Courtesy: Tennessee Athletics
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – On Monday, Tennessee director of swimming and diving Matt Kredich announced the addition of 14 signees for the women’s program’s 2021 signing class.
“The Tennessee women’s swimming and diving class of 2021 may prove to be the strongest class we’ve ever signed,” Kredich said. “Coming on the heels of our previous two classes, that is a very high bar, but considering the depth, versatility, and diversity of this class, there is no doubt they will make a tremendous impact on this team. We’re excited about them because to a person they embody the greatest attributes of a Lady Vol swimmer and diver. They are selfless and team focused, relentless in pursuit of improvement and are all outstanding students. This group brings a great combination of experience – both national and international – and great enthusiasm that comes with rapid improvement. We are really excited to bring all of them to Rocky Top in 2021.”
Tennessee welcomes 13 swimmers and one diver in a class that features student-athletes from across the country as well as Canada, Germany, Great Britain and Ireland.
A full listing of the Lady Vols’ 14 newest members can be viewed below. For the most up-to-date information on Tennessee swimming & diving, follow @Vol_Swim on Twitter and Instagram.
Madison Reese
Oakton, Virginia
Events: 1M | 3M | Platform
Diving Coach Dave Parrington: “I’m pumped to have Maddie join us on Rocky Top this coming fall, who has excelled mostly on platform to this point, as evidenced by her excellent results in our own pool at the 2019 USA Diving Junior National Championships, where she was victorious in the prelims. She has shown fantastic prowess on the springboards too, which will be enhanced once she gets into our excellent strength and conditioning program.”
Amber Myers
Granite Bay, California
Events: Backstroke | Freestyle
50 Freestyle: 23.25 / 26.41
100 Freestyle: 50.74
200 Freestyle: 1:49.89
100 Backstroke: 54.83 / 1:03.74
200 Backstroke: 1:58.72 / 2:16.24
Kredich: “Amber’s trajectory of improvement, her versatility and her enthusiasm for our culture have us all really excited. Amber’s been very well coached and will be ready to hit the ground running when she reaches Knoxville. With her speed, her range and her ability to train, we can see her making our backstroke and freestyle groups a lot deeper and stronger.”
Asia Minnes
Vernon, British Columbia, Canada
Events: Breaststroke | Backstroke | IM | Freestyle
50 Freestyle: 23.14
100 Freestyle: 49.97
100 Backstroke: 53.87
100 Breaststroke: 1:00.61
200 Breaststroke: 2:16.70
200 IM: 1:58.65
Kredich: “Asia has a tremendous and very unusual combination of speed and range in every stroke. While Asia is one of the quickest breaststrokers in the class, she could conceivably fit into our relays in any spot. Like so many others in this class, her versatility and competitiveness have us really excited about her potential in the IM. Asia’s work ethic, versatility, power and speed call to mind a lot of the Lady Vol greats from recent years.”
Brooklyn Douthwright
Riverview, New Brunswick, Canada
Events: Freestyle | Butterfly
50 Freestyle: 26.04 LCM
100 Freestyle: 55.53 LCM
200 Freestyle: 1:59.69 LCM
100 Butterfly: 1:01.90 LCM
Kredich: “Brooklyn has been one of Canada’s rising young stars in the past couple of years and has some big goals to continue to excel on the international stage. She’s a fantastic freestyler who will help all of our relays and has some real ability in the fly and backstroke as well. Brooklyn’s recruiting process was very thorough and very impressive and we’re very fortunate that the Lady Vol values and culture inspired her to make her next home in Tennessee.”
Cory Shanks
League City, Texas
Events: Freestyle | Butterfly | IM
50 FS: 22.60
100 FS: 49.27
200 FS: 1:48.20
500 FS: 4:54.67
50 Fly: 24.81
100 Fly: 53.74
200 IM: 2:01.37
Kredich: “Cory really impressed us throughout the recruiting process with both her team-focused attitude and her relentless desire to improve. Cory was one of the breakout stars of early 2020, showing some outstanding speed and range in free and fly events. This winter she picked up where she left off and is on a great path to be able to come in and have an impact at the SEC level immediately.”
Ellen Walshe
Dublin, Ireland
Events: Butterfly | Breaststroke | IM
100 Fly: 59.54 LCM
200 Fly: 2:09.94 SCM
200 BR: 2:34.23 LCM
200 IM: 2:11.64 SCM
400 IM: 4:38.38 SCM
Kredich: “Ellen is one of Ireland’s rising young stars and her coach believes she’s only just scratching the surface of what she can do. She’s a fierce competitor, which will make her feel right at home on our team and has both short course skills and long course stamina. Her butterfly is fantastic and we’re equally excited about her potential in the IM events.”
Josephine Fuller
Glen Allen, Virginia
Events: Backstroke | Butterfly
50 FS: 23.17
100 FS: 50.72
100 BK: 52.91
200 BK: 1:56.08
200 IM: 2:02.06
400 IM: 4:22.62
Kredich: “We’re really excited about Josephine’s future at Tennessee. We initially recruited her as a backstroker, and she’s one of the best in her class, but she has shown herself to have four great strokes and some impressive speed. She’s got a great technical foundation in the water and on land from a great club and we think she’s going to make a tremendous impact on the SEC and at the NCAA level.”
Julia Mrozinski
Hamburg, Germany
Events: Freestyle | Butterfly | IM
50 Freestyle: 25.27 / 25.72
100 Freestyle: 54.59 / 55.19
200 Freestyle: 1:55.43 / 1:58.28
200 Butterfly: 2:10.16 LCM
200 IM: 2:15.92
400 IM: 4:42.39
Kredich: “Julia is one of the best swimmers in the world for her age. She is versatile and powerful, having enough speed to help us on our shortest relays, while at the same time, she is outstanding at the distance events as well. Her IM’s are world class and she will be able to have an impact at the NCAA level in many events. It was clear to us in recruiting that Julia was going to be thorough in her search for an extraordinary team environment that would also allow her to pursue her highest goals at the international level and we’re thrilled that she found that in Tennessee.”
Kate McCarville
Springfield, Missouri
Events: Freestyle | Backstroke | Butterfly | IM
200 Freestyle: 1:47.61
500 Freestyle: 4:48.93
1,000 Freestyle: 9:58.72
1,650 Freestyle: 16:37.26
200 Backstroke: 1:58.22
100 Butterfly: 53.62
200 Butterfly: 1:56.63
200 IM: 1:58.86
400 IM: 4:12.22
Kredich: “Kate’s infectious enthusiasm for swimming had us hooked early on in the recruiting process and the more we learned about her the more excited we are to have her at Tennessee. She, like everyone in this class, has the ability to make a big impact in the SEC in multiple events and distances. She is an accomplished flyer, freestyler and IM’er and helps to make this an incredibly strong IM class. Kate has been a tremendous leader on her team and completely embodies the ethos of a Lady Vol swimmer.”
Lauren Wetherell
English Frankton, Great Britain
Events: Freestyle
200 Freestyle: 2:03.35 LCM
400 Freestyle: 4:18.36 LCM
800 Freestyle: 8:49.91 LCM
1,500 Freestyle: 16:59.65 LCM
Kredich: “Lauren is one of the UK’s best distance swimmers and with others in this class will make our mid distance and distance group one of the most dynamic and exciting in the country. Lauren’s experience has her very well prepared for Tennessee. She’s been very well coached in the UK and has also had a taste of elite team swimming from her time at Bolles High School in Florida. She’s excelled in high level international competitions as well and will unquestionably be SEC ready when she gets here.”
Sammy Huff
Noblesville, Indiana
Events: Breaststroke | IM
50 Breaststroke: 29.39
100 Breaststroke: 1:02.79
200 Breaststroke: 2:20.15
200 IM: 2:05.55
Kredich: “We’re really excited about Sammy’s future. Although she is one of the top 2021 breaststrokers in the US, she’s been a little under the radar and we believe she has a lot of growth ahead of her. She’s going to come into a young breaststroke group and help mold the future of that group. Like others in this class, our team culture and values resonated deeply with her.”
Sara Stotler
Middleburg, Florida
Events: Freestyle | Butterfly | IM
100 Freestyle: 50.11
200 Freestyle: 1:47.61
100 Butterfly: 53.35
200 Butterfly: 1:58.04
200 IM: 2:00.85
Kredich: “Our staff took notice of Sara at a couple of meets as being a really special swimmer, but as we got to know her she became even more impressive. She not only demonstrates all of the qualities of the ideal Lady Vol, but has embraced that identity even more fully since she committed to Tennessee. Sara is fast enough to have an impact on all of our relays already and we only see her getting better.”
Summer Eaker
Charlotte, North Carolina
Events: Freestyle
200 Freestyle: 1:49.69 / 2:04.29
400 Freestyle: 4:56.94 / 4:18.87
800 Freestyle: 9:57.33 / 8:54.97
1,500 Freestyle: 16:51.87 / 16:57.55
Kredich: “We first saw Summer at a meet in our pool and then again in a practice in her home pool and in both environments, she stood out in her ability to move through the water through a range of speeds. Summer’s pursuit of excellence in the classroom and in the pool is inspiring and will fit right into our team culture. Summer has a very strong foundation from her club team and we feel strongly that she’ll thrive here and become one of the SEC’s elite distance/mid distance swimmers.”
Summer Smith
Agawam, Massachusetts
Events: IM | Butterfly | Backstroke | Freestyle
500 FS: 4:47.90
1,000 FS: 9:54.56
1,650 FS: 16:21.49
100 BK: 54.41
200 BK: 1:55.07
200 Fly: 1:57.81
200 IM: 2:00.42
400 IM: 4:12.50
Kredich: “Summer is one of the most versatile and accomplished swimmers to ever commit to Tennessee. She’s a member of the USA Swimming National Junior Team and can do just about any event well. She has been outstanding in both the long course and short course pools and has a work ethic and a hunger that will ensure that she’ll keep improving. She has four great strokes and is getting better across all of her events. She’s going to be a key part of our 200 and 400 IM groups, but she could swim any one of 6-8 events at the SEC meet. We’re really excited to see how she develops over her four years here.”
