The Minnesota Golden Gophers have added yet another breaststroker to their 2014 class that is bursting at the seams thanks to a verbal commitment from Elisa Burgstahler from the Minnetonka Swim Club and Cokato High School.
Burgstahler joins fellow club teammate Erin Buck in committing from Minnetonka: a club loaded with Gophers on its coaching staff.
In yards, Burgstahler’s bests are 1:03.74/2:20.33 in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes. She’s also solid in the 200 IM (2:09.96) and the three short freestyle races (24.91/52.71/1:53.30).
That makes at least four breaststrokers in a huge Minnesota class. Stacked up against each other, their times show like this:
- Elisa Burgstahler, 1:03.7/2:20.3
- Nicki Ciavarella, 1:03.7/2:19.3
- Rachel Munson, 1:01.1/2:15.5
- Katelyn Saunder, 1:03.6/2:24.3
- Olivia Johnston, 1:05.19/2:25.79
Given the Gophers’ success in the breaststroke races in the last half-decade, grabbing so many in this class is no surprise. Normally, it would be troublesome for a team to focus so much on one area in recruiting, but Minnesota has such a big class, numbering a dozen-or-so at this point, that they’ve still managed to put together a very well-rounded class.
If Minnesota had to target one specific specialty with the remainder of their recruiting efforts, a butterflier would make the most sense to put the final touches on this class, but all-told the Gophers have done more-than-enough to lock up one of the top 10 classes in the country already.
