Coach Cristobal adds 24 to football team
Head Coach Mario Cristobal and his football coaching staff enjoyed the rewards of a tireless recruiting effort on Feb. 6 when they received 24 National Letters of Intent from prospective student-athletes who are set to join the program for the 2008 season.
“We’re fired up. We’re very, very fired up. This [class] is incredible,” Cristobal said. “We knew this was the best field of football players to recruit from in Florida in many, many years. Every program in the country knew this was going to be a great year in Florida. We knew schools were coming down here to our home territory and we knew we had to recruit hard early.”
That meant not backing away from nationally recruited players like All-Miami-Dade two-sport star TY Hilton of Miami Springs High School and Booker T. Washington defensive end Johnathan Jackson, who will both attend FIU.
“It ended up being an incredible class for us,” Cristobal added.
Twenty-two of the 24 prospective student-athletes in Cristobal’s second signing class are from the Sunshine State. The class includes 12 all-state selections, eight players who played on state champion teams and 13 players from South Florida.
“We wanted to address every position and recruit across the board and improve in size, speed, athleticism, demeanor and attitude,” Cristobal said. “We wanted winners.”
To read more about the new members of the 2008 football class, click here.
Freshman tennis player named SBC Player of the Week
Freshman Liset Brito was honored during her first week as a collegian when the Sun Belt Conference named her its Women’s Player of the Week for the opening week of the 2008 women’s tennis season.
Brito has started her intercollegiate tennis career with a bang, winning her first four spring singles matches and four out of five doubles tries. She won three singles matches at the FGCU/Johan Kriek Classic on Jan. 19-21 in straight sets, including a 6-1, 6-1 win over Wichita State’s No. 77-ranked Stephanie Dalmacio.
On Feb. 2, in the first dual match of the year against No. 10 University of Miami, the Golden Panther played No. 1 singles for FIU and beat the Hurricane’s No. 29-ranked Laura Valleverdu, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.
In doubles, Brito teamed with Priscilla Castillo to win three matches at the Kriek Classic against opponents from Stetson, Dartmouth and Ohio State, losing only to UM’s Valleverdu and Romy Farah.
To read more about the student-athlete’s accomplishments on the tennis court, click here.
Freshman swimmer sets school records
South Africa native Trudi Maree made quite a splash in her debut with the program on Jan. 26.
The freshman, who enrolled at FIU for the Spring Semester at the beginning of January, set school records in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle races in a tri-meet against the University of Miami and Florida Gulf Coast at the Norman Whitten Student Union Pool.
“She just joined the team and made an impact right away,” said Head Coach Noemi Zaharia. “What’s even more impressive is that this was the first race of her life in yards. She’s been swimming races that have been in meters her whole life.”
Maree won the 50-yard freestyle in 23.70, besting Viktoria Molnar’s record 24.50, set in February 2004. The Golden Panther, who will compete in the South African Olympic Trials in April, then broke Molnar’s 100-yard freestyle record of 52.91, placing second in 52.49.
To read more about the student-athlete’s debut performance, click here.
Women’s soccer excels in the classroom
Fourteen of 18 members of the women’s soccer team posted a 3.0 GPA or higher en route to a very successful year in the classroom for first-year head coach Thomas Chestnutt’s squad.
“Our first commitment is to have players graduate with the best possible opportunity for the future,” Chestnutt said.
Senior goalkeeper Madeline Gannon led the way, like she did all year on the field, with a 4.0 GPA.
As a team, the Golden Panthers accumulated a 3.112 GPA.
“I am very proud of them,” Chestnutt added. “They did a great job this year staying focused through all the changes.”.
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