Clover athletes will continue careers at collegiate level

A pair of Clover Blue Eagles announced they will continue their athletic careers at the college level on Thursday. Bailey Bottini and Morgan Rulevich were both joined by family, friends, teammates and coaches in the media center’s loft.

Rulevich will depart from Clover with nearly every girls school swimming record. She signed what amounts to nearly a full swimming scholarship Wednesday to attend UNC Asheville, in the process becoming Clover’s first scholarship swimmer.

Clover coach Joan Epping teared up briefly while saying the most difficult thing to replace with Rulevich’s departure would be “her work ethic. If you don’t have those top swimmers setting the work ethic for the team, and she set the work ethic for this team for six years and now we’re going to have to find somebody else to do that.”

Rulevich also considered swimming at Vanderbilt and Wingate. Originally from Boston, she loved the environment in Asheville. The school perhaps got lucky when it snowed during Rulevich’s visit.

“I miss that kind of feel,” she said. “Also the food. They have a big cafeteria, and it’s nice.”

Rulevich, an A/B student, said she’ll probably major in business management, and she’s already taking college courses. Rulevich capped a decorated high school swimming career this past winter, with a pair of top-three finishes at the state meet, and she also competed year-round for the Rock Hill Rays at the Rock Hill Aquatic Center. As a junior she won the 50-meter freestyle and 100-meter breaststroke, setting a state record in the latter event. Rulevich swam for Epping since seventh grade, and started swimming much earlier than that.

“I love a wide range of sports but swimming has always just stuck with me,” she said.

Clover boys’ soccer coach Graham Stafford also lamented the departure of one his reliable standouts, Bottini. Stafford coached Bottini in club soccer with Discoveries since he was 13, and they teamed up again when he took over the Clover program two years ago.

“Selfishly, you always want to have players like that around the program because he’s infectious in his personality and the way he plays and his drive,” said Stafford. “He brings a lot to the team, but you want him to move on. You want him to do bigger and better things and he’s gonna do that with Lander.”

Bottini opted for the Div. II school over a number of other suitors, including Flagler (Fla.), Berry (Ga.), Francis Marion, Erskine, USC Aiken, and others. He took visits to all the schools recruiting him, but Lander, located in Greenwood, felt different.

“When I went to the school and visited and talked to the coaches, I knew it was the place for me at that point,” said Bottini, who plays left back for the state-ranked Clover boys. “I feel like I’ll fit in really well with the school.”

Bottini, who has played soccer since he was 4 years old, got academic money to cover about half of his tuition. There is only one other left-sided fullback in Lander’s program, so Bottini’s opportunity for playing time is real.

Bottini credited his parents for the hours and money they spent on weekends driving him around the country to soccer tournaments. One factor in picking Lander over some of the schools from farther a field, was a chance to limit the future driving required of his family.

“That way they could catch games,” said Bottini. “If I had gone to Flagler or Palm Beach, they would have had to drive nine, 10 hours to see a game. Now, they’ll only have to drive two.”

This story was originally published April 16, 2015 at 4:59 PM with the headline "Clover athletes will continue careers at collegiate level."