Gundry, Paez No Strangers to International Travel

DURHAM, N.C. – Current Blue Devils Jaimee Gundry and Isabella Paez are headed to Russia for the FINA World Aquatic Championships, where they will compete against senior-level talent in diving and swimming events, respectively. However, neither student-athlete is a stranger to international travel.

Gundry is a rising senior who was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. She grew up in England from age seven on after also living in New Jersey and Kenya. Now, her family resides in Kentucky. Having lived in so many countries, Gundry wanted to go to school in America.

“I knew I wanted to come to the U.S. for college because it's a better athletic environment along with academics,” she said. “Duke also has an incredible diving program so it was the best of both worlds.”

But diving hasn't always been Gundry's favorite sport; it wasn't until her freshman year of high school that she fell in love with diving. She started out in gymnastics. After an injury, with the help of a friend, she decided to try diving. Gundry discovered her love for the sport, and has been competing ever since. When she transitioned to the collegiate level, she enjoyed the more serious atmosphere and dedication Duke provided.

“It was an increase in dedication, which is what I'd been looking for,” she says.

Now, higher-level competition is something that Gundry has grown accustomed to. She was able to compete at the World Championships two years ago, representing her home country of South Africa. It was her first senior-level international competition and she received a 24th-place showing in the preliminaries of the individual 10-meter platform event. This summer, she's looking to improve and use the experience as a lesson in consistency and confidence boosting.

For Gundry's Blue Devil teammate Paez, international competition is challenging, as college competitions measure distance in yards while the rest of the world uses meters. Improving upon personal times can be challenging with the measurement differences, so Paez has made daily practices the top priority.

A rising sophomore at Duke, Paez is a native of Venezuela. She came to the United States when she was seven years old. Her parents felt it was important for her to swim because her grandfather owned a boat, making it a necessity for safety purposes. She began swimming when she was five and started to compete at a higher level by age nine.

Like Gundry, Paez chose to attend Duke because of the strong combination of athletics and academics. She also thought the coaches and team chemistry were great. In the next year, she hopes to declare a major in public policy and marketing. The combination of both academics and sports can be a challenge, but Paez says she is grateful for the coaches, advisors and teammates she has to help her along the way.

One of her favorite events is the 200 butterfly, an event she excelled in during her freshman season. She broke the 200 butterfly school record and set an additional program benchmark as a member of the team's 800 freestyle relay. She also won the 200 butterfly consolation final at the 2015 ACC Championship, the second-highest finish by a league rookie in that event. Paez went on to compete in the 100 and 200 butterfly preliminaries at the NCAA Championship, and after swimming for Venezuela at the Pan American Games earlier this month, she is preparing to take her talents to Russia.

Paez is competing at an international senior level for the first time this summer. She previously represented Venezuela at the 2010 Junior World Championships, where she placed 16th in the 200-meter butterfly. The Blue Devil swimmer says she is looking forward to going up against more experienced swimmers.

“It's definitely going to be a learning summer, but I think it's going to be fun,” she says.

Outside of swimming, Paez is excited to see Europe. She's never travelled to the Eastern region of the world and can't wait to see what it's like.

Both Gundry and Paez have tough competitions ahead of them, but luckily they won't be travelling alone. Nunzio Esposto, Duke's head diving coach, will be going as part of the U.S. coaching staff. In addition, former Duke diver and 2012 Olympic silver medalist Abby Johnston will be competing in individual and synchronized diving events, while former Blue Devil distance standout Ashley Twichell will represent the United States in open water swimming.

For more information on the World Championships, check out the meet preview and schedule of events here.

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