September 30, 2020 at 12:37 p.m.
Swimming: Malia Francis to follow older sister to Liberty University
Swimming: Malia Francis to follow older sister to Liberty University
The younger Francis posted on social media last week that she has verbally committed to swim collegiately at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. The decision came after a long, but unusual summer on the recruiting trail due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A number of Division I schools, including some from Power 5 conferences, were looking at last November's WIAA Division 2 state 100-yard butterfly and backstroke state champion but, ultimately, Francis decided on the Flames. It is the first public verbal commitment to Liberty's 2022-23 recruiting class, according to Swimming World Magazine.
"This summer was when the whole recruiting process started," Francis told the River News. "It was back in June. It's been pretty much non-stop since then. It's taken up a lot of my time, but I just tried to go through it and get all the information I can. I think, overall, Liberty just stands out among the rest with the amount of support I felt from the program was just unmatched. With that, and hearing all the experiences my older sister has had there, she's just loved it, I just can't imagine myself anywhere else."
"I think it's a great match for her," RHS girls' swim coach Jenny Heck said. "I think she'll be really valued there and I'm sure she's excited to have that decision behind her."
Familiarity with the Liberty swim program definitely helped. Kiah Francis is now a senior and a team captain for the Liberty women's swim team. Malia Francis said she has been to the campus a couple of times to watch her sister compete.
"I've definitely seen the pool and the facilities, but there was a level of comfort in making that decision," she said. "I definitely did all my research on all the other schools' campuses and all that stuff."
When speaking to the River News in June, before Malia's recruiting process began in earnest, Kiah Francis said she had talked to her younger sister about the program and the culture at Liberty.
"I keep telling her, 'Hey, you won't find a program like Liberty University, the swim and dive program at Liberty University anywhere else.' We've got an incredible culture and that's something you've got to consider before going to a state school," she said.
Though her older sister detailed her positive experiences at Liberty, Kiah was "really hands off" when it came to the actual recruiting process, Malia stressed.
"She was just there for me if I needed support or advice," she said. "I really appreciate the way that she went about helping me through the process. She never pushed it in any way. She was just there if I ever needed her."
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Francis said she was unable to take any official visits to the schools she was considering, a unique hurdle in the recruiting process.
"(Official visits) would have enabled me to go meet the team, meet the coaches, see the campus and kind of experience it a little bit better," she said. "We didn't have any of that, so that definitely made it a little more difficult to make a decision. I could have gone and visited schools on my own, but they had made a rule that I couldn't talk to any of the coaches in-person yet, because of COVID. They keep pushing that deadline back. I still can't talk to my future coaches in-person."
Francis said she was relieved to have the recruiting process over, so that she can focus on her swimming goals, both with the Hodag girls' swim team and beyond.
"We're hoping for a (WIAA) state meet, so I guess that will be my focus for a while but, other than that, I'm just waiting to hear whether club will start having some of those higher-level meets I would normally go to," she said. "Right now, they don't have any plans for it. We're just waiting to hear."
Francis will join a Flames program that quickly turned into one of the best in the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA). The team's first year of competition was 2010 and within four seasons, the Flames won their first CCSA title. Liberty has not finished lower than second in the CCSA since notching a sixth-place finish their inaugural season and the Flames won back-to-back conference titles in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons with Kiah Francis on the squad.
In her second season competing at RHS, Francis already has school records in the 200 medley relays, the 100 butterfly and the 100 backstroke. She now holds part of four Heck Family Community Pool records after she was on the 200 freestyle relay team the eclipsed a 27-year-old pool mark last Thursday in a Great Northern Conference dual meet win over Medford. She also received honors for the swim and as the swimmer of the meet by the Wisconsin Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association for her performance at last year's D2 state meet.
Outside high school competition Francis finished third in the 200-meter backstroke and ninth in the 100-meter backstroke at the West Speedo Winter Juniors with times that put her in contention to shoot for qualifying times for the U.S. Olympic Trials. The COVID-19 pandemic took away some opportunities she would have had earlier this year to try to achieve those times, but it also pushed the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and thus the U.S. Olympic Trials, back one year.
"My goal going into this year is to get my Olympic Trial cut (qualifying time), which was my goal last year," she said. "I think the cuts will stay the same until December, so there will be 2020 cuts, but once it hits January, the new year, I believe they will change the cuts so they'll be a little faster."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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