Seattle University head women’s swim coach Craig Nisgor has announced that Emily Gough (San Clemente, Calif.) and Celeste Salopek (Farmington, Conn.) signed National Letters of Intent during the November signing period to join the Redhawk program starting in the 2015-16 academic year.
Gough is a senior at San Clemente High School entering her fourth year as a member of the Triton varsity swim team. The 5’6” middle distance swimmer helped her team to an undefeated season in the SeaView Division in 2014 as they advanced to the CIF championships. She holds the record in the 1000 freestyle and 1650 freestyle for the San Clemente Aquatics Club.
“Emily is a strong middle distance and distance freestyler whose times already rank in our top five in the 200 free, 500 free and mile as well as the 200 butterfly. She has had some great drops in all of her freestyle and butterfly times over the past year, and we are excited to continue to see these drops,” Nisgor said.
Salopek is a 5’10” senior at Miss Porters School, where she holds the school record in the 100 backstroke. She won the league championship in the 100 backstroke, 200 freestyle, and 200 individual medley, plus she finished in the top three in the 200 freestyle at the New England Prep School Swimming Association Championship. Currently a member of the West Hartford Aquatic Team, she competed in the long course competition of the Speedo Sectionals in Oregon in both 2013 and 2014.
“Competing in the backstroke and freestyle events, Celeste will add a lot of depth to both of those areas for our team. Her times in the 100 and 200 backstroke as well as her 200 freestyle mark already would make our top 10 list. She has a lot of upside as she has continued to show great improvement over the past seasons,” continued Nisgor.
Gough and Salopek will join a Redhawk program that currently features 15 freshmen and sophomores. This past weekend at the Husky Invitational, the women combined to post 12 new times into the Seattle U all-time top times lists, including two new school records.
“We are really excited about the commitments that we got this fall,” added Nisgor. “Emily and Celeste connected with the team on their visits, and that is one of the most important things to us. They are both great students and swimmers and, as we have seen, fit in well with the team. They are excited about the direction our program is going and can’t wait to contribute and be part of it.”
After taking fall quarter finals, the Seattle University swim team will head to Coronado, Calif., for a winter training session Dec. 14-19. The Redhawks return to the Connolly Center Pool to face Pacific Lutheran Friday, Jan. 9, starting at 6 p.m., and Whitworth Saturday, Jan. 10, beginning at 1 p.m.