Nov. 17, 2010
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State head swimming and diving coach Mike Shrader has announced the signing of six athletes to National Letters of Intent for the 2011-12 season. Five of those newcomers are high school All-American swimmers while the sixth is a diver who is also an accomplished gymnast.
Chelsea Bailey is a freestyle and backstroke specialist from Kentlake High School in Maple Valley, Wash. She is rated as the No. 3 prep swimmer in the state of Washington and 12th overall in the nation by collegeswimming.com. Bailey also competes for the King Aquatic Club where she is coached by Tommy Hannan and Season Hutchison. In addition to earning All-America honors in the 100 free and 100 back, she is also a U.S. Nationals and Olympic trials qualifier. Her best times include 22.87 in the 50 free, 49.54 in the 100 free, 54.10 in the 100 back, 2:00.7 in the 200 back and 54.9 in the 100 butterfly.
Also signing with the Aztecs from the state of Washington is Dana Michaels (Shorewood HS in Seattle), ranked as the ninth-best in the state by collegeswimming.com. Last weekend she captured state titles in the 200 free, 500 free and 400 free relay at the 3A high school championships. Michaels, who also swims for the Cascade Swim Club under Coach Tom Pardee, garnered All-America honors in the 200 and 500 free and is a Junior National qualifier. She has recorded career-best times of 1:50.63 in the 200 free, 4:55.6 in the 500 free, 10:07.36 in the 1000 free and 2:04.24 in the 200 fly.
Shrader and his staff also inked the No. 3 swimmer from Oregon in Taylor Lakey (Southridge in Beaverton). A high school All-American in the 200 free and 100 fly, Lakey is a U.S. Nationals qualifier who was twice named Southridge High's most outstanding swimmer. At the state 6A meet the past three seasons she has recorded first, second and third-place finishes in the 100 fly and has also won the 200 free. Lakey competes for the Tualatin Hills Swim Club and Coach Link Bergen. Her best marks include 55.21 in the 100 fly, 2:01.60 in the 200 fly and 1:52.15 in the 200 free.
Loreen Whitfield is a butterfly and breaststroke swimmer from Clovis East High School (Clovis, Calif.) where she earned All-America honors in both the 100 fly and 100 breast. She has won both of those events at the annual CIF championship meet the past three seasons. She has set the section record in the 100 fly three straight years and has also tied the section record in the 100 breast. A U.S. National qualifier, Whitfield competes for the Clovis Swim Club where she is coached by John McGough. Her best times include 55.37 in the 100 fly, 1:04.95 in the 100 breast and 2:05.7 in the 200 individual medley.
The fifth swimmer to sign with the Aztecs is Amanda Barrett from Brighton High School in Sandy, Utah. Ranked as the No. 1 prep swimmer in Utah by college swimming.com, she is the 2010 state champion in the 200 free, 500 free and 200 medley relay as she led her team to the state title. Barrett has recorded top times of 1:51.47 in the 200 free, 4:56.5 in the 500 free and 4:26.8 400 individual medley. She competes as a member of the Cottonwood Heights Aquatic Team where she is coached by Todd Etherington.
SDSU also signed diver Ashley Stott, who attends Temecula Valley High School in Temecula, Calif. She competes for Taylor Made Divers and is coached by Dennis Taylor. Stott is also a level 10 gymnast who has an impressive list of credentials in that sport. In the sport of gymnastics she won the all-around titles at the 2008 U.S. Classic and the 2009 American Classic, and she has also competed at the U.S. Championships at the senior level.
"I am very excited about the group of athletes that will be joining us for next year", commented Coach Shrader. "We always a goal of trying to improve and get better every season and these six athletes are going to definitely help us with that goal.
"The Lord has blessed us with another excellent recruiting classand I know these six athletes will represent San Diego State at a high level in the pool as well as in the classroom and community."
The 23rd-ranked Aztec swim team is in Long Beach this weekend (Nov. 18-20) for the 20-team Arena Invitational while the divers are in Arizona for the annual Wildcat Diving Invitational.