Swimming & Diving Announces 2010 Early-Period Signees
Dec 8, 2010 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Dec. 8, 2010
NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane University women's swimming and diving program stockpiled talent for the future as Molly Jubas, Vanessa Loewen and Amy Needham signed National Letters of Intent with the Green Wave during the NCAA's Early Signing Period, head coach Lena Guarriello announced Wednesday.
Jubas, Loewen and Needham are scheduled to arrive on campus as true freshman for the 2011-12 season and will each have their full allotment of college eligibility. The trio is slated to join a Tulane program that will be entering its third season back in action and that is scheduled to return 21 letterwinners from the 2010-11 squad.
"We're signing a small class, but they make up for their size in quality," Guarriello said. "These three young ladies should be able to jump right into practice and immediately increase the quality of our program. We signed every athlete that visited campus this fall and I think that speaks volumes about our team, the athletic department and the resources that are available to attract such high quality student-athletes to Tulane."
Jubas comes to Tulane via Irvine, Calif., where she was a standout on her prep team at University High and with the Irvine Aquazots. A two-time Pacific Coast League individual champion and a three-time CIF finalist, Jubas was an NISCA All-American and USA Scholastic All-American in 2010 and helped lead U High to the CIF Division I title that season.
She was voted team captain for her senior season and helped guide her team to the PCL team title the previous three years. In addition, Jubas participated in the Maccabi Pan-American Games in Argentina in 2007 and the Maccabi Games in Israel in 2009.
Active away from the pool as well, Jubas is a California Federation and AP Scholar, earned the Model United Nations Accommodations Award and is a member of the Save Darfu Club, Bust Buddies, Impact Mentor and the Med Club.
"I'm excited to have an opportunity to develop Molly," Guarriello said. "She is well coached and is training with one of the best clubs in southern California. One of my goals here at Tulane was to develop our distance program. Molly will be a great training partner for this group and I hope to see her among the top distance swimmers in the conference next year."
 A native of Victoria, British Columbia, Vanessa Loewen comes to Tulane after earning national medalist honors in the backstroke and butterfly for her respective age group from 2006-10.  | |
Loewen joins the Green Wave family from Victoria, British Columbia, where she was a standout Island Swimming. With her club team, Loewen was a national medalist in the backstroke and butterfly for her respective age group every year since 2006 and was a member of Team BC from 2005-10.
The winner of the Best Female Swimmer on Island Swimming from 2005-08, Loewen set the club record in the 50-meter fly. She was a Provincials finalist in the relay and backstroke, and helped set the Provincial 400 free relay record in 2008.
In addition to her time in the pool, Loewen is also a track and field standout where she earned regional championships in the high jump and shot put. She is slated to graduate from Claremont Secondary School in June 2011.
"Vanessa significantly strengthens our program," Guarriello said. "She will challenge some of the best swimmers on our team in practice and some of the top swimmers in the conference as a competitor. Her work ethic is great both in the pool and in the classroom and this is exactly what we were looking for when recruiting Vanessa."
 The sister of sophomore swimmer Emily Needham, Amy Needham joins the Tulane team after twice earning YMCA All-America honors and qualifying for the YNCA nationals, Speedo sectionals and New England age-groups. | |
The final signee's name is a familiar one to Green Wave fans as Needham's sister, Emily, is currently a sophomore on the Green Wave team. Like her older sister, Amy Needham hails from Manchester by the Sea, Mass., attends Manchester Essex Regional High School and swims for the YMCA North Shore club.
Prior to signing with Tulane, Needham has twice earned YMCA All-America honors and was a YMCA national, Speedo sectional and New England age-group qualifier. She is a member of the New England Top 10 and helped her teams win the YMCA New England Championship and the YMCA District title.
Away from the pool, Needham is a member of the High Honor Roll and the National Honor Society, and is a Manchester and AP Scholar.
Needham comes from a very athletic family as her uncles Mark Needham and Eddie Field played football at Tennessee and baseball at Northeaster, respectively, while her grandfather, Edward Field, played football at South Carolina.
"We're very happy that Amy has decided to make Tulane her second home," Guarriello said. "Amy experienced a lot of swimming success earlier in her career and is now training and competing as if she's had a `second wind.' Her new club, Crimson Aquatics has sparked a renewed fire in her. She's excited about the sport and we're excited about developing her."
While Jubas, Loewen and Needham will not arrive on campus until next August, the 2010-11 Tulane swimming and diving team opens the spring portion of its schedule on Jan.7, 2011, when they travel to the West Coast to take on San Diego State.
Players Mentioned
