North Carolina Adds Nine More Recruits

CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina, June 4. UNIVERSITY of North Carolina head swimming coach Rich DeSelm announced Monday that an additional nine prospective student-athletes will be joining the Tar Heel aquatics program this fall. This increases next year's total number of newcomers to 24, including the 15 who signed with the Tar Heels last fall. The recruiting class includes 12 men and 12 women.

Spring commitments on the women's side include Kaitlyn Furey, Allison Haufler, Ally Hardesty and Ann Goessling. The men's signees include incoming freshmen Chris Gondeck, Sean Sullivan and Kurt Wohlrab as well as transfers Brad Dillon and David Speese from the University of Maryland.

Kaitlyn Furey is anative of Carrboro, N.C., who competes for head coach Sean Quinn at the North Carolina Aquatic Club. She is primarily a sprint and middle distance freestyler. Furey has career best times of 51.82 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle and 1:50.66 in the 200-yard freestyle. “Kaitlyn and her club teammate Chris Gondek join us at UNC as two more in a long line of swimmers and divers hailing from our local club team, NCAC,” says DeSelm. “She has steadily improved throughout high school and we are eager to help her continue that improvement on the national level.”

Allison Haufler hails from Ashburn, Va., where she competes for head coach Dan Jacobs at Machine Aquatics. She is a 2012 alumnus of Briar Woods High School. Her career best times are 55.79 in the 100-yard butterfly and 2:03.87 in the 200-yard butterfly. “Alli visited UNC on our Junior Day and almost immediately let us know UNC was her No. 1 choice,” says DeSelm. “She has steadily improved and will join a great group of women in this incoming class. We have a deep group of flyersthis season and we expect them all to improve by pushing one another.”

Ally Hardesty comes to Chapel Hill from Knoxville, Tenn., where she competes for the Pilot AquaticClub under the direction of head coach Jim Rumbaugh. A sprint and middle distance freestyler she has career best clockings of 50.52 in the 100-yard freestyle and 1:48.28 in the 200-yard freestyle. She is an alumnus of Bearden High School where she swam with current UNC rising sophomore John Paul Gaylor. “We are excited to have Ally join us at UNC. She comes from an athletic family, including relatives who have played football and water polo,” says DeSelm. “We hope to help her use her tall frame and natural speed to continue to improve and contribute in the shorter freestyle events and on relays.”

Ann Goessling joins the Tar Heels from St. Louis, Mo. She competed there for the CSP Tideriders under the direction of head coach Dave McCrary. She attended Mary Insitute and St. Louis Country Day School in Ladue, Mo. Goessling's top times are 1:05.06 in the 100-yard breaststroke and 2:04.74 in the 200-yard individual medley. “Annie also visited during her junior year and expressed strong interest in UNC,” DeSelm says. “She is a terrific student and has continued to develop in the pool. We think she will blossom in the pool in college.”

Brad Dillon hails from Reston, Va., and competed for the Curl-Burke Swim Club for coach John Flanagan. He transfers to Carolina after swimming his first two years collegiately for coach Sean Schimmel at the University of Maryland. Dillon graduated from South Lakes High School in 2010. Dillon has career best times of 48.66 in the 100-yard backstroke and1:45.57 in the 200-yard backstroke. As a sophomore in 2012, he finished 10th in the 100-yard backstroke, 10th in the 200-yard backstroke and 16th in the 500-yard freestyle at the ACC Championships. “Brad has been a steady ACC scorer and will make an immediate impact at UNC,” says DeSelm. “He developed in high school under John Flannigan at CUBU and continued improving at Maryland. We are excited to add an experienced swimmer to our team.”

Chris Gondek is a Chapel Hill native who swims for head coach Sean Quinn at the North Carolina Aquatic Club. A 2012 alumnus of Carrboro High School, he has career best times of 47.30 in the 100-yard freestyle and 1:43.53 in the 200-yard freestyle. “Chris is also a member of our local team, NCAC, and has steadily improved. He has a terrific kick and should continue to improve with more specialized training,” said DeSelm.

David Speese is a transfer from the University of Maryland who comes to Chapel Hill after swimming one season for the Terrapins. A native of Doylestown, Pa., he was coached by Sean Schimmel at UM and he did his club swimming for the Central Bucks Swim Team where he was mentored by Stu Kukla. He attended high school at La Salle College High School in Wyndmoor, Pa. Speese has career best times of 55.57 in the 100-yard breaststroke and 1:58.04 in the 200-yard breaststroke. At the 2012 ACC Championships he finished 12th in the 100-yard breaststroke and tied for fourth in the 200-yard breaststroke. “David has scored at the ACC level and has Olympic Trial qualifying times,” says DeSelm. “We are excited to bring a proven ACC finalist into our breaststroke corps. Hisexperience and work ethic should help everyone in the group.”

Sean Sullivan is an Alexandria, Va., native and another veteran of the Curl-Burke Swim Club where he was mentored by Jeff King. Apromising freestyle sprinter, he has career best times of 20.58 in the 50-yard freestyle and 45.23 in the 100-yard freestyle. “Sean also committed to UNC early in his senior year and has steadily improved. With our losses to graduation of several key members of our sprint relays, we are excited to work with Sean toward his continued improvement,” says DeSelm.

Kurt Wohlrab rounds out this year's recruiting class. A native of Pinehurst, N.C., he swims for the Sandhills Sandsharks under the direction of coach Taylor Cooper. Wohlrab's career best times include a 55.63 in the 100-yard breaststroke, a 2:02.16 in the 200-yard breaststroke and a 49.75 in the 100-yard butterfly. “Kurt is quick and explosive and we think with more strength, power and training, he will develop into a terrific breaststroker/butterflier,” says DeSelm. “We are excited to have one of the best breaststrokers from North Carolina stay in state to join us.”

Last November, UNCannounced the initial 15 recruits for the Class of 2016. This group included eight women and seven men who signed National Letters Of Intent during the 2011-12 early signing period last November.

That women's class last November includes swimmers Madison Burns of Allentown, Pa., Rachel Canty of Burke, Va., Lauren Earp ofToronto, Ontario, Annie Harrison of Toronto, Ontario, Hannah Lincoln of Raleigh, N.C., Emma Nunn of Richmond, Va., Kendall Surhoff of Cockeysville,Md., and diver Erin Purdy of Deerfield, Ill.
The Class of 2016 fall signees on the men's side included swimmers Ben Colley of Williamsburg, Va., Mitch DeForest of Cary, N.C., Nic Graesser of Wayne, Pa., Logan Heck of Mooresville, N.C., Matt Kwatyra of London, Ontario, Sam Lewis of Alpharetta, Ga., and diver Ozzie Moyer of Harleysville, Pa.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x