Auburn Signs 16
The Auburn swimming and diving team signed 16 athletes
to National Letters of Intent during the NCAA early signing period, head
coach Brett Hawke announced Wednesday.
Swimmers Dagny Knutson, Emily Bos, Haley Krakoski, Erin Reisinger,
Olivia Scott, Siena DeVenuto and Yennifer Marquez will add depth to the
2010-11 Auburn women. Joining the men’s squad are swimmers Zane
Grothe, Nimrod Hayet, Dakota Hodgson, TJ Leon, Chris Manning, Evan
Noble, James Disney-May, Dimitri Higgins and diver John Santieu.
“We are very excited about this recruiting class,” Hawke said.
“The coaching staff worked really hard to bring in the best
athletes for the future and I feel that we reached our goals.
“This class will bring a great balance with what they bring to the
team and will fill the holes we will have next season. Not only are they
great athletes, but also great students and will help continue
Auburn’s legacy of being outstanding student-athletes. ”
Knutson is a six-star recruit by Swimming World Magazine and was named
the national High School Swimmer of the Year. The Minot, N.D., native
earned a silver medal at the 2009 World Championships as a member of the
800m free relay prelim team. Knutson earned seven medals (six gold) at
the 2009 Junior National Championships and broke a 30-year-old record in
the 200m free. She set the American record in the 400y IM at the 2008
Short Course National Championships and, most recently, set new American
high school records in the 200 IM and 100 free at the 2009 North Dakota
State Championships.
“Dagny is a superstar in the making,” Hawke said. “It is exciting
to know that we have that level of swimmer joining us next year.”
Four five-star recruits join Knutson in Bos, Krakoski, Reisinger and
Scott. Bos hails from Holland, Mich., and owns U.S. Senior National Long
Course Championships cut times in the 100m free, 100m back and 100m fly.
She has also reached NCAA B times in the 100y back. Krakoski, a Paradise
Valley, Ariz., has set senior national cuts in the 50m free and 100m fly
and has recorded NCAA B standard times in the 100y free and 200y free.
Reisinger, a Marietta, Ga., product, will provide depth in the
backstroke events for Auburn. She has picked up senior national cut
times in both the 100m and 200m back and would have qualified for the
2009 NCAA Championships in the 100y and 200y back. Scott, of Aurora,
Ill., will be an asset in many strokes as she has recorded senior
national times in the 50m free, 100m free, 100m back, 200m back, 100m
fly and 200m IM.
Joining the already strong group is four-star recruit Siena DeVenuto
and junior college transfer Yennifer Marquez. DeVenuto will come to
Auburn from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and give the Tigers depth in the
distance freestyle events. Marquez is a National Junior College Athletic
Association record-holder in the 100y and 200y free and was named 2009
NJCAA Female Swimmer of the Year as a part of the Indian River State
College national title team.
Diver John Santeiu, a Dearborn Heights, Mich., native, will come to
Auburn as an All-American and as a Michigan state champion. Santeiu, who
attends University of Detroit Jesuit High School, is a two-time Junior
Nationals qualifier and reached the platform finals last season,
finishing eighth.
Six five-star athletes in Grothe, Hayet, Hodgson, Leon, Manning and
Noble join the eight-time national champion Auburn men. Grothe, of
Boulder City, Nev., will provide depth in the distance events for
Auburn, having recorded senior national times in the 400m and 1500m
freestyle events.
Leon and Manning will give the Tigers even more strength in the sprint
events. Leon, the Mobile, Ala., product has senior national cuts in the
50m free, 100m free and 100m fly. Manning, the Brantford, Ontario,
native, has times in the same three events that would have qualified him
for the U.S. Long Course Senior Nationals.
Adding depth in the fly events will be Hayet and Hodgson. Hayet, who
attends the college prep Peddie School in Highstown, N.J., swam senior
national times in the 100m and 200m fly, while Hodgson, of Nashville,
Tenn., has recorded times in those same events. Noble, a Troy, Ill.,
product, will provide depth in a variety of events, including both the
200 and 400 IM.
Also joining the group are Dimitri Higgins and James Disney-May.
Higgins, of Spotsylvania, Va., and Disney-May, a Surrey, England,
native, will both come to Auburn as competitive and successful
sprinters. Higgins was a part of the 400 free relay that won the junior
national title. Disney-May is Britain’s age group record holder in the
100m free and is the national youth champion in the 50m and 100m free.
