Miami Opens Season with Florida Gulf Coast, Florida State
Sept. 30, 2011
Coral Gables, Fla. – Under the direction of head swimming coach Christie Shefchunas and head diving coach Randy Ableman, the University of Miami Swimming & Diving team will host Florida Gulf Coast and Florid State for a tri-meet at the Norman A. Whitten University Center Pool on Saturday, Oct. 1 at 10 a.m. Admission is free.
Set to begin her sixth year at the helm of the UMiami swimming program, Shefchunas and the Hurricanes welcome back plenty of talent from the 2010-11 campaign. Junior Sofia Johansson (Ramlösa, Sweden) returns as the school’s first Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) swimming champion, winning the 100-yard breaststroke last year. Johansson also set a school record in the 100 breast at the ACC Championships.
Also back for the Canes are seniors Kelsi Hall (Yorktown, Ind.), Dana Hatic (Coral Springs, Fla.) and Whitney Stephenson (Grass Valley, Calif.) in addition to junior Christine Anderson (Chattanooga, Tenn.).
Stephenson set a school record three times in her first year with the Hurricanes after transferring from Kentucky. She broke the UM record twice in the 100-yard backstroke and once in the 200 back. She posted all Top 15 times in the 100 back on the year for the Canes. She recorded an NCAA “B” cut time in the 100 back at the Georgia Bulldog Invitational towards the end of the year.
UMiami divers will be in action tomorrow as well. Veteran diving coach Randy Ableman is set to begin his 23rd year in Coral Gables. He returns a number of divers that should vie for both ACC and NCAA titles at the end of the season.
On the men’s side, Samuel Dorman (Tempe, Ariz.) returns as the only male diver after a stellar freshman year in 2010-11. He finished third on the 1-meter springboard at the NCAA Zone “B” Championships, qualifying for the NCAA Championships. He went on to compete in both the 1- and 3-meter events at the NCAA Championships.
Three of the four female divers return from last year’s team, including senior Carrie Dragland (Woodinville, Wash.). Dragland claimed All-America honors in all three diving events last year at the NCAA Championships, becoming the first female diver at UMiami to accomplish the task since Jenny Keim in 2000.
Also back are sophomores Lindsay Lester (San Jose, Calif.) and Thea Vock (Clermont, Fla.). Lester finished fourth at the ACC Championships last year in the 1-meter event. Vock was an NCAA participant in the 1- and 3-meter event after finishing eighth in the NCAA Zone “B” Championships on the 1-meter board.
For more information on the University of Miami swimming & diving team, please log on to HurricaneSports.com. Once there, you will find up-to-date news, results and information regarding the Hurricanes swimming & diving program.
Fans can keep up-to-date with all UM Athletics via twitter at Twitter.com/HurricaneSports. You can also become a fan of the Hurricanes on Facebook at Facebook.com/MiamiHurricanes.
