UNO Head Coach Todd Samland called his group of four swimmers who have signed national letters of intent an "excellent recruiting class." Three of the early-period signees are from Omaha and one is from Kansas.

"This is an excellent class for us," Samland said. "We have some incredible seniors graduating after the season and I feel we have met our initial needs for the future."

The three Omaha recruits include Ashley Holthaus and Lindsey Kline, both from Millard North High School, and Carrie Murphy, Marian High School. The fourth is Katey Howater from Topeka, Kan., Hayden High School.

Howater swims the 50 and 100 yard freestyle, the 100 backstroke and the 100 butterfly. She earned points in last year's state meet. "Katey has a lot of potential," Samland said. "Based on her times, she could currently place in the top 16 in the North Central Conference in six events. She impresses me as a person who wants to put in the hard work in the pool and the weight room in order to be successful."

Holthaus swims the 50 and 100-yard freestyle, the 100 backstroke and the 100 butterfly and placed in the top 12 in last year's state meet. "Ashley had an off-year as a junior, which put her under the radar for many coaches," Samland said. "But we are looking for her to have a great senior year under her coach, Rich Draper, and make a strong contribution next year at UNO."

Murphy swims the 100 and 200 breaststroke, the 200 freestyle and the 200 butterfly and placed in the top six in last year's state meet. "Lori Benson at MOST Club and Pat DiBiase at Marian have done an excellent job coaching Carrie," Samland said. "We expect her to be able to place among the top eight in the NCC next year and make a national consideration time in the 100 breastroke. She also has the ability to score points in at least three other events. She works extremely hard in practice."

Kline swims the 100, 200 and 500 freestyle and placed second in the 200 and 500 in the state meet last year. She was also part of the championship 200 medley relay team. "Lindsey currently has the talent to compete in the national meet," Samland said. "Her versatility is so strong that we will rely on her heavily on the individual and relay events. she has had some excellent coaching throughout her career from Jack Jackson, Docker Hartfield, Jeanie Neal and Rich Draper."