Dec. 19, 2012
Coach Hovland Announcement
ROCHESTER, Mich.- A total of 15 athletes have signed to compete for the Oakland swimming and diving teams next season, head coach Pete Hovland announced on Wednesday. This is one of the largest early signing classes in the Division I era.
| Athlete |
Height
|
Event |
Hometown |
Previous School |
Player Highlights |
| Aleksander Danielewski |
6-2 |
Back |
Piaseczno, Poland |
XIII Liceum Ogolnoksztallcace HS |
▪ Fourth at Polish Senior Nationals in 100 back in 2011
▪Three-time National champion at Polish Junior Nationals |
| John Ferrara |
6-3 |
Back |
Livonia, Michigan |
Livonia Stevenson HS |
▪ Two-time All-State honoree
▪ USA Scholastic All-American in 2012 |
| Tuomas Kiviluoma |
6-0 |
Free/Fly |
Espoo, Finland |
Espoonlahden Lukio HS |
▪ Two-time Finnish Champion in the 4x200 free relay
▪ Bronze medlaist at Finnish Championships in 100 fly and 100 IM |
| Jeremiah Morren |
6-1 |
Free |
Holland, Michigan |
Holland HS |
▪ State D2 champion in the 100 free
▪ Two-time All-American and All-State |
| Steven Neill |
5-10 |
Free |
Farmington Hills, Michigan |
Farmington HS |
▪ State champion in the 800-meter long course in 2011
▪ Named Academic All-American in 2011 |
| Jacob Pearson |
?-? |
Pearson |
Tinley Park, Illinois |
Lincoln Way North HS |
▪ Sectional Champion in the 200- and 500 yard freestyle
▪ State Meet qualifier last two seasons |
| Patricia Aschan |
5-9 |
Free/I.M. |
Raisio, Finland |
N/A |
▪ Finnish champion from 2008-11
▪ Holds Finnish records in the 800- and 1500-meter short course |
| Takara Martin |
5-7 |
Breast |
Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada |
Hammarskjold HS |
▪ Top 20 in Canada in the 100-meter breast
▪ 2012 Olympic Trial qualifier |
| Lindsay Mcleod |
6-0 |
IM |
Cowies Hill Park, South Africa |
Homeschooled |
▪ Won 200-meter IM at Africa Junior Championships in 2011
▪ Finished eighth in 400-meter IM at South Africa Nationals-Durban |
| Hannah Oswald |
5-5 |
Fly |
Windsor, Ontario - Canada |
Sandwich Secondary HS |
▪ Winner of 200-meter butterfly at Ontario Provincial Championships
▪ Runner-up in 200 fly at Canadian Age Group Nationals |
| Stella Pasalidou |
5-4 |
IM |
Thessaloniki, Greece |
Chortiati HS |
▪ National champion in the 400-IM LCM
▪ Balkan Junior champion in the 400 IM, 200 IM and 200 fly |
| Kelsey Stark |
5-3 |
Free |
Lambertville, Michigan |
Bedford Senior HS |
▪ All-State in the 100-yard freestyle
▪ Member of Two-time SMISL Championship teams |
| Melissa VanderMuelen |
5-9 |
Breast/Free |
Holland, Michigan |
Holland HS |
▪ State Champion in 200 Medley Relay
▪ Member of back-to-back State Championship teams |
| Rachel Waite |
5-6 |
Breast |
Tecumseh, Michigan |
Tecumseh HS |
▪ State Champion in the 100-yard breast
▪ Earned All-State honors all four years of high school |
| Lauren Wynalda |
5-6 |
Free/Fly |
Wyoming, Michigan |
Grandville HS |
▪ All-State in the 100-yard butterfly
▪ Qualified for 200-free and 200-free relay at the state meet in 2012 |
Hovland on the Early Signing Class
"We are real fortunate that we hit on some of our top recruits. Whenever you have a senior class as accomplished as ours is, you never think you are going to be able to replace them with a recruiting class. But when you look at it, and maybe it is too early to tell, but just looking at their times and their rankings we may have done that. We may have found a replacement for Anders (Jensen) and Tobias (Hansen). Same thing on the women's side with Vanessza (Balogh) and Sandra (Czerska). So we are really excited and with this depth and quality we hopefully won't miss a beat and it won't take us a year of development or another recruiting class or two to recruiting classes to replace those graduating seniors."
#FightOakland
