Goettler moving on
BUTLER TWP — After having her opportunity at competing in the Atlantic 10 Swimming Championships and U.S. Olympic Trials shot down by COVID-19, Laura Goettler was looking for a restart.
She found it at the University of South Carolina, joining the Gamecocks a couple of months ago via transfer.
The Butler graduate and Duquesne University freshman needed a change. She contracted COVID just before the conference championships.
“I had to shut down for a while,” Goettler said. “I had to quarantine for 10 days and was out of the water for two weeks.
“There was no sense in going to the Olympic Trials. I wasn't going to be in condition and I wasn't going to be ready to compete at that level.”
She felt confident she would have done well at the Atlantic 10 Championships.
“You never know, obviously, but I liked my chances,” Goettler said. “I had a pretty good season before this happened.”
Goettler won five WPIAL titles and a pair of state championships during her swimming career at Butler. Her freshman collegiate season convinced her that she wanted something bigger.
“I'm grateful for my experience at Duquesne,” she said. “This move is nothing against that program. I decided to transfer after getting COVID. I just wanted to go to a bigger school and a larger conference. I put my name in the transfer portal and the coach reached out to me.”
South Carolina competes in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Gamecocks were 1-3 last year in dual meets and finished 11th at the SEC Championships.
Jeff Poppell was recently hired as South Carolina's new head swimming coach. He was head coach at the University of Florida the past three years and had served as head coach at Arkansas for six seasons.
“His goal is to build the program, to move up in the standings, and I'm excited he views me as one of the swimmers who can help him do that,” Goettler said.
Goettler plans to major in retail management. She expects to swim the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke, 200 individual medley and possibly the 400 IM for the Gamecocks. She's been on the Columbia campus since mid-June, training and working out with members of the team.
“Instead of going to the Olympic Trials, I decided to go down there and start working on getting back in shape,” she said.
Goettler admitted she's adjusting to being a teammate again.
South Carolina's swimming roster has between 80 and 90 student-athletes. The 45-member women's team had only eight seniors this past season.
“The roster is double the size we had at Duquesne,” Goettler said.
Poppell is quoted on the swim program's website as saying: “To be able to help a program or school in general do things that they haven't done before, that's what motivates me.”
Goettler is more than ready mentally for the 2021-22 season.
“I am super fired up,” she said. “I love this situation I'm walking into. Just trying to be able to compete in a normal year again will be good. And I've been training hard this summer. I'm anxious to see where that takes me.”
