First Team County Diver and county champion from 2015-2017.
Novak also had numerous Top 20 to Top 50 finishes in the 2017 USA Diving Zone A National Championships, 2016 USA Diving ATT National Championships and 2016 USA Diving Region 2 Junior Championships in one meter and three meter dives.
The last freshman and the other new diver is Megan Wakefield.
Hailing from Guelph, Ontario, Canada, Wakefield represents Canada in style like Rivas.
Prior to FGCU, Wakefield attended Centennial CVI under head coach Rob Wells. There she competed for Kitchener Waterloo Diving Club and competed at Canadian Nationals on three occasions while holding personal-best 3m score of 214.50 and excelled as a platform diver, where she turned in a personal record of 334.35.
For Wakefield, she will give diving a whole new journey of a lifetime.
Swimming and diving at FGCU is not always talked about and to see how much work they put in the pool and in the classroom, you know they are real smart cookies.
It is upsetting that some of our swimmers have transferred to other universities, but they did phenomenal for us and will never be forgotten.
Nevertheless, the swimming and diving will give a whole new meaning with a whole team and seeing returners like Soutar and Oppel comeback from injuries and seeing the newcomers like Halmai and Novak make the magic, it will show what they can do and what they are made of.
Below are a few pics with some of the swimmers and divers from last year.
PC:FGCUathletics.com for individual pics.
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| With Margot Kessler |
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| With Barbara Caraballo |
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| With Hannah Burdge |
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| With Evita Leter and Linda Shae |
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| With Georgie Gardener |
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