Wednesday, December 18, 2002
FIU Women's Swimming prospects bright under Zaharia's guidance
 Noemi Zaharia |
lorida
International University's newest intercollegiate sport, women's
swimming, is set to begin its inaugural schedule next winter.
But under the watchful eye of head coach Noemi
Zaharia, the Golden Panthers are already well along in planning
for their first season of NCAA Division I competition.
A member of the Sun Belt Conference, the team will immediately qualify for the league championships, and in order to be well represented at that meet, coach Zaharia has started recruiting qualified swimmers from the swimming pools of South Florida, the nation and beyond.
The Golden Panthers swimming team will practice in West Miami-Dade at the Tamiami Pool, but conduct meets at the beautiful FIU Biscayne Bay Campus, overlooking Biscayne Bay in North Miami. The outdoor 50-meter, eight-lane Olympic-size pool features a separate diving well.
"We're so excited about being here and starting the women's swimming program for FIU," said Zaharia. "We are anxious to have our first student-athletes on campus this fall begin spreading the word of our great university through the sport of swimming."
With her vast national and international contacts, Zaharia has already begun selling her program to qualified swimmers in South Florida and around the world. Athletic scholarships are available and the coach also plans to welcome walk-ons at tryouts when school starts next September.
"If we can get 12 good girls this year, I think we can do some damage in our conference," the coach said. "But more than anything, I'm looking for swimmers who are excited to be here. I believe excitement brings dedication. Dedication brings hard work. Hard work brings results."
Zaharia ought to know what it takes. The former world-class and collegiate athlete competed in both the 1988 and '92 Olympic games, taking the silver medal in the 400m individual medley and bronze in the 200 IM in 1988. Before that, she swam in the 1987 World Championship Games where she won five gold and two bronze medals and received the Most Valuable Athlete award.
Zaharia attended Florida Atlantic University where she earned All-America honors in 1991 and '92. She took eight Division II individual championships while swimming for the Owls and still holds NCAA Championships records in the women's 200 IM (2:03.25) and 400 IM (4:20.68). Zaharia was named the NCAA's 1992 Female Athlete of the Year and received the Honda Award for excellence in sports.
She started her coaching career as a student assistant at her alma mater, and from 1997-2000, was associate head coach for both men and women. While there, Zaharia managed the recruiting program that helped produce five national qualifiers, three competitors in the 2000 South American Games and a participant in the World University Games and European Championships.
Since then, Zaharia has been assistant coach and coach of the developmental swim team of KJ SwimAmerica, technical programs director for the American Swimming Coaches Association in Ft. Lauderdale and is head coach of the Shores Village Aquatics program in Miami Shores.
As a community leader, Zaharia organized and conducts volunteer pre-school water safety/swimming programs and is a motivational speaker to students and athletes in her native Romania as well as in the United States.
But results in the pool are not all that matters to her. A student-athlete's work in the classroom is just as important. "I'm proud to say that at FAU, the team (grade point) average was 3.0. I'm a stickler for that - my degree is in education."
Interested female swimmers wishing to find out more about the university and its inaugural swimming team can visit the Golden Panthers web site at fiusports.com or contact coach Zaharia at zaharian@fiu.edu.
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