Gophers welcome 25 who hope to make a splash

The Gophers announced their full incoming swimming and diving classes on Wednesday. Both on the men's and women's side, they are talented and from many places.

Let's start with the men. Twelve freshmen are coming in, plus one redshirt freshman.

Two of those twelve are Minnesotans, three hail from Wisconsin and six others from different states (Calif., Iowa, Nev., Pa., Va. and Wash.).

There is also a swimmer from Palapye, Botswana in Africa.

The Minnesotans are Casey Stowe of Wayzata High School and Josiah Fick of Stillwater.

Stowe won the 100 backstroke and swam on the winning 200 medley relay in the last Class 2A state meet. Fick, the only diver in this class, is the two-time defending 2A state champion.

One other freshman to note is Sawyer Grimes of Las Vegas. He made the Olympic Trials cuts in the 400, 800 and 1,500 freestyles. And he swam the 14^th fastest 1,000 freestyle in the 17-18 age group in December.

The women's Class of 2020 is dominated by Minnesotans. Seven of the 13 are in-state recruits, including divers Megan Phillip of Edina High School and Susanna Fish of Hopkins.

They finished 1-2 in the Class 2A state meet. Phillip won her fourth consecutive gold medal.

The other Minnesotans are:

* Molly Urkiel of Rosemount, third in the 200 individual medley, fifth in the 200 breaststroke and sixth in the 100 breaststroke in the state meet

* Katie Soudakov of Eastview, first in the 500 freestyle at the Minnesota Senior State Championship in March

* Elle Niebuhr of Minneapolis Southwest, third in the 500 freestyle in the prep state meet

* Ava Hoffman of Visitation, fourth in the 100 freestyle and fifth in the 50 freestyle in the Class 1A state meet (she is the only incoming freshman who swam in the small school state meet)

* Pyper Doo of Roseville, who won the 50 and 100 freestyles in the Minnesota Swimming Senior Long Course Championships.

Among the women's out-of-state recruits are Megan Van Berkom of Chatham, Ill., who placed second in the 400 individual medley in the 2019 Speedo Winter Junior Championships and qualified for the Olympic Trials in that event, plus two swimmers from Wisconsin and one from Colorado.

There also is one swimmer from Gran Canria, Spain, and one from Schijndel, Netherlands.