After two COVID-affected seasons with Florida International University, Italian sprinter Jasmine Nocentini is transferring to Northwestern University for this coming season. She started with FIU for the spring semester of the 2019-20 season, which meant her freshman season ended after just two months due to the onset of the pandemic.
Since the 2020-21 season won’t count against eligibility, Nocentini will have three remaining seasons with the Wildcats.
I’m extremely happy and honored to announce my commitment to continue my swimming and academic career at Northwestern University!💜💜 I’m super excited for what’s coming and to share the next three years with this incredible team and coaching staff.
I also want to thank my friends/family at FIU for making these two seasons amazing and for sharing great memories. Finally, I want to thank the FIU coaches for teaching me a lot both in and out of the water. I wish you guys all the best and I know you will continue to succeed as you always do!
TOP TIMES (SCY)
- 50 free – 22.23
- 100 free – 48.93
- 200 free – 1:45.93
Nocentini swept the sprint free events at the 2020 Conference USA Championships, and she won the 100 and 200 free at the meet in 2021 after DQ’ing the 50 free final. She went on to compete at the 2021 NCAA Championships, placing 28th in the 50 free (22.39) and 32nd in the 200 free (1:46.92). Her lifetime bests in the 50 and 100 are from the 2020 C-USA meet and her 200 PR is from the 2021 meet.
Northwestern, a program on the rise under head coach Katie Robinson, has a lot of momentum in sprint free after a few years of a thin sprint group. Maddie Smith, a senior this year who is swimming next year with her extra eligibility while she pursues a grad degree, set NU program records in the 50 free (21.92) and 100 free (47.98) this past season. NU scored at 13th in the 400 free relay and 14th in the 200 free relay at NCAAs, while they placed third in the 200 and 400 free relays and fifth in the 800 free relay at Big Tens.
Nocentini already has a connection to the NU staff, too. Ignacio Gayo, an assistant with NU, served as associate head coach at FIU until summer 2020 when he made the move to Evanston. He had been with FIU for a decade, coaching as an assistant before his promotion to associate head coach in 2017.
Nocentini will team up with Smith and Selen Ozbilen, a rising sophomore from Turkey, to bulk up Northwestern’s already fast-improving relays. Meanwhile, Nocentini is on the cusp of NCAA scoring speed herself in the 50 free, and she would’ve made 2021 Big Ten A-finals in the 50 free and 200 free and the B-final in the 100 free.
Nocentini is set to join the Wildcats in the coming months alongside super senior returners Smith and Sophie Angus as well as incoming freshmen #5 freestyler Ashley Strouse, backstroker Justine Murdock and sprinters Kenisha Gupta and Emily Park.
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Congrats!!!! Northwestern is excited to have you!
HUGE GET FOR THE CATS. Something special is cookin in Evanston.
Huge get for the wildcats! Continuing that incredible momentum with what’ll be 5 top 8 relays at NCAAs next year.