BONGANI MALUNGA
Botswana’s first ever Olympics swimming star, Naomi Ruele, enjoyed an eventful week as she grabbed two major awards as well as one team award. Ruele recently participated at the nationwide NCAA Championship where she recorded yet another school record.
On Thursday she was named the Conference USA (C-USA) Swimmer of the Year for the third time in her college spell, she has helped Florida International University (FIU) to many division and conference titles as a part of the university’s swimming and diving team.
Her dominance at regional college level has earned her rave reviews at FIU as she has set numerous school and conference records in recent years. Ruele is now the joint most successful athlete as far as the C-USA Swimmer of the Year award is concerned.
On Sunday she grabbed yet another honour, the FIU Athletic Department held its 2018-2019 end of season Blue and Gold Awards banquet, this was done to celebrate yet another successful campaign for the university’s sports teams.
Ruele was named FIU’s Swimmer of the Year in the swimming category, she was also a part of the swimming and diving team which was awarded the Michael Felsberg Spirit Award during the event. Swimming and diving team coach, Randy Horner had nothing but high praise for Ruele in an interview published by FIU’s website.
“Naomi is a unique situation. She came in her freshman year and was red-shirted due to a shoulder injury. She has come a long way, from making a trip to Olympics to be a leader in her senior year to making a perfect run for the NCAAs. She is an impressive young athlete and it has been great watching her grow and achieve so much success over the years,” said Horner.