Swimming & Diving: Lake State Brings in Loaded Recruiting Class for 2026-27 Season

“I think a lot of things have changed since February, in a good way.”
 
Looking again at third-year Lake Superior State swimmer Dmitrij Mijailovic’s assertion, there’s lots to unpack. The final time the crew competed, the then-second yr Lakers have been sending Fedor Mironov to the NCAA Division II National Championships, this system’s first nationwide qualifier.
 
Then, Head Coach Tim O’Neill spent the subsequent few months loading up his Men’s and Women’s rosters to the gills with younger expertise, including tons of high quality and amount to each groups. The Lakers introduced in 5 new males’s swimmers and eight new girls’s swimmers. They’ve signed nationwide champions, worldwide abilities and legions of younger stars with collective many years of friendships throughout each groups.
 
O’Neill coached the Lakers into nationals for his or her debut a yr in the past. Now, he plans on making LSSU a fixture on that very same stage, approach forward of the everyday schedule for a third-year program.
 
“The competitive level we’re already hitting with this team is extremely high,” mentioned O’Neill. “They’re well-versed in a lot of different events, and we’re going to have depth in races we haven’t had yet. I think people are really going to be thrown off by the level we’re going to hit at such an early point in our program.”
 
This yr’s incoming swimmers will definitely elevate eyebrows and expectations whereas reducing jaws. Laurel Roberts-Burrell received the 50m Backstroke within the Men’s Over-18 division on the prestigious English Summer Nationals, earned gold on the 200m Backstroke and took silver within the 100m Backstroke on the similar occasion.
 
“It’s a competition I’ve done yearly for the last four years,” mentioned Roberts-Burrell. “This is the principle one, the one you are aiming for and the one you wish to do rather well at. I used to be actually pushing myself in coaching and dealing on my strokes. I used to be entering into fairly low as properly, I’d not carried out as many competitions, however to go in there and win two golds and a silver, I’m fairly ecstatic.
 
For the 50 Back, it was a extremely shut race. I’d received it on the contact. I used to be very nervous all through the race. Seeing my title subsequent to primary on the board, I used to be ecstatic. It was so good to have that gold medal and understand I’d received the 50 Back.”
 
Not lengthy after his late July victories, the younger star from Derby Excel blew away his new teammates after arriving in Sault Ste. Marie.
 
“I’ve gotta say, I saw Laurel swim,” recalled Mijailovic, remembering that first coaching session with the form of awe one reserves for watching one thing epic. “He jumps into the pool, does two kicks underwater, does three pulls, and he’s on the other side of the pool. He’s literally laying on the water. He’s so talented for this sport.”
 
He’s joined by fellow Englishman Lewis Hickman, who certified for the Aquatics GB British Championship and Olympic Trials in 2024. An glorious breaststroker, the Kingswinford, UK native joins his countryman Roberts-Burrell at Lake State. That’s not an accident, in keeping with O’Neill. He wished to usher in gifted swimmers who have been acquainted with one another’s backgrounds previous to becoming a member of the Lakers.
 
He mentioned, “I really tried to find athletes that had friendships and bonds with incoming swimmers. For instance, we have three swimmers from Hungary that grew up on the same team and have been swimming together for years, two swimmers from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have known each other for years, too. We can be a really small world, but it’s important that these athletes have familiar faces, people who can make them feel at home on campus.”
 
The Hungarians are a tremendously gifted group. Peter Miszey hails from Budapest, whereas Mate Szatmari, Zita Gonda, Anna Racz, and Eszter Veszelovszki all name Hódmezovásárhely dwelling. Gonda marks one other improbable recruiting win for O’Neill – she completed second within the 50m Free on the Hungarian Youth National Swimming Championships, eighth within the 100m Back and fourth within the 200m Back. O’Neill praised her versatility, saying that he expects Gonda’s versatility might be extraordinarily essential shifting ahead.
 
Szatmari appears to be like like a particular expertise, too. At the November 2025 National Short Course Youth Championships, the 6’6″ Hungarian positioned third within the 200m Breaststroke and fourth within the 50m race. He was a four-time qualifier on the 2025 Hungarian Youth Championships, too, incomes a silver medal within the 100m Breaststroke.
 
Paraguayan Constanza Areco Sancho brings practically a decade of worldwide expertise to LSSU. She started swimming for Paraguay in worldwide competitions in 2019, then received the 200m lengthy course Freestyle race on the Paraguayan National Youth and Junior Championships this summer time.
 
While Sancho has represented her nation for a big portion of her life, she stays totally engaged within the significance of her expertise and what meaning for her future within the Soo. She mentioned, “I’m super proud. This is not a small thing. I can represent Paraguay. I’m the only Paraguayan and Latina for the swim team, and it means a lot for me. I’m very proud.”
 
