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Rising high school senior Sam Thiessen of Winnipeg, Manitoba in Canada has committed to swim for Oakland University.
“I am excited to announce my verbal commitment to Oakland University! I chose Oakland because of their coaching staff, tightly knit team and strong history. Thank you to my family, coaches, and teammates for their support. I can’t wait to be a golden grizzly!”
Thiessen swims year-round for Manta Swim Club in Winnipeg, where she specializes in the freestyle events, having the ability to swim across a wide range of distances. At the Canadian Junior Championships in 2019, she swam every freestyle event, making finals in the 200 freestyle (2:08.61), while also placing 4th in the 100 freestyle, 7th in the 50 freestyle, 17th in the 400 freestyle, 13th in the 800 freestyle, and 16th in the 1500 freestyle, which were all swum as timed-finals.
Thiessen does not have any official yards times due to the fact that she is from Canada.
Her best times include:
| Event | LCM | SCM |
SCY (conversion)
|
| 50 free | 27.55 | 26.92 | 24.09 |
| 100 free | 59.16 | 57.4 | 51.85 |
| 200 free | 2:07.29 | 2:03.83 | 1:51.79 |
| 400/500 free | 4:27.66 | 4:21.52 | 4:59.89 |
| 800/1000 free | 9:17.56 | 9:04.22 | 10:24.71 |
| 1500/1650 free | 17:43.36 | 17:21.23 | 17:03.88 |
If Thiessen is able to convert her success in the long course pool into short course, she should have an immediate impact on Oakland’s roster as an individual scorer and relay asset. At the 2020 Horizon League Championships, Thiessen’s converted best times in the 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle, and 500 freestyle would’ve made the A-final, while her converted time in the 1650 would’ve won her a bronze medal in the event.
Thiessen’s best 400 and 1500 freestyle times converted would have both ranked 2nd on Oakland’s roster last year behind Horizon League Champions Emily Aycock and Sohvi Nenonen. Additionally, her best 50 freestyle time converted would’ve ranked 4th on the team, giving her the potential to be a valuable relay swimmer.
At the 2020 Horizon League Championships, Oakland won both the men and women’s team titles, while ranking up victories in 26 out of the 40 events. During her time in Oakland, Thiessen will overlap one year with both Aycock and Nenonen. She will also join fellow Canadians Julia Cook, Kiera Brough, and Taylor Bailey on the roster.
With her commitment, Thiessen joins Ajete Eggers, who is also from Canada, in Oakland’s class of 2025.
If you have a commitment to report, please send an email with a photo (landscape, or horizontal, looks best) and a quote to [email protected].
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