Three-time defending Big Ten champs Minnesota have gotten their second commitment of the weekend, picking up a verbal from in-state freestyler/butterflyer Kaia Grobe.
What’s interesting about both commits is that they each have an older sister on the team. Earlier today, we reported on Chantal Nack, who follows her sister Danielle to Minneapolis. Now Grobe will join her older sister Bridgette, who is a freshman along with Danielle Nack.
Kaia Grobe is a sprint butterflyer and freestyler who brings some outstanding versatility to the Golden Gopher program. Some of her lifetime-bests:
- 50 free: 23.06
- 100 free: 49.97
- 200 free: 1:48.98
- 100 fly: 54.20
That’s a big get for Minnesota, which will graduate Becca Weiland, the top fly/free sprinter in program history, after this season. Danielle Nack is set to take over for Weiland in the butterfly, and Grobe now looks like perhaps the sprint freestyler of the future for Minnesota. Those times through the range of 50 to 200 make her an ideal relay candidate and should give head coach Kelly Kremer some lineup flexibility when she arrives next fall.
Grobe is a multi-time Minnesota state champ for Chanhassen High School, and also holds several NAG relay records with the Aquajets, the Minnesota swim club that produced Olympian Rachel Bootsma.
This is an important year for Minnesota in recruiting, as they graduate a powerhouse senior class in 2015. (You can read our full preview of the team here). So far, they’ve done a solid job, keeping two of the Minnesota’s top high schoolers in-state in the early stages of recruiting. The last big-name Minnesota swimmer on the table is Zoe Avestruz, who swam with the Grobe sisters at Chanhassen High School and the Aquajets swim club. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that Avestruz has visited Texas and will take a visit with the Gophers later this fall.