The University of Minnesota Men?s Swimming and Diving Head Coach Dennis Dale announced today the signings of three outstanding prep athletes. Travis Beckerle of St. Louis, Mo., Kiel Ochalek of Milan, Mich. and Mike Brown of Ontario, Canada will attend the University in the fall of 2002.

Beckerle, who swims for the Rockwood Swim Club under Coach Mary Liston and Jim Halliburton in St. Louis, is a distance swimmer with National Championship time standards in the 1650-meter and 800-meter freestyles. Beckerle is a National Honor student at DeSmet Jesuit High School and hopes to major in engineering at Minnesota.

"Travis is a very accomplished distance swimmer who will continue to carry our distance program forward," Dale said. "He should come in and make an immediate impact on our efforts in the 1650 at both the Big Ten and NCAA Championships."

Ochalek who swims for the Milan Swim Club under Coach Kyle Lott, is a three-time High School All-American. While attending Milan High School, Ochalek was the 2001 Michigan State High School Champion in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyles. He is also a National Honor student and class officer with hopes of majoring in child psychology at Minnesota.

"Kiel is a solid performer in the sprint freestyles," Dale said. "He will be counted on not only in the shorter individual races, but also as a member of our sprint relay teams. Kiel should help us continue our tradition of strength in the sprint events."

Brown swims for the Perth Stingrays Aquatic Club under Coach Nandi Kormendi, while attending the Perth Collegiate Institute. Brown was the Canadian National Champion this past summer in the 200-meter breaststroke and the Canadian National runner-up in the 100-meter breaststroke. He is currently ranked 38th in the world in the 200-meter breaststroke and hopes to major in sports studies at Minnesota.

"Mike is one of the best breaststrokers in this year?s class of prospective athletes, world wide," Dale said. "We feel very fortunate that he chose to come to Minnesota to be a part of our tradition of great breaststrokers. Mike will be a major contributor to our NCAA efforts in both the 200 and 100 breaststrokes."