South Florida standout Julie Suarez has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete for the Miami Hurricanes, head swimming coach Andy Kershaw announced Wednesday.
“I’m super excited about her talent,” Kershaw said. “Even though she has achieved great things, having seen her swim as well as having met her and her family, there is a lot more talent in the tank than what has been tapped into.”
Suarez, a backstroke and middle-distance freestyle specialist, competed for Forrest Hill high school in her native West Palm Beach, Fla., as well as on the club level with Lake Lytal Lightning. Suarez finished her run at the state championships with the second-best 100 backstroke time of any senior in Florida (55.58 seconds).
“She caught my eye this summer when I was at a meet recruiting,” Kershaw said. “I was just watching a race, didn’t know where she was in school, what her times were or anything like that. I saw her initially and was excited, and then got to see her again at
states and saw all the tools she has to build with.”
Suarez was ranked among the top 15 seniors in the state of Florida by college swimming, and is a USA Swimming national qualifier.
Kershaw said her ability to compete in a variety of events will help the team on a number of levels.
“We may not know what her signature event is going to end up being,” he said. “At the state meet, she swam the 200 free, and will really help us relay-wise there. Her best event at the state meet was the 100 back. She comes from a bit of a distance background, even though I see a lot of spring potential in her.”
Suarez will join a core of young swimmers looking to continue Miami’s ascent towards the ACC elite.
“It’s important to me that we got some swimmers from the immediate area, and that’s what we’ve got in Julie,” Kershaw said. “I also really like having a diverse team. Being an academic draw and a private school like the University of Miami, we have the ability to draw locally, from all over our country, and from other countries as well. To me, that’s really important to their experience.”
The Hurricanes swimmers will continue their season this weekend at the Georgia Tech Invitational in Atlanta. Friday’s opening day of action is set to commence at 10 a.m.
This release was provided to SwimSwam courtesy of Miami Hurricanes Swimming and Diving.