FAIRBANKS, AK - The University of Alaska Fairbanks swimming coach
Scott Lemley announced that
Kelly Becker of Tualatin, Oregon, has signed a National Letter of Intent. She will enroll at UAF as a freshman in the fall and have four years of eligibility.
"During her visit last month, Kelly meshed very well with the other girls," said Lemley, "and she loved the casual atmosphere on campus. She's a perfect fit for our team and our school."
A senior at Tualatin High School, Becker swims for the Tigard/Tualatin club team, as did current Nanook co-captain
Hilary Carlisle (Tigard, OR/Tigard HS). Carlisle's dad, Andy is Becker's current club coach, and she was Carlisle's teammate when she was in high school.
Becker is a strong distance swimmer with a best time of 5:06.98 in the 500 yard freestyle. She's qualified for the Oregon High School State Championships all four years as a high school swimmer. This year she qualified for the championship finals in both the 200 yd and 500 yd freestyles, finishing in sixth place in the 200 and seventh in the 500.
Lemley is enthusiastic about Becker, as her times already equal or exceed the NCAA "B" cut in five events: the 200 yd, 500 yd, 1,000 yd and 1,650 yd freestyle and the 200 yd butterfly.
"Kelly represents a big piece of next year's puzzle for us in two respects," added Lemley. "First, she's going to play a major role in our move back to being a presence on the national scene. It's reasonable to assume with a year of training at the college level she'll qualify for the NCAA Division II Nationals in at least one of those events."
"Second, our top distance swimmer,
Sam Zinsli (Kennewick, WA/Southridge HS), will now have a training partner. Sam has basically swum against the clock for the last year. With Kelly signing, Sam will have a teammate on next year's team who is faster then she is. This will give Sam the motivation to train at a very high level this summer so she can start the season as Kelly's equal."
Becker is undecided on what course of study she will pursue at UAF.
She joins
Kathryn Niemi (Mukilteo, WA/Kamiak HS),
Jacqueline van Driessche (Seward, AK/Seward HS) and
Jamie Bratten (Fairbanks, AK/Lathrop HS) as the fourth recruit to sign with the Nanook swimming program for the 2006-07 season.
- UAF SWIMMING -
