Gina Ruffino '21 Recruiting Profile

My mom hired a swim instructor to come to our house when I was 4 years old.  The private instructor is suposed come to the home, throw you in the pool and have you swimming in 3 to 5 days.  I was swimming after the first day and doing "the crawl" by the end of the week.  My first swim team was the RIPTIDE in Boca Raton, Fl at 5-6 years old. This is when I started swimming the "BUTTERFLY."  I swam with them until 8 yrs old and did not continue with them when they switched pools away from the FAU pool where they had been training.  I joined the FLA team which was swimming at FAU pool shortly after, but our lives changed and we were forced to move from our home in Boca Raton, FL to Deerfield Beach, FL when my mom and dad split.  I bugged my mom day after day and year after year to get back in the pool and she finally put me on the Deerfield Dolphins where I improved over the next few years.  As part of The Deerfield Dolphins (2014-2017),  I won a BRONZE medal at Summer Champs in 50 FREE and several GOLD medals in MEDLEY relays and FREESTYLE relays.

Currently, I am a junior at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Fort Lauderdale and have been swimming for the school since I was a Freshman.  Swimming for Cardinal Gibbons has inspired me to increase my swimming goals tremendously.  And as a family, we made a conscious decision with the help of my last year's coach at Cardinal Gibbons (Mrs. Russo) to seek out Coach Jesse Vassalo at Pompano Beach Pirahnas.  Coach Russo loves my "FLY" and believes that with the proper coaching I have the ability to succeed as a top level swimmer!  I believe that too!  I love being part of a team and having an instant group of real friends that have the same goals and aspirations as myself.  My goals this year at Cardinal Gibbons are to compete at Districts and Regionals and to decrease my 100 FLY time to 1.05 seconds.  My 50 FREE goal this high school and short course season is 26 seconds, and my 100 FREE goal is under one minute at 59 seconds.

At the club level this summer in our long course season I won my first individual 1st place GOLD medal at Fla International Cup LCM and it really made me proud to be a swimmer.  Coach Jesse Vassalo is an Olympiad and I am super confident that he too believes in me and has my best interest at heart.  My goals this short course season at the Club Level are to win GOLD at more Championship meets, compete in Senior Champs, and to qualify to go with the team next year to Puerto Rico to compete with our team in The Puerto Rico International Open.

At the collegiate level, my swimming goals are to compete, excel, work hard, and participate in the Division 1 NCAA finals.  I love the water and when I go to college I intend to SWIM.  Swimming helps me to stay focused and gives me a purpose.  It motivates me to be a teammate, to stay diligent in all aspects of my life, and to practice values and dedication both as an individual and a team member.