Best Friends Kelly Fertel and Niki Urquidi Both Commit To Florida

Photo Courtesy: Niki Urquidi

Best friends Kelly Fertel and Niki Urquidi are seniors at Gulliver Prep High School in Miami and represent Gulliver Swim Club. The two will also be Florida Gators together, as they both gave verbal commitments this week to attend the university next fall.

The two say they did not initially plan to go to the same university, having taken separate recruiting trips. Urquidi made the decision to attend Florida first, with Fertel following the next day.

“It (having Urquidi decide to go to Florida) didn’t influence my decision, but now that I made it, it’ll make the transition a lot easier because she is my best friend,” Fertel said. “I’ll already have a little part of home with me, so it’ll make it a lot better as a transition.”

Fertel has an Olympic Trials qualifying time of 4:50.10 in the 400 IM, and as is the case with many IM swimmers, she also is a strong breaststroker. The Gators will be calling on Fertel to fill the gap left by the graduating NCAA finalist Hilda Luthersdottir when she arrives in Gainesville. Her current lifetime bests in the 100- and 200-yard breaststrokes are 1:03.93 and 2:15.26.

Fertel said she was attracted to Florida’s work ethic and the success head coach Gregg Troy has had with the likes of Elizabeth Beisel, Dan Wallace, Sebastien Rousseau and Ryan Lochte in the IM events.

“I got the wow factor, not just from the school but also the swim program,” Fertel said. “Obviously, growing up, I knew how successful Gregg Troy has been, especially in the IMs. At that point, when it came down to swimming and academics, it was an easy choice.”

As for Urquidi, her best events are the middle distance freestyles. She has an Olympic Trials cut in the 400 free with a 4:17.50, and is about a second off the Trials cut in the 200 free with a best time of 2:03.47. In yards, she holds best times of 1:49.14 in the 200 free and 4:48.95 in the 500 free.

“Looking at Florida, they have a great balance of (academics and athletics),” Urquidi said. “They have a lot of success with Coach (Martyn) Wilby and his distance swimmers. Overall, it seemed like a really good fit for what I wanted to do academically, and what I wanted to do with my swimming.”

Both also represent Gulliver High School, which won the girls’ 2A Florida state title last November under the guidance of coach Jeff Poppell. Fertel and Urquidi were part of the winning 400 free relay, while Fertel won the 200 IM state title with a 2:03.54.

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