Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee has released their schedule for the 2019-2020 NCAA season, and a surprising name has appeared: sophomore Sinead Eksteen.
Eksteen, from Vienna, Virginia, swam for Notre Dame last season where she was a 3-event ACC scorer, a member of an NCAA-Championship-qualifying relay, and a member of the All-ACC team. Her best individual finish at ACCs was 7th in the 1650 free (16:18.80) as part of a 44-point individual scoring haul for the Irish.
She was also on Notre Dame’s 3rd-place 800 free relay at the ACC Championships, splitting 1:46.60 on their 2nd leg. That team was fast enough to earn an NCAA Championship invite, but she was ultimately replaced by Skylar Fore at NCAAs, who split 1:47.21 when the relay finished 19th at nationals.
| Lifetime Best | Freshman Year Best | |
| 100 free | 49.85 | 51.01 |
| 200 free | 1:46.53 | 1:48.10 |
| 500 free | 4:44.11 | 4:45.56 |
| 1000 free | 9:45.69 | 9:58.89 |
| 1650 free | 16:18.60 | 16:18.60 |
For Rhodes, which had one NCAA Division III qualifier last season (the now-graduated Allie Hill), Eksteen is a program-changing addition.
Where Eksteen’s Freshman Season Bests Would Have Ranked at the 2019 Division III NCAA Championship Meet:
- 200 free – 3rd
- 500 free – 1st
- 1650 free – 1st
Last year, the Rhodes women finished 2nd at the Southern Athletic Conference (SAA) championship meet with 833 points; that put them only 89 points behind the champions Birmingham-Southern College. Individually, Eksteen could account for the maximum 60 points this season, and she’ll likely be a 4-relay contributor as well.
Rhodes begins their 2019-2020 NCAA season with an intrasquad meet on September 28th before heading south to Mississippi for a dual meet against Division II Delta State. Rhodes named Steve Webb as its new head coach on July 22nd.
Left her be please. She had swam in what was my daughter’s club league – one of best in nation. Hard working. Nice. Maybe she wanted more balance in her life. Maybe the team dynamics were wrong. It’s her life
Let’s not get carried away here. She is far from the first DI transfer to show up in DIII and (respectfully) most are unable to achieve their former times. In the NESCAC (the league I know best), off the top of my head I can think of women from Minnesota and Northwestern and men from Auburn, none who ever cam close to their DI times again.
But its likely NOT the switch from DI to DIII — last year former DIII chamption Mary Erb transferred from Connecticut College to Northwestern and was more than a half second off of her best times in the 100BR. Most of the time this type of transfer – especially to a less established… Read more »
awesome kid – wish her luck!
I hope that she has a great time at Rhodes, gets a good education, and swims fast. If she trains well, she’ll destroy all of their freestyle records, with her PB in the 1,000 being about a minute faster than the school record.
There are lots of interesting pieces here. To name a few: Rhodes has a new coach for the fall. A few years ago, the Washington Post profiled Eksteen and discussed how she had temporarily left the sport of swimming during HS.
The Rhodes campus and setting is beautiful, situated just outside downtown Memphis with a great on-campus pool, converted from an outdoor pool with a semi-permanent bubble structure. Best of luck to Sinead in this beautiful setting!
“great” if you consider an old 6 lane one.
What’s swim life at Notre Dame like? Why did she leave?
You ever been to Indiana?
D3 powerhouse now!
Eh give the D3 swimming some more love. It’ll take a lot more than one qualifier (albeit an insanely fast one) to make them a powerhouse on the national scene
This is a game changer! Rhodes has a legitimate shot at the conference title this year and for years to come, and could also be a force nationally. Looks like their men’s team finished 2nd at conference last year as well with an returning All-American in Hayden Hill who still has two years left. #RollLynx