Florida International University swimmer Naomi Ruele was named the Junior Female Sportsperson of the Year by the Botswana National Sports Council on June 6th.
Ruele will be representing Botswana in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. On March 20th at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, Ruele qualified for the 50 freestyle with a time of 26.07. She is the first swimmer and second female from Botswana to qualify for the Olympics.
Ruele just completed her sophomore year at FIU, where she competes in sprint freestyle and backstroke events. During her 2015-16 season, Ruele was extremely competitive in both the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke. The 50 freestyle is her best event; she has posted times under 23 seconds five times, including a 22.33 in the prelims of the C-USA Championships and her record-setting time of 22.23 in the finals.
Ruele had an amazing C-USA Championships, winning gold in each of the seven events she swam in (three individual, four relays). She was named the C-USA Swimmer of the Meet for her spectacular performance, setting two school records during the championships (100 Free and 200 Free Relay).
