PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers swimming and diving head coach Chuck Warner has announced the addition of four student-athletes to the 2009 recruiting class.
Along with fall signees Jessica Simunek, Taylor Curado and Brittney Kuras, the Scarlet Knights welcome Melanie Gaffey (Bohemia, N.Y.), Molly Evans (Manasquan, N.J.), Kelsey Tennett (Hatboro, Penn.) and Katherine Kearney (Mahwah, N.J.) to the roster.
Gaffey hails from the Connetquet Swim Club and is coming off a breakthrough season of swimming. She achieved two top-five finishes at her high school state meet (200 free relay and 100 free). She also swam at Junior Nationals in March, competing in the 50 free, 100 free, 50 fly, 100 fly and several relays. Gaffey will add talent and depth to the sprint free and butterfly events with her career-best times of 23.8 in the 50 free, 52.7 in the 100 free and 56.7 in the 100 fly.
“Melanie gives us not only a great student and person on our team, but someone with sprint capacity and that is very important to our team,” said Warner. “Her best events are the two short freestyles and the 100 fly fit and that fits very well with what our team needs.”
Evans comes to RU from the New Jersey Race Club. Her older brother, John, graduated with the last class of the men’s RU swim team in 2007. Evans recently capped off her senior high school season with two top-five finishes in the 100 and 200 freestyle’s at the New Jersey High School State meet. She will round out a tremendous field of talented freestylers on the RU roster.
“The greatest compliment our program can have is for younger siblings following older ones coming to us,” said Warner. “Molly’s older brother John was a very hard working swimmer. Molly’s eagerness to reach her potential is the kind of attitude we look for. Her versatility in freestyle and butterfly is a big plus to our team.”
Tennett continues the trend of divers from Pennsylvania crossing the state border to attend Rutgers. She’s only been diving for three and a half years, but is more than ready to make the leap from the Liberty Dive Club to the collegiate level.
“Kelsey is a very aesthetic diver with the ability to improve her degree of difficulty,” explained Warner. “She plans to pursue pre-med here at Rutgers, and we’re very thrilled to have her.”
Kearney comes to Rutgers from after completing her high school career by claiming third place for Immaculate Heart Academy at the state championships. She will leave her club team, VBA Diving, to join the Scarlet Knights where she plans to major in Marine Sciences.
“Katherine’s shown herself to be a very focused and hardworking athlete,” said Warner. “She has a great deal of potential and we’re excited to have her join our program.”
Since signing in the fall, future Scarlet Knights Kuras, Simunek and Curado have posted several exciting accomplishments as well. Kuras dropped seconds off her times at the recent YMCA Nationals held in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. She came away with lifetime bests in the 100 free (50.55), 200 free (1:50.88), and 200 IM (2:02.13).
Simunek joined her future teammate at YMCA Nationals, competing in ten events and finishing as high as 56th place in the 50 butterfly with a time of 26.02. Curado helped lead her 4A high school team to a state title, winning the 100 butterfly as well as contributing to two undefeated relays. Additionally, she set 4A state records in the 100 fly (56.36) and 400 free relay (3:33.98).
“Brittney committed herself more than ever to hard work this season,” said Warner. “Even more than her performance at Y-Nationals, her renewed belief in herself and of what she can accomplish as a swimmer will benefit the team greatly. We look forward to providing another challenge and another level of opportunity to excel here at Rutgers.”
