Rocket Spotlight on Leah Evans

Leah Evans is a junior from Bristol, England. A health sciences major, she earned All-MAC Second Team honors in 2024-25 and is serving as a captain for the 2025-26 season.

On why she decided to attend Toledo
I chose Toledo because when I first came in 2022 for my recruiting visit, I really really liked the team, and the girls who surrounded me and supported me throughout my visit. Coming from another country, I had no idea what college life would be like in America. Being able to come for my official visit, see the campus and how everything worked in the day-to-day life and how the team would be, what practice looked like and even what football games were like. My mom and I came on the visit and she also got to go to the football game, which was an awesome experience because we had never seen American football. I really enjoyed the visit and the further conversations I had with the coaching staff solidified my decision to come here.

On how she began swimming
I did gymnastics from when I was a baby until I was about twelve, but my parents always made my siblings and me swim because it's a life skill. All of us had to swim until we were 12, that was the cutoff point and if you didn't like it, you could quit. I was deciding between gymnastics and swimming and then decided that gymnastics was not for me, so I stuck with swimming. I then joined a new club team at home and they started me on a program that has turned into my club team now, City of Bristol Aquatics. I started doing sessions with them once a week and kept increasing and then eventually joined the club.

On why she chose to major in physical therapy
I've been surrounded by sports since I was tiny -- I competed in gymnastics, soccer and basketball. When I was in gymnastics, we had a strength trainer and a physiotherapist and I've always liked seeing how everything worked and how they helped maintain the body to perform at its best. When I was a little older, I went to a specialist and worked with her a lot to come back through some injuries I've had in the past and to maintain my flexibility. Seeing the specialist inspired me to look into physiotherapy and I noticed that it is a lot of subjects that I've enjoyed taking in school such as anatomy and physiology and how the body works. That's what inspired me. This past summer, I spoke to my cousin so is a pediatric physical therapist back home in a hospital and I've realized that's something I would really like to do.

On how her physical therapy major helps in athletics
When I go to the training room downstairs and see athletic trainers like Jenna (Moreno), I'm quite interested in what they are doing. I like to ask questions to understand why some injuries hurt in certain ways, what movements they are using, and taking the knowledge I'm gaining in class and applying it. It's helpful to know about muscle movements and how it all relates to one another so I can figure out why my back or ankle might be hurting. We also take a nutrition class in my major, and knowing what foods to be eating to boost my energy systems to knowing when I should increase my carbohydrate load. Knowing these topics from class gives me more insight into why athletes do what they do and helps me understand what I should eat before a two-hour training session.

On her reaction to being named one of four captains for this season
I was a really cool experience. It showed that the coaches appreciate my insights and that they see the standard I hold myself to. It also makes me feel like my teammates and coaches see the ideas I have for the team and how I want us to push forward. It also provides me with a bit more authority where I can help certain things get done -- whether it is a team building activity or a certain part of practice. It is nice to meet with the coaches and bring up our opinions on certain situations, like recruiting visits or the team retreat. Between the four captains, we are able to manage everything and I enjoy having the responsibility. I think we are all doing a great job so far.

On how it felt to qualify for all A final cuts at MAC Championships last season
It wasn't necessarily a goal I set out for myself. During my freshman season Lauren Kilgore did the same thing and I thought to myself, "I want to do that one year," because she is a role model that I look up to. Between December and January when we are training in winter and there's not many people on campus, it gets quite difficult to just keep your head down and work hard while making sure to eat properly and not injure yourself. When it came time for MACs, I was just making sure to prepare myself the best I could. Everyone had positive mindsets throughout the weekend. My first event was the relay, which was fun because relays are team events and you're competing for your team and have three other people counting on you to do your best. I was able to set the school record in the 100 back during the relay, which just put me in a really great headspace for the rest of the meet. I took it one event at a time, but I was proud of myself for being able to do that last season. I hope to do the same thing again this season in the same events. I would like to place slightly higher in the final standings, and it would be really nice to medal. I just want to make three finals this year, that's my major goal.

On the difference between school in America and school in England
It is very different than home. It's very much, how my mom would say, like the movies. It looks exactly like High School Musical. At home, you do your courses for three years, you don't change your major and it's all extremely focused on that subject you choose. If I were doing what I'm studying at home, physiotherapy, I would be in the lab and get a placement in a hospital within my first year. Here in the States, I took an English class, a math class, and other classes that work complete your core classes. It's a very different way of doing university.

On her hobbies outside of swimming
Since I live far from home, I spend a lot of time FaceTiming with friends and family to see what's going on in their lives. My family will prop the phone up at the dinner table sometimes so it's like I'm there. I also like to go shopping and I usually don't buy anything but I enjoy wandering around the mall or Target. I also really enjoy cooking. I've been teaching my roommate how to cook. Since I live off campus, I have been cooking a lot more of the food I would have back home. Dining hall food is very different from what I would eat back home. I like going to the grocery store and picking out whatever I want to eat. I also really like to bake. I made really good brownies and banana bread last week and I also made some bruschetta.

On her summer travel with her teammates
My family travels a lot. Being from England, we would spend a couple weeks of the summer in Spain every year growing up. One set of my grandparents live in France so we also go visit them once a year. This past summer, Gracie (Pardue) and Clarke (Doyle) came back to England with me and we did a backpacking trip. The three of us started in London and then visited my grandparents in