Aug. 8, 2008
FAIRBANKS, AK - Alaska Nanooks swimming head coach Scott Lemley announced the signing of Maria del Mar Brunet Guasp, from Majorca (my-YOR-kuh), Spain, on Friday. The first Spanish import in program history, Mar Brunet will enter the University of Alaska Fairbanks as a senior with one season of NCAA eligibility remaining.
"Maria del Mar Brunet Guasp is undoubtedly the fastest swimmer we've been able to recruit here at UAF since our women's team began three years ago," said Lemley.
Mar Brunet has a storied history of swimming in Spain and over 20 years of experience with the capital city's (Palma) club swimming program, having begun her competitive career at the age of four. By the time she was 13, she swam in her first junior national championships and was a gold medalist in the 100 freestyle. She went on to repeat as the junior national champion in this event for the three years that followed.
Following a highly successful prep career Mar relocated to Madrid, where she began taking college courses and competing independently in the backstroke events at club meets because Spain does not offer swimming at the collegiate level. The transition from the junior to senior national level proved challenging at first for Mar; however, after a year of serious training she became the Spanish National Champion winning the 50 and 100 backstrokes on three occasions. She remained affiliated with her club (Palma) in Majorca and with three of her teammates set the Spanish National Record in the 400 medley relay.
Wednesday, Alaska's newest swimmer took seventh place in the 100 backstroke at the Spanish National Championships with a time of 1:07.1: her final competition before making her journey to the 49th state.
According to Lemley, Mar Brunet's times are not directly comparable to collegiate times, having always swum in short course and long course meter pools instead of short course yard pools (used at the U.S. collegiate levels). The Nanooks' fourth-year head coach is not dissuaded by this fact though.
"Even using rough estimates based on her best times (in meter events) leads me to believe she'll be one of the fastest backstrokers in the country this year," Lemley said. "I've talked with several coaches in Spain and they all agree Mar is incredibly talented, smart and outgoing. We are extremely fortunate to be able to attract her to Fairbanks."
Due to time differences between Alaska and Spain (10 hours) Lemley and Mar Brunet have largely communicated through email for the last several months, however he spoke with her over the phone recently.
"In making her decision, she asked me if she could talk with our returning swimmers to hear from them what the pros and cons were in moving to Fairbanks," Lemley said. "The picture they painted must have been a positive one because she signed with us the next day and we are very excited to welcome her to Fairbanks."
Mar Brunet joins Courtney Nichols (Columbia, SC), Lauren Langford (Anchorage, AK), Lauren Sweet (University Place, WA), and Naomi Franquelin (Kodiak, AK) in the recruiting class of 2008.
