The 2011-2012 recruiting class has been a really strange one, overall. We’ve seen very good swimmers coming out of very unusual places (Mississippi, Wyoming, and even Kuwait); a Georgia men’s team that’s signed more swimmers than a scholarship limit seems like it should allow; a huge influx of Canadian women; and big-time talent signing at Division II Universities.
First, a top-20 women’s recruit Mariya Chekanovych signed with pending Division II Canadian University Simon Fraser, though there’s a close family connection. The latest is that Division II school Grand Canyon University has signed Jack Feely to a letter of intent. He’s the top-rated recruit out of New Mexico, which many years wouldn’t say much but this season is pretty significant.
Feely is a middle-distance freestyler with bests of 1:40.84 (in altitude) and 4:29.97 in the 200 and 500 freestyles. That 500 time is going to be a huge difference maker for the Lopes, as it would already crush the school record by 6 seconds and put him into the A-Final at the NCAA Championships.
The Phoneix schools is one of the top Division II programs in the country, and finished 5th at the 2012 Division II NCAA Championships.
Word?
Thanks for picking up the release. One slight clarification
In January, the NCAA announced that Simon Fraser’s move to DII has been stalled due to accreditation issues having to do with differences in the Canadian v. US systems I believe.. Not clear when they will acutually be abe to complete the transition. It is not clear that we will get to see their swimmers at NCAAs any time soon.