AU ROUNDUP: Swimming & diving signs 16 in early period

The Auburn swimming and diving team signed 16 athletes to National Letters of Intent during the NCAA Early Signing Period, head coach Brett Hawke announced Wednesday.

Swimmers Dagny Knutson, Emily Bos, Haley Krakoski, Erin Reisinger, Olivia Scott, Siena DeVenuto and Yennifer Marquez will add depth to the 2010-11 Auburn women. Joining the men’s squad are swimmers Zane Grothe, Nimrod Hayet, Dakota Hodgson, TJ Leon, Chris Manning, Evan Noble, James Disney-May, Dimitri Higgins and diver John Santieu.

“We are very excited about this recruiting class,” Hawke said. “The coaching staff worked really hard to bring in the best athletes for the future and I feel that we reached our goals.

“This class will bring a great balance with what they bring to the team and will fill the holes we will have next season. Not only are they great athletes, but also great students and will help continue Auburn’s legacy of being outstanding student-athletes. ”

Knutson is a six-star recruit by Swimming World Magazine and was named the national High School Swimmer of the Year. The Minot, N.D., native earned a silver medal at the 2009 World Championships as a member of the 800m free relay prelim team. Knutson earned seven medals (six gold) at the 2009 Junior National Championships and broke a 30-year-old record in the 200m free. She set the American record in the 400y IM at the 2008 Short Course National Championships and, most recently, set new American high school records in the 200 IM and 100 free at the 2009 North Dakota State Championships.

“Dagny is a superstar in the making,” Hawke said. “It is exciting to know that we have that level of swimmer joining us next year.”

Four five-star recruits join Knutson in Bos, Krakoski, Reisinger and Scott. Bos hails from Holland, Mich., and owns U.S. Senior National Long Course Championships cut times in the 100m free, 100m back and 100m fly.

She has also reached NCAA B times in the 100y back. Krakoski, a Paradise Valley, Ariz., has set senior national cuts in the 50m free and 100m fly and has recorded NCAA B standard times in the 100y free and 200y free.

Reisinger, a Marietta, Ga., product, will provide depth in the backstroke events for Auburn. She has picked up senior national cut times in both the 100m and 200m back and would have qualified for the 2009 NCAA Championships in the 100y and 200y back. Scott, of Aurora, Ill., will be an asset in many strokes as she has recorded senior national times in the 50m free, 100m free, 100m back, 200m back, 100m fly and 200m IM.

Joining the already strong group is four-star recruit Siena DeVenuto and junior college transfer Yennifer Marquez. DeVenuto will come to Auburn from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and give the Tigers depth in the distance freestyle events. Marquez is a National Junior College Athletic Association record-holder in the 100y and 200y free and was named 2009 NJCAA Female Swimmer of the Year as a part of the Indian River State College national title team.

Diver John Santeiu, a Dearborn Heights, Mich., native, will come to Auburn as an All-American and as a Michigan state champion. Santeiu, who attends University of Detroit Jesuit High School, is a two-time Junior Nationals qualifier and reached the platform finals last season, finishing eighth.

Six five-star athletes in Grothe, Hayet, Hodgson, Leon, Manning and Noble join the eight-time national champion Auburn men. Grothe, of Boulder City, Nev., will provide depth in the distance events for Auburn, having recorded senior national times in the 400m and 1500m freestyle events.

Leon and Manning will give the Tigers even more strength in the sprint events. Leon, a Mobile product has senior national cuts in the 50m free, 100m free and 100m fly. Manning, the Brantford, Ontario, native, has times in the same three events that would have qualified him for the U.S. Long Course Senior Nationals.

Adding depth in the fly events will be Hayet and Hodgson. Hayet, who attends the college prep Peddie School in Highstown, N.J., swam senior national times in the 100m and 200m fly, while Hodgson, of Nashville, Tenn., has recorded times in those same events. Noble, a Troy, Ill., product, will provide depth in a variety of events, including both the 200 and 400 IM.

Also joining the group are Dimitri Higgins and James Disney-May. Higgins, of Spotsylvania, Va., and Disney-May, a Surrey, England, native, will both come to Auburn as competitive and successful sprinters. Higgins was a part of the 400 free relay that won the junior national title. Disney-May is Britain’s age group record holder in the 100m free and is the national youth champion in the 50m and 100m free.

Gymnastics earns highest ranking
The Auburn gymnastics squad had been tabbed as the preseason No. 14 team in the nation according GymInfo, the organization announced Monday.

“We have the opportunity for some really big upsets and to do things which have never been accomplished by our program,” said head coach Jeff Thompson.

Four-time defending National Champion Georgia tops the poll, followed by Utah, Alabama, Florida and UCLA rounding out the top five. Three of the five, Georgia (Jan. 29), Alabama (Jan. 8) and Florida (Feb. 26), will visit The Plains in the upcoming season.

In total, eight of the 12 teams on this year’s schedule are in the top 25. In addition to the three opponents in the top five, The Tigers will travel to No. 6 LSU, No. 8 Arkansas and No. 18 Ohio State while also hosting No. 9 Oklahoma and No. 17 Denver.

“Competing against all of these great teams is really going to help us be prepared for the post-season. Our team goal is to advance to the National Championships by being focused on the process of competing, not the results,” said Thompson.

The Tigers have appeared in the preseason poll for seven consecutive seasons, with this year’s ranking their highest ever. Last season, the Tigers came in at No. 15 in the preseason poll.

“I don’t put much stock in the pre-season polls, but it is nice to see that we received our highest ranking ever to start the season,” said Thompson of the pre-season ranking.

The Tigers open their 2010 campaign on Jan. 8 when Auburn hosts No. 3 Alabama.