Colorado State University Athletics
Rams add Swedish star, two more All-Americans
11/19/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
Nov. 19, 2010
By Zak Gilbert
Athletic Media Relations
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Colorado State went to Europe to finalize its early swimming and diving class, as the Rams have added three more outstanding athletes, Head Coach John Mattos announced Friday.
CSU has signed Tove Törnström, Tess Simpson and Katie Polich to National Letters of Intent during the NCAA's early signing period. The trio is in addition to a pair of All-Americans, Alison Morales and Emma O'Connell, announced last week.
Törnström hails from Linköping, Sweden, where she attends school at Folkuniversitetet, Internationella Gymnasiet. In Sweden, athletes don't swim for their high schools, but compete for local swim clubs, and she has helped LASS (Linköpings Allmänna Simsällskap) win her country's national title three consecutive seasons (2007-09). LASS and its head coach, Mikael Holmertz, bid for a fourth national title this year.
Sweden also doesn't award individual honors, but Törnström has regularly reached the finals of the Swedish Nationals and Swedish Junior Nationals. She also has won several bronze, silver and gold medals in her regional championships.
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| Tess Simpson |
Simpson is a Peoria, Ariz., product and a Phoenix native. A four-year letterwinner at Centennial High School, she earned consecutive all-region selections in both 2008 and '09 and won the Class 5A state championship in the 50 Freestyle last season for head coach Shannon Orcutt.
A three-time scholastic All-American with a 4.0 grade-point average, Simpson has earned the Coyotes' MVP award three straight seasons (2007-09), helping CHS to regional championships in both 2007 and '08. Simpson also holds school records in the 200 IM (2008), the 50 Free (2009), the 100 Free (2009) and the 100 Back (2010). She also competed for the Westside Silver Fins club team.
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| Tove Törnström |
Polich will graduate from Northwood High School in Irvine, Calif., where she was an All-American and conference champion in the 50 Freestyle and 100 Butterfly in 2008. Voted most inspirational athlete by her teammates in 2008, she also is a two-time MVP, as a sophomore in 2009 and a junior in 2010, for head coach Ken LaMont.
The Timberwolves' school record-holder in the 50 Free and 100 Fly, she also competed for Irvine Novaquatics. Polich plans to major in human and exercise science with a concentration in sports medicine at Colorado State.
All five athletes are expected to compete for the Rams beginning in the fall of 2011.