Sinead Russell, World Champs Finalist, Officially Makes Verbal to Florida

Posted on February 6, 2012, in College, College Recruiting, News, with 28 Comments
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Canadian teenage star Sinead Russell has made her college decision, and has made a verbal commitment to swim for the University of Florida next fall.

Russell made the decision after taking trips to both Florida and the University of Texas last weekend.

“With my training background, I thought it fit better with the University of Florida, from what I’ve seen,” Russell said of her decision. “I also felt really comfortable when I was there.”

Russell is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, fish in the class of 2012 even lined up alongside the likes of Jasmine Tosky (USC) and Liz Pelton (Cal). She is a Canadian National Record holder, and will more-than-likely be an Olympic Finalist in London if all goes according to plan.

She has long course bests of 59.68 and 2:08.80 in the 100 and 200 backstrokes, respectively, both of which were done at last summer’s World Championships. Both of those marks landed her in the world’s top-10 in 2011. She’s also going to be a huge freestyler for the Gators, as she goes 25.92/55.55/1:59.70 in the 50-through-200 freestyles.

This is exactly the piece that the Gators needed to boost their squad back towards National Championship contention. She will simultaneously fill the holes left by the graduations of both Sara Bateman (their top sprint freestyler) and Teresa Crippen (an All-American 200 backstroker). Additionally, she will add a legitimate top-5 backstroking option to the medley relays, which is something even the great Elizabeth Beisel can’t give them.

Another huge effect of this decision is that the Gators now have maybe the only backstroker who can break up the monopoly that Cal will have over the 100 for the next 3+ years. The combination of her and Beisel will be crucial pieces if the Gators build their way back to national championship contention. They’ve made excellent use of the scholarship money left over by a sizable group of graduates.

With the class they’ve brought in this year (Lindsay McKnight, Natalie Hinds, Ashlee Linn, Sierra Kuhn, Taylor Roy), and renewed focus on the college pool in the post-Olympic year, the Gators look like they’re going to be dangerous in 2014.

Read More With These Tags: college swimming recruiting, Florida Gators Swimming and Diving, Swimming Canada

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28 Comments

Josh (the original)

02.06.2012 · Reply

GO GATORS!
John Sampson

02.06.2012 · Reply

I've never seen any of her short course times, but the only ones standing in her way for an NCAA win are bootsma(100) and pelton(200) IMO. I also think beisel will benefit tremendously with sinead as a training partner. Just with sinead it boosts their class rank by a lot! Their relays will be scary!
Andrew

02.06.2012 · Reply

Why are so many of Canada's top women swimmers opting for the NCAA this year instead of swimming for Canadian universities? Is it... a) Financial? I'm sure most of the w's class of 2012 (sinead, maclean, mcgregor, Chantel Van L. and 3 or 4 others) were offered full/major scholarships but Canadian universities must have offered something. Is the discrepancy that great? b) Academic? Is a degree from Univ of North Carolina or Florida that much better or worse than a degree from University of Manitoba or Toronto? c) coaching? Are Canadian age group coaches that much better than Cdn university coaches? Ironic since they all got this far in a canadian system. d) geography? Maybe the best canadian university coaches are in the west which is further away from home than the southern states (i think)? Toronto to Calgary/Vancouver/Victoria/Edmonton probably just as tough a commute compared to Toronto/Montreal to Chapel Hill or Florida. e) Competition? USA certainly has the best swimmers in the world but most top Canadians are swimming at USA grand prix meets. f) Infrastructure? American universities seem to pump a lot of money into swimming pools but are they that much better than CIS pools? A black line is a black line. g) How come we aren't seeing top canadian men head south? Maybe it's just a Canadian thing where the best/brightest in anything tend to gravitate to the united states. If the decision makers at swimming canada aren't going to do more to keep this girls at home is it because it's more cost effective to have someone else train these swimmers for 4 years? I imagine each swimmer has her own personal reasons for leaving Canada and if I were in any of their stilettos I likely would do the same. Best of luck Sinead.
Murphy

02.06.2012 · Reply

Florida may be tough to handle in the upcoming years. They seem to have all the pieces in place to compete with CAL and Georgia for NCAA championships.
Doug

02.07.2012 · Reply

Weather. Winter is much more bearable in the US than it is in the great white north. Plays a small role amongst many other larger factors :).
Coach

02.07.2012 · Reply

Well Doug your comments say it all about Canadian mentality SUN TAN. Anyone who knows Sinead would easy figure there is a lot more to being Unversity Grad AND SWIMMING. Swimming has been her living dream to be the best in the world. Take a look at progression as a age group swimmer you can see contiunous improvement and up to World level this has continued and will continue. No doubt Sinead gave a lot of thought to where she wants to spend the next 5 years of her life. Wait and see I say be postive not a overtone of negitive thoughts. One must ask oneself why our the best women in the Canadian scene not staying home. I think it is easy U.S. coaches are having more success than our Canadian National Team Coaches except for 2 or 3 Coaches who seem to know there job. Our National office offers no additional support to the swimmers to consider staying in Canada. It is the same support as 8 years ago. They have no support for any swimmer who may make a final at 2012 Olympics but they have money for additional staff at the National Office. They find employment for personal at the National office or Provincial offices creating their personal mandate to have control and maintain control for their personal gain. Look recently another Director job offfered. They could cout the staff by 50% and use the money to help the Coach and Sport the swimmer to develope better world class swimmers. Coach Troy is the Head Coach of USA swimmiing with a strong proven record of producing World Champions and Olympic Champions how many Canadian Coaches to day still coaching our close to this level. If anyone can help Sinead it is this coach with swimmers like Ryan - Elisbeth - why our they there. All I can say is that Canada has a chance to have a great female swimmer for the future, including when she returns back from school, she has the coaches to continue this success as it is already proven they have been careful in the development of this young fine lady. This year has been the best season for Canadian girls leaving for the USA maybe its what Canada needs to wake up to why are they leaving.
Doggy Paddle

02.07.2012 · Reply

Chill out "Coach". Team Russell doesn't have to close ranks every time some says something, and heaven forbid that someone suggest that a recruit might go south for better weather.
Andrew

02.07.2012 · Reply

Sinead, and other blue-chip-can't-miss-canadian-usa-bound swimmers, if you're reading this...I'd be curious as to 1. how many american college coaches contacted you on July 1st, 2. how many offered to fly up to Canada and visit your home, 3. how many actually visited, and 4. how many offered you a recruiting trip? AND, then same questions for Canadian university coaches. I think in addition to having more money, better facilities, a significantly better success rate at putting olympic gold medals around women's necks (I'll give a gold star if you can name anyone other than anne ottenbrite... anyone?) that the US advantage is that they'r"re much more aggressive at recruiting.
beachmouse

02.07.2012 · Reply

As someone who grew up in the Midwestern snow belt, I'd say weather definitely plays a role in terms of where the elite university programs have developed over the years. Look at the list of usual suspects come NCAA Championships time, and except for Michigan, they're typically located in places where you can comfortably swim in ye olde outdoor 50M pool at least from March through November, if not year-round. As good of a coach that Troy genuinely is, he would have had a decidedly harder time recruiting from Minneapolis or Madison than he has recruiting from Gainesville.
Swim Ma

02.07.2012 · Reply

Regardless of the whys and wherefores...Sinead has chosen Florida.She will be an asset to the team and the University.Her swimming times are amazing and will only get better as she trains with more world class Athletes in Gainesville.From seeing the way she has handled herself in the public eye she will be a leader from the moment she steps on the team.I look forward to seeing her at SEC's and NCAA's next year.The entire Florida team is looking awesome for the coming year. Congrats Sinead.....and Welcome to the SWAMP.
Coach

02.08.2012 · Reply

Doug, Not sure where Team Russell comes into this. These comments came from a Canadian who swam for Canada now living in the US.
predicta57

02.08.2012 · Reply

Good luck to Sinead of course ........ ..... and many thanks to Florida coach Gregg Troy for handing over more scholarship money and training attention to someone other than a US athlete with similar dreams and talent. I am sure the Canadian Team will be thankful at future competitions.
beachmouse

02.08.2012 · Reply

For the part of the year, he's drawing a paycheck from the University of Florida, Troy's responsibility to the University is to assemble and coach the best possible team that reflects the values and mission statement of the University. If he feels the need to go down the road to Bolles or otherwise recruit international students to get that best possible team, then that's what he does to do the best he can for him employer. And count me in the group that says the international athletes help raise the level of competition and quality of practice time for domestic US athletes.
Canswim

02.08.2012 · Reply

Let me add my 2 cents worth: - re. Andrew and "recruiting" - 5 years ago, my daughter committed to an American university. After her decision she was greeted on the pool deck here in Canada with coach laments of "why go there; you could have swum here". But not 1 Canadian coach had contacted her before her senior year in HS to advocate for their program. She received over 40 phone calls in July from the States and we hosted 3 American coaches in total in our living room the summer before she committed. It may be different now, I don't know. - re. Andrew "financial" - regardless of the scholarship money, Canadian swimmers probably take a hit going South. They receive no Canadian carding money except for the 4 months after the college year ends and that's only if they return to train in Canada "within 7 days of the completion of the school year end". - re. Andrew "coaching" - where in Canada can Sinead be coached by a world-class backstroke coach? Lowe and Spofforth didn't leave Britain to go to Australia to train or to a Canadian National Training Center/Academy. They went to the Gators. Kitajima, Mellouli & Efimova didn't leave their countries for Australia or a Canadian National Training Center/Academy. They went to the States. Neethling and Schoeman didn't leave SA to train in Australia or at a Canadian National Training Center/Academy. They went to the Wildcats in Arizona. I rest my case. - re. Andrew "competition" - go to the Gator club home page and click on "schedule" then go to any Canadian university swim club home page and click on "schedule". Seriously? There is something to be said about standing up and racing every 3 weeks against fast competition. And ask Wilkinson or Tyler if they would like to be known as an NCAA Champion or a CIS Champion? No comparison. - and finally, maybe this doesn't require a lot of thinking. Perhaps, it's just the wish to swim against new competition in a new challenging environment. And not with the saaame competition in the saaame meets year after year. Bottom line - GO Sinead; Go Canada!
Josh (the original)

02.08.2012 · Reply

Predicta, there were only three US athletes that went under 2:09 in the 200 back last year: Franklin (still has a year to decide), Beisel (already a Gator), and Pelton (Committed to Cal). Likewise, there were three athletes better than 1:00.00 in the 100 back: Coughlin (Pro swimmer), Franklin (still a year to decide), and Bootsma (Committed to Cal). Needless to say, if there were an American athlete of a similar talent level (59.6/2:08.8/55.5/1.59.5) to Sinead Russell, they would have their choice of colleges to swim for as well, and there would be plenty of scholarship money thrown their way from every direction. Good luck, Sinead, and GO GATORS!
Doug

02.08.2012 · Reply

As a current canadian swimming in the states, I can assure you that American schools recruited much more heavily that canadian schools. I also know that if you are an athlete that is a of a caliber similar to Sinead, it can actually be financially easier to go to the states for school. CIS schools aren't able to give full scholarships, and though I don't know the exact amount that they can give, if Sinead was offered a full ride then the financial burden of post secondary education is less for her in America. One of the big reasons that I decided to come down south was for a change of scenery. Sometimes it is just to leave home and experience life without having your parents right there with you holding your hand. It's a good feeling and challenge when you can live independently, not to mention a necessary life skill. Swimming wise it's good to race other people and train with other people. I go to a school where there is a level of competition everyday in practice that I could never get from a school at home. It's nice racing people that you don't know, this way you don't know how the person next to you is going to swim their race, or what their weaknesses are. You are given an opportunity to just race and have fun in a new and challenging environment.
Predicta57

02.08.2012 · Reply

Josh.... Fact.... Every dollar of scholarship that goes to foreigners does not go to US talent. You are free to "pull" for them. I on the other hand will support home grown talent. I can assure you you would feel differently if your kid was graduating and competing for the same limited funds at Florida. I support US swimming. I have no interest in helping other countries beat us in international competition. I don't remember the South Africans thanking their coach and opportunities at AZ in the post race interviews.
beachmouse

02.09.2012 · Reply

I remember reading Kirsty Coventry's blog for Athens 2004, and IIRC, there was a fair amount of gushing about how much she appreciated Kim Brackin. The only scenario that really bugs me are the dual citizens who take full advantage of US training environments, are good enough to make at least a national B team over here, but opt to swim for the other citizenship for whatever reason despite being US-based at the time they declared a nationality. Martin Zubero and 'Mike' Cavic, I'm looking at you.
completelyconquered

02.09.2012 · Reply

@beachmouse, it's easy to sit in your chair and say people are taking advantage of their dual citizenship's, but when you have the chance to swim at the Olympics, believe me, you will take full advantage of it. Swimming at the Olympics is every swimmers dream, and if you have that once in a lifetime opportunity to do so, whether its for the United States, Serbia, or Puerto Rico.
beachmouse

02.09.2012 · Reply

In which case, if you're a dual citizen swimming under a Serbian or Spanish passport, then go train in Serbia or Spain.
predicta57

02.09.2012 · Reply

Beachmouse..... you bring up a painful point. Cavic's younger age group history is covered with superb performances in the USA Swimming rankings. Yet he chose not to represent the US at the Games. Certainly he was fast enough to make the US team and decisively beat Crocker in China. Then again, he is not the first Berkeley swimmer to jump ship and represent another country and swim against the US.
swimfan25

02.11.2012 · Reply

I'm on board with beachmouse and predicta57. Scholarships in swimming, especially for men are hard to come by. I'm sick of seeing these foreign "kids" (many of them 20-21 year old "kids" who are suddenly freshmen in college) coming over here and taking scholarships from US swimming 17-18 year olds who have supported US swimming since they were 5-6 years old. My kid is at one of these schools that recruits foreign swimmers who represent other countries....gotta love what Eddie Reese has done at UT - never recruits foreign swimmers and is in the hunt every year at NCAA's.
aswimfan

02.11.2012 · Reply

Canswim wrote this: Lowe and Spofforth didn’t leave Britain to go to Australia to train or to a Canadian National Training Center/Academy. They went to the Gators. Kitajima, Mellouli & Efimova didn’t leave their countries for Australia or a Canadian National Training Center/Academy. They went to the States. Neethling and Schoeman didn’t leave SA to train in Australia or at a Canadian National Training Center/Academy. They went to the Wildcats in Arizona. I rest my case ----------------------------------------------------------------- Sure there are many foreign swimmers training in the USA, but there are also a number of olympics and worlds champions who have been training in Australia: Ellen Gandy (who won silver at worlds as opposed to Jemma Lowe who won nada), Therese Alshammar (multiple world champion), Park Tae Hwan, Sun Yang and a group of chinese middle distance swimers, Liu Zige, etc. They didn't go to USA, they went to Australia.
Shocked

02.11.2012 · Reply

A little worrying seeing parents on here with such strong opinions about foreign athletes on their kids university team. On another note, I know UT has separate programs, but does anyone know why Brackin does not follow Reese in not recruiting international kids?
Predicta57

02.12.2012 · Reply

Shocked.... Remember Bracken is from Auburn where this type of recruiting is the norm. As for parent of swimmers..... They're paying the tuition bills. It's not about "hating'".... It's about money and opportunity for your kid. aswimfan......... I applaud the Aussies and their programs. They make their athletes in the pool themselves and always have.
Poolside

02.13.2012 · Reply

Predicta57.... so you seem to be of the view that the world of competitive sport would be better off if everyone stayed home and played in their own back yards? Don't want those foreigners taking medals and money from our home grown athletes. We need competition to thrive and excel in sport. Having kids from abroad join our school teams brings fresh perspective to our student athletes and challenges them to step up to the competition. As for money... have you ever looked at the inflated tuition colleges charge international students or considered that they are not eligible for many scholarship or financial aids domestic students might access. Many of these athletes are still paying their way and in many cases the athletic scholarship just brings their costs in line with local students. Whats next... perhaps you might suggest that Missy is taking advantage (or poten tially might) since afterall she holds dual citizenship.
Swim Ma

02.13.2012 · Reply

College coaches choose to recruit the best swimmers for their programs.It is their job to put together the best team for the University.No one takes away money from someone else.If your swimmer has posted the times needed, and has the grades, they will be recruited.Swimmers are not entitled to a scholarship simply because they are US swimmers who have paid their dues each year. And just because a foreign swimmer has been recruited does not mean anything was taken away from a US swimmer.The foreign swimmer has earned the right to be recruited each time they have posted a time that attracts the attention of a College Coach.Same goes for a University Team,I have heard parents complain that other swimmers took away their swimmers right to attend a conference meet or NCAA's just by being there.That is competition, if your swimmer posts the times needed, they get to go.No one has taken anything from them, the swimmer just didn't have the times needed to represent the team.Instead of sour grapes, teach your swimmer to have the last word by focusing on their goals and putting the times needed up on the board. Only then will they be entitled to a attention from College coaches and entitled to a scholarship.If you take that stand you go a lot farther to setting an example for your swimmer.USA swimming gives you all the tools you need.Help your swimmer look at the times at the Universities they are interested in and work out a realistic goal to attend the practices needed, meets necessary, and a plan to achieve what they want.Swimming is full of life lessons, it teaches you how to set goals, break them down into steps, and work toward those goals.Each time you swim a race, you strive for the goal, but if you come up short, you leave that race in the water,look at how to improve on it,practice more, get back up on that block and make sure the next time you have the opportunity to race you improve your time....That is how your swimmer will continue to grow and improve.The minute they take the attitude that they deserve something simply because they are US Swimmers,they will stop growing into the athlete they could become.It is also a situation ripe with poor sportsmanship.Poor sportsmanship does not breed more success, it stops it in its tracks.
predicta57

02.14.2012 · Reply

Poolside....... fact ....... most foreigners at NCAA Division I championships scoring points for their schools are indeed on substantial athletic scholarships from their coaches. Fact..... there are plenty of US kids worth recruiting instead. Many college coaches chose the easy way out and grab a "ringer" from abroad than spend time and effort developing local talent. Under your scenario, there would be no problem with a team winning NCAAs with a majority of athletes from abroad? ........ No thanks. Remember you can't have an American record with relay full of foreigners. By the way...... It's not 1976. We don't put 2-3 men on the podium in each event at the Games anymore. A sad fact that most people don't recognize... if you took away ONE guy from the US team in China, the US only won 2 events (both backstrokes).... and certainly wouldn't have won the 400 free relay. Not an impressive performance compared to decades past, and we don't need to spend money recruiting foreign talent to help train our domestic talent. That's a farce. There's plenty of fresh perspective for our kids at universities as it is.