EVANSVILLE, Ind. –University of Evansville swimming and diving coach Rickey Perkins has announced the signing of eight high school standouts to continue their careers at Evansville.
 
Courtney Coverdale (Plainfield, Ind.), Jessi Hildebrand (Newcastle, Okla.), Prescott Marcy (Boerne, Texas), Brendan Ninneman (Fenton, Mo.), Daniel O'Brien (Greenwood, Ind.), Austin Penler (Chargin Falls, Oh.), Everett Plocek (Germany) and Kasey Rein (Piedmont, Okla.) will join the Purple Aces for the 2014-2015 season.
 
"I am very happy and excited about this 2014 class. Although it is one of our smaller classes in the last few years, it is still very rich in talent," says coach Perkins. "They all have placed high in the their respective high school championship state meets and each will help us toward achieving our team goals for the 2014-2015 season."
 
Courtney Coverdale, Diver, Plainfield, Ind. / Plainfield High School
Courtney joins the Aces squad after placing all four years of her high school career in diving at Plainfield High School, including a ninth place finish in 2011, an eighth place finish in 2012, a ninth place finish in 2013 and a sixth place finish in 2014 with a score of 440.45.
 
Austin Penler, Diver, Chagrin Falls, Ohio / Chagrin Falls High School
Joining Courtney in the 2014-2015 diving class is Austin Penler. Penler comes in with a strong high school diving background having finished in the top 15 in the state of Ohio three years in a row. Penler finished in 14^th place in 2012, sixth in 2013 and third with a score of 406.70 in 2014. Austin is also a three-time state finalist in diving.
 
Daniel O'Brien, Sprinter/Backstroke/Fly, Greenwood, Ind. / Centergrove HS
Daniel joins the Aces squad after turning down an offer from the University of Cincinnati. O'Brien has a familiarity with Evansville, as his sister, Sarah O'Brien swam for the team during the 2012-2013 season, and his mother, Deborah, attended UE. O'Brien will be competing in the backstroke and butterfly and comes in finishing ninth in the 200-freestyle and second in the 100-yard butterfly in the state of Indiana.
 
Jessi Hildebrand, Butterfly / Mid-Distance, Newcastle, Okla. / Newcastle HS
Jessi, who is a part of the Chesapeake Swim Club, comes to the University of Evansville after swimming at Newcastle, High School in Oklahoma. At Newcastle, Jessi swam butterfly and competed in mid-distance events. She finished first in the 100-yard butterfly and was 1.5 seconds better than the second place finisher and she also finished first in the 500-yard freestyle.
 
Kasey Rein, Butterfly, Piedmont, Okla. / Piedmont High School
Kasey, who is also in the same swim club as Hildebrand (Chesapeake Swim Club) joins the team as a mid-distance butterfly swimmer. Kasey comes out of Oklahoma after finishing second in the state in the 100-yard backstroke and finished first in the 200-yard individual medley.
 
Brendan Ninneman, Mid-Distance, Fenton, Mo. / Rockwood Summit HS
Ninneman comes to Evansville out of Fenton, Missouri after competing with Rockwood Summit High School for four years. Brendan will compete with the Aces as a mid-distance swimmer as he looks to improve on his high school career with the Purple Aces.
 
Prescott Marcy, Sprint / Mid-Distance, Boerne, Texas / Boerne Samuel V. Champion HS
Prescott joins the Purple Aces swimming team after a very successful career with Boerne Samuel V. Champion High School in Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas. Marcy will have an immediate impact on the Aces program when he joins the squad next season. While swimming with Boerne Samuel V. Champion, Prescott was All-State all four years of his high school career. With UE, Marcy will swim in multiple different events.
 
Everett Plocek, Freestyle / Breaststroke / Butterfly, Germany
Everett is currently living in Germany with his father who is in the Military. In the European Military Championships, Everett won three events, the 100-meter freestyle, the 100-meter butterfly and the 100-meter breaststroke and also broke his own EFSL record in the breast. Coming to Evansville, Plocek is expected to swim butterfly, breaststroke and freestyle for the Aces. Everett is also a member of the Kaiserslautern Kingfish Club Team.