Nov. 28, 2012

AMHERST, Mass. - Women's swimming coach Bob Newcomb has announced the signing of South Hadley, Mass. native Meriza Werenski as the first member of the class of 2017. The senior from Holyoke Catholic High School signed her National Letter of Intent to join the Minutewomen early last week.

"We're very excited about the addition of Meriza to our program," says Newcomb, "she brings a very good academic and swimming profile that will continue to develop the growth and progress our program has made over the past four years."

Werenski, one of the most decorated signees Newcomb has ever signed comes to Minutewomen with US Olympic trial experience under her belt. She boasted Olympic trial qualifying times in both the 200 and 400 IM. At this summer's trials in Omaha, Neb., Werenski finished the 400-meter IM with a time of 5:00.60 seconds, good for 99th of over 125 swimmers. In the 200-meter IM she finished in 81st of 124 swimmers with a time of 2:21.08.

Werenski has also seen national success outside of the Olympic trials. She is a three-time YMCA National champion, leading to four All-American nods. While swimming for Holyoke Catholic, Werenski was a six-time Western Mass champion and a five-time state champion.

On Werenski, Newcomb says, "She comes in extremely versatile with the ability to swim pretty much any event, which is why she's and IM specialist." He continues, "We look forward to having an athlete, especially as high-profile as she is, from Western Mass stay in this part of the state and help build the future of the program."