Ruele lands top varsity award

BONGANI MALUNGA

Botswana’s swimming sensation Naomi Ruele has accomplished yet another impressive feat after being named the Female Athlete of the Year at the Florida International University (FIU) Awards. The award is the latest in a long line of accolades she has collected in her first year at the Florida based university.
She received the top accolade last week after a phenomenal year in which her accomplishment have catapulted her to an iconic status in her university. The 19 year old is revered by the Florida institution for bringing numerous accolades this year.
Her accomplishment of winning the Female Athlete of the Year is made more remarkable by the fact that basketball, football, baseball and vollyball are more popular sport codes in America but her impact was strong enough to defy the common norm of applauding the aforementioned sports ahead of swimming.
Last month she won seven gold medals at the Conference USA tournament, including three individual events and four relay events. She set a conference record of 22.23s in the competition and went on to win the C-USA Swimmer of the Meet (tournament) award. She also set two FIU records in the 50m freestyle category to underline her importance to the university.
Her impressive performances helped her qualify for the pinnacle of varsity tournaments, the NCAA Championships where she posted a record of 26.06s to become the country’s first ever swimming participant at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, another milestone for one of Botswana’s great young talents.