She mirrored on her championship and mentioned, “I was training so hard for that competition because it was my last one before I came here. That moment was really special.”
 
It’s not wholly uncommon to have one or two athletes who competed for his or her nationwide groups or junior nationwide groups, even for a younger program like LSSU. To have an entire host of them in this system’s third season is unimaginable.
 
O’Neill mentioned, “I think part of the beauty in an NCAA Division II program is you have athletes in all different areas with different skillsets and backgrounds. I’m always asking questions about what their backgrounds look like in the sport and how that might translate to what I see in the water. That history, not only from the technical side, but from a coaching mindset, allows me to help every person, no matter what their background is.”
 
It’s O’Neill’s care and a focus to technical particulars that introduced this extraordinarily gifted younger group collectively. Every student-athlete that spoke for this story commented on these two elements. Mijailovic expressed a passion for his head coach coming into their second season collectively.
 
“I think Tim is a really good coach. I’ve changed a lot of coaches, and Tim is a really good coach, because he’s not the old-school coach that just thinks like, ‘If we swim 10,000 yards at practice, we’ll achieve a lot and be way better.’ He actually looks at every single swimmer to see what technique problems they have, see what they need to do. Do they actually need to swim more? How are their aerobic levels, are they maxed at their levels? He pays attention to those things, puts us in groups, and every group has a different practice. Every swimmer in the group has a different goal on their technique or whatever that they need to follow in that practice to make their stroke better and be faster in a race.”
 
Women’s crew captain Ivy Delo mentioned, “Tim does a very good job. You can see him at practice, watching and searching. He’ll point out things to fix, and there’s always something to work on. I like to know what I’m doing wrong and how to fix it.”
 
Roberts-Burrell added, “I think he brings a different coaching style, which I’m very interested in. I’m very used to having different coaches every year, so I’m very interested to see what he can provide me and how he can help me improve. I think he can help me work on my technique a little bit and help my stroke rate, because that’s something I’ve always been told is a bit slow. I’ve managed to do well with it, as you can see. But it’s something I want to improve going forward so I hope he can help me work on that.”
 
Sancho mentioned, “I felt the coach’s heart. Before I came here, he was super supportive of me. My mom told me that if it is a small school, you can be closer to your friends, the teacher, the coach, and that could be a good thing.”
 
O’Neill talked about how he related with every of those then-prospective student-athletes in the course of the recruiting course of. “They got to know that I was interested in how they did. The connection that I made with them. I’m going to be really invested in how they progress, whether they’re here or back at home. I’m their coach, and I really value their individual goals, and they know that now.”
 
Saturday marks the primary meet day of the season, because the Lakers journey to Findlay. The Oilers’ girls’s crew completed seventh nationally on the 2026 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships, whereas the boys’s crew completed eighth.  It’s a big check for the Lakers, who nonetheless have a small roster – numerically talking. Mijailovic identified that whereas many groups will characteristic 30 male and 30 feminine swimmers, LSSU’s newer program remains to be a small squad. Team scores doubtless will not be nice – these are inclined to weigh closely towards even the most effective smaller squads.
 
But the Lakers will win races towards excellent swimmers. They will get into the pool and take outcomes from individuals who will compete at the easiest competitions in Division II.
 
“There’s a lot expertise on the crew. I’m so excited for what they’ll deliver.
 
“I felt like we’re going to be a force to be reckoned with soon.”
 
Mijailovic said, “I think a lot of people see that we’re a team that’s going to be something, even after I’m gone and a lot of these people are gone. They’re going to see that this team, this coach, and a lot of the people on the team are capable of doing something, and they will do something in the future.”
 
“I think [other teams] are going to be thrown off,” mentioned O’Neill. “I think some coaches will expect it, because they’ve known me from the past. But in-conference, how we’re going about our business is going to turn heads.”
 
Make no mistake, this program remains to be in a development and maturation course of. But lower than two seasons after this system’s basis, and with lower than a full season as Head Coach, O’Neill landed the Lakers to the nationwide stage. This yr, he mentioned the main focus is on coming collectively and embracing the collegiate system. While he needs nice performances, his massive purpose is to see the continued improvement of the tradition. Raise the usual and outcomes will observe. A bunch of gifted recruits and high quality people that bond collectively could make your crew feared in sports activities.
 
“Hopefully, they’ll see our name and go, ‘Oh, no. Not them again.’ I think we’ll give them a run for their money,” mentioned Roberts-Burrell.
 
Not them once more. A phrase which may get repeated extra typically between now and subsequent February.