Women's Recruiting - #8 Florida

Florida recruits tend to fall into one of two categories – bright kids from in state who dream of being a Gator or international student-athletes with their eyes on international success. What happens when they arrive in Gainesville is a melding of the two worlds. Florida kids continue to improve beyond the NCAA season to long course an international events while international students add the words “Academic All-American” to their already-impressive resumes.

It’s something to be proud of, and Head Coach Gregg Troy certainly is, “It has always been our commitment here at Florida to value the total improvement of the athlete. At the same time the academic grade point and progress of the athletes in always among the best.”

This year’s class might be the most efficiently-built one in the nation. The Gators didn’t pick up many swimmers, but they didn’t need to. “We did exactly what we planned to do,” said Troy. “After our large recruiting class last year, we pinpointed to fit our needs. We wanted a small class and it worked perfectly.”

Not only is the class small and efficient, its largely homegrown. “One of our goals is to always keep the best Florida kids in the state.” To do that the Gators keep very closely associated with the local high school and club programs and have a successful camp program.

Jaime Bohunicky makes the shortest trip to campus – just a few minutes. The Gainesville native swam with the Gator Swim Club since 8th grade and liked what she saw. “I was able to observe the UF coaches, training and swim meets for the past 5 years.” That was enough for her to cross Georgia, Auburn, California and Arizona off her list. “It is a unique experience to grow up in a college town and to have awesome coaches and facilities in your own backyard. Being an athlete in Gainesville is exciting.”

Equally exciting is having the nation’s top distance recruit make the trip from Sarasota. Corinne Showalter is just that. The National Junior Teamer brought home a Bronze medal at the 2007 Pan Am games and gives the Gators one of their best freestyle recruits since Caroline Burckle.

Eva Lehtonen is the lone out-of-stater of Florida’s class. The distance and IM specialist represented Finland at the summer games in Beijing. Training with the Oakland Live Y’ers, Lehtonen holds five Finnish records. “She comes highly recommended from her program in Michigan – a program that regularly produces some of the best swimmers.”

Kaitlin Taylor was a late addition to Florida’s class. While not a top-100 recruit like her fellow freshmen, the Lake Highland native is another example of a growing up with visions of swimming for her home state. The flyer/IM’er will add depth to this class and, if the pattern holds, become the type of success story that keeps coaches sending their kids to Gainesville.

Bohunicky, Jamie	77.79	14	Gainesville, FL	Gator Swim Club
Lehtonen, Eva	72.15	36	Oakland, MI / Finland	Oakland Live Y'ers
Showalter, Corinne	72.08	38	Sarasota, FL
Taylor, Kaitlin	50.12	294	Lake Highland, FL	Highlander Aquatic Club

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