The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles have added 3 more transfers in addition to sophomore Gracie Redding, who announced her intent this week to transfer from Florida State. While none will join the Eagles’ NCAA Championship squad immediately, the group does bring more depth in events where the CCSA Conference has been historically weak. FGCU has won the CCSA Conference in 7 of the 9 years that the program (and conference) has existed.
The three new additions are:
- Daniella van den Berg, Florida State
- Hannah Wittman, Pitt
- Leticia Odorici, Brazil
Van den Berg comes from Florida State, though because she sat out the 2015-2016 season never actually competed on the team with the aforementioned Redding. Like Redding, though, she is a Florida native who spent one season with the Seminoles before making the decision to transfer.
Her best events are the mid-distance freestyles, where she swam a 1:52.56 in the 200 free in high school and a 4:56.10 in the 500 free mid-season during her freshman season at Florida State (2014). The latter time would’ve placed her 6th at last year’s CCSA Conference Championship meet.
Wittman comes from a Pitt program that saw a change of head coach at the end of last season. Her primary contributions are in the IMs, where she has bests of 2:03.06 in the 200 yard distance and 4:23.66 in the 400. Those times would’ve netted her more than 50 points at last year’s CCSA Championship meet, including 4th in the 400 IM.
She has only used 1 year of eligibility so far.
Leticia Odorici is transferring from a college in her native Brazil, but has spent time in the United States training specifically with Planet Swim Aquatics. In her latest stint, she has been training in Florida since October, and has swum yards bests of 24.27 in the 50 free, 52.17 in the 100 free, and 1:53.67 in the 200 free. She ranks among Brazil’s 25 fastest 200 meter freestylers in history with a lifetime best of 2:03.64. That time, along with a 57.27 in the 100 long course meter free, indicate that she’s got faster potential than her yards times indicate, as both were done in 2013 when she was just 17.
The FGCU Eagles have scored at each of the last three NCAA Championships: the first three times they’ve done so in program history.
