Oilers To Be Dominated By Freshmen
During the second signing period in April, coach Wayne Norris and his staff were able to attract a few more swimmers and divers to join the team. The team only lost two seniors to graduation last spring and with the number of new athletes on the team, it looks like this team will be dominated by freshmen.
For the women's team, Molly Cade from Ft. Wayne, IN will make an immediate impact on the squad. Molly swam at Snyder High School under Coach Chris Knoblauch. She will swim freestyle, butterfly and compete for spots on all of the relays. Emily Green is a walk-on from Marion, OH and she swam for Marion Harding High School under Coach Steve Clark. Emily will be used in the sprint freestyle events. She is expected to make great improvements all season long to get ready for the conference meet in February. Joining our diving team will be Ashleigh Weddington from Reminderville, OH. She dove under Marc Cahalane at Twinsburg High School. These three will join our two early signees Annie Currin from Cincinnati, OH and Katie Fisher from Middlebury, IN. to give us another very strong women's team.
Our goal for the men's team was to increase its size and fill in some areas of team needs. Tyler Billeg, a transfer student, is from Upper Sandusky where he swam for Coach Doug Beach at Upper Sandusky High School. Tyler will bring added strength to our sprint core. Colton Brauning is from Cincinnati, OH. He trained under Mike Lienhart at LaSalle High School and the Cincinnati Marlins. Colton B. is a high school teammate of early signee Colton Sayers. Colton B. will also be used as a freestyle sprinter and will give added support to our relay teams. Aidan Dorman competed for Medina High School in Medina, OH. He trained with Coach Jamie Moore and he will give us added depth in the breaststroke and the individual medley events. Ryan Randall comes from Merced, CA and he trained under coaches Kit Grattan and Betsy Bell. Ryan is expected to join our improving sprint group and compete for a spot on all of our relays. Coming to Findlay from across the Atlantic is David Soutoul from Cannes, France. David is a transfer and he is capable of swimming many different events for the team. His primary events will be middle distance freestyle and the individual medley. David was coached by Lionel Volckaert. Joining the diving team will be Dylan Webb from Wapakoneta, OH. Dylan was coached by Kerry Smith. Dylan will carry the load for the men's team as he is our first male diver since Chris Parriott since 2007. Early signees Colton Sayers and David Vittori from South Berwick, ME will join these men to give us our biggest freshmen class since Coach Norris' arrival.
For the2011-2012 season if the Aqua Oilers can stay healthy and injury-free perhaps they will continue to make an impact on the rest of the conference.