The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles have added two huge mid-season transfers in the form of diver Maegen Butler and sprint freestyler Siona Huxley.
Huxley hails from St. Lucia, as does FGCU junior breaststroker Danielle Beaubrun. The pair make up two-thirds of the country’s female swimming elite. Huxley is the holder of 12 St. Lucia National Records, including the 50 free (27.94) and the 50 backstroke (29.98). Those times convert to roughly a 24.0/25.4, respectively. She’s very much a “potential” addition, and that 50 backstroke demonstrates her potential.
A 25.4 is comparable to many of the 200 medley relay backstroke splits at last year’s NCAA championships. It’s also very close to what freshman Emma Svensson, the program’s best swimmer, has been going in the 50 backstroke (25.1 at the Georgia Tech Invite).
Huxley won’t begin competing collegiately until next year,but installing her as the backstroker in the 200 medley next year would allow Svensson to shift over to the freestyle leg. That shift probably cuts at least four-tenths off of the relays time (all four members of the A-medley are underclassmen), which would make the relay a good-bet for points at the 2013 NCAA Championship meet. That relay is ranked 20th in the country this season.
Head coach Neal Studd got the chance to work with Huxley at the World Championships in Shanghai, which he attended to represent Beaubrun. The Eagles now have a ton of international-level talent: aside from those mentioned above, they also have former Florida Gator, and Finnish Olympian, Eva Lehtonen.
Butler, who originally hails from New York, is transferring for her junior season from Florida Atlantic. She will immediately become an important dual-meet performer, and her 1-meter best from last season of 253.85 is only 10 points shy of qualifying her for this year’s Zone Diving Championships.
Maegen’s sister Danielle is a 55-second 100 butterflier who is the team’s primary 100 butterflier.
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