Texas Women’s Team Signs Standout Class

AUSTIN, Texas, November 21. THE University of Texas women's swimming and diving team announced on Thursday that they have signed six student-athletes for next year.

Four of the swimmers hail from Texas in Julie Galloway (Houston, Texas), Delia Hung (Austin, Texas), Hayley McGregory (Houston, Texas) and Lindsay Voyles (Austin, Texas), while two of the signees are from out of state with Macie Garrett (Nashville, Tenn.) and Diana MacManus (Irvine, Calif.) residing from Tennessee and California, respectively.

"I sincerely believe this could be one of the finest classes our program has ever recruited since I've been here," Texas co-head coach Jill Sterkel said. "This group is not only talented in the pool, but they are all outstanding people. They are the type of swimmers that make you excited to be a coach and come to the pool on a daily basis because you know they share the same enthusiasm and dedication to continue the tradition of Texas swimming and diving."

Galloway, who grew up in Houston and trained under Randy Reese at Circle C Swimming, excels in every stroke but her specialties lie in the individual medley and the butterfly. A U.S. Nationals top 16 finalist in the 200- and 400-meter individual medley as well as the 200-meter butterfly, Galloway owns career-best times of 1:02.77 and 2:15.72 in the 100- and 200-meter butterfly, respectively as well as 2:18.43 in the 200-meter individual medley and 4:54.38 in the 400-meter individual medley.

In Garrett, Texas adds its second swimmer from Harpeth Hall School in Nashville, Tenn., in the last three years as she will join sophomore Amanda Larence on the Texas roster next season. A top 24 finalist at the U.S. Nationals and a Tennessee High School state champion, Harpeth's greatest strength lies in the freestyle events. Career best marks for Garrett include 1:49.15 in the 200-yard freestyle, 4:47.34 in the 500-yard freestyle and 16:24.79 in the mile. All of those times would have earned NCAA consideration marks last year.

Another local product, Huang is an up-and-coming prospect who attends high school just miles up the street from UT at Westwood. Training under Reese at Circle C Swimming, Huang will be counted on in the distance freestyle events as she has posted times of 4:52.40 in the 500-yard freestyle and 4:20.33 in the 400-meter freestyle.

One of the out of state signees is Irvine, Calif. native MacManus, who hails from the same city as Texas' world record holder and 2003 NCAA Male Swimmer of the Year, Aaron Peirsol. At the Pan American Games this past summer, MacManus won gold medals in the 100-meter backstroke and the 400-meter medley relay, while also adding a silver in the 200-meter backstroke. In 2002, MacManus won both the 100- and 200-meter backstroke at the ConocoPhillips Spring Nationals, bringing her the second and third national titles of her career. At the age of 14, MacManus showed that she was one of the rising stars in U.S. swimming when she placed fourth in the 100-meter backstroke at the Olympic Trials. Under Irvine Novaquatics head coach Dave Salo, MacManus has posted times of 1:02.47 in the 100-meter backstroke and 2:15.75 in the 200-meter backstroke.

Texas added another talented backstroke specialist with the signing of McGregory. A native of Houston, McGregory was third in the 100-meter backstroke at the ConocoPhillips Summer Nationals and also took third in the 100-meter backstroke and fifth in the 200-meter backstroke at the Spring Nationals. A member of the 2002 Junior National Team, McGregory was the Texas state champion in the 100-yard backstroke as well as the 100-yard freestyle. Under Reese at Circle C Swimming, McGregory owns times of 53.72 and 1:55.74 in the backstroke events as well as marks of 23.21 in the 50-yard freestyle, 50.21 in the 100-yard freestyle and 1:47.01 in the 200-yard freestyle.

The second Austinite in the class is Voyles, who attends Westlake High School and attends Circle C Swimming under Reese. A member of the 2002 USA Junior National Team, Voyles competed at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials and placed eighth at the ConocoPhillips Spring Nationals in the 400-meter individual medley. An extremely versatile swimmer, Voyles career-best meter times include 2:19.11 and 4.55.90 in the individual medleys and 1:03.29 and 2:17.97 in the backstroke events.

"This is an incredible group of people and they fit in well with the family atmosphere we strive for at the University Texas," co-head coach Mike Walker said. "They are all great student-athletes and they all should help drive the program to the forefront of not only collegiate swimming, but national swimming as well."

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