The Purdue women have had an unprecedented level of success this season, having already broken 3 school records this season, and it appears as though the country has taken notice. Late in the 2011 early signing period, their success earned them a letter-of-intent from swimmer Lysi Halkides out of Orlando’s Fast Lane Aquatics according to a local magazine.
Halkides has been raised in the US, though she represents Greece internationally. Her best stroke is breaststroke (especially the 200, where her 2:13.97 is pretty strong), but her best events are the Individual Medleys. There, she has yards bests of 2:02.07 and 4:19.79.
Her long course times are much stronger than her short course marks. This includes a 2:16.05 in the 200 long course IM and a 2:30.42 in the 200 long course breaststroke.
Halkides is a year older than most of her peers in the class of 2012 (she’ll be 19 by the time she begins taking classes at Purdue), but she hasn’t come anywhere close to her potential in yards. For example, in 2009 (albeit in polyurethane) she ranked 18th in the world in short course meters in the 400 IM. Still, when she arrives on campus, she’ll already rank among the 5-fastest Boilermakers ever in three events.
When you add Halkides to a class that includes Jacie Beagle out of South Dakota (a 54.29 in the 100 back and 55.27 100 fly), Lew Yong Gerbrandt (54.41 100 fly), the Boilermaker womens’ fortunes should continue to grow in coming seasons.
great catch!