Minnesota Men’s Swimming Adds Croatian Star Hrvoje Capan

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, June 4. UNIVERSITY of Minnesota men's swimming and diving head coach Dennis Dale announced today that Hrvoje Capan (Zagreb, Croatia) has signed a scholarship offer to attend the University of Minnesota.

Capan, a member of the Croatian National Team, will bolster the Gophers' sprint and middle distance freestyle lineup. He competed for Croatia at the 2008 European Short Course Championships despite being just 17 years old. He competes for HAPK Mladost where Gopher 13-time All-American Igor Cerensek trains and coaches.

Capan will join junior college transfer and fellow Croatian Goran Majlat on the Gopher roster. He also joins a distinguished list of Croatians that have joined the Gopher program over the last decade. Igor Cerensek, Mario Delac and Ales Volcansek accumulated more than 25 All-America awards between them and helped Minnesota win Big Ten titles in 2004, 2005 and 2007. Maljat is seen as a future competitor on Croatia's national team, where Cerensek and Delac both made appearances at the 2004 Olympic Games.

"We are really excited to have Hrvoje join our program. The Croatians that we have had in our program in the past have primarily been sprint freestylers specializing in the 50 and 100 but Hrvoje's best event may be the 200," head coach Dennis Dale said. "He is exceptionally talented and has a bright future in front of him. We are very happy to renew the Croatian influence on our program. We were very fortunate to have such great student-athletes in Igor, Mario and Ales in the past and we know that Hrvoje will bring the same dedication and work ethic."

His top times in short course meters are 22.97 (50 free), 48.82 (100 free), 1:47.50 (200 free) and 3:52.05 (400 free).

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