Florida Gulf Coast coach Neal Studd continues to build a mid-major power by dipping into the international recruiting pool. His latest signing is Nina Schiffer, a 2008 German Olympian.
Schiffer is 21 years old, and her times have hit a bit of a plateau since 2010, but her potential impact on the Eagles at both the conference and national level is impressive. She comes in as a middle-distance swimmer with some good versatility. In long course meters, she’s been 2:09.3 in the 200 fly, a 4:43 in the 400 IM, and a 2:00.4 in the 200 free. Those times convert to 1:53, 4:09, and 1:45-low, respectively, in yards.
Add to that a 1:01.3 in the 100 fly (53.7), and if she can regain her form c. 2010, Florida Gulf Coast could in the next two years add a relay qualification for the NCAA Championships to the program’s first-ever individual qualifier scored last season in the form of Emma Svensson.
What’s more is that all three of those times would have easily won their respective titles at last year’s CCSA conference championship meet, a meet that the Eagles already won by 100 points ahead of runners-up Liberty. FGCU graduated a lot of swimmers from their title-winning team last year, but Schiffer’s addition should help them in their quest to extend the conference championship streak to 6-straight years.
Schiffer is expected to join the Eagles in the fall of 2013.
I don’t see anyone touching FGCU. Go Eagles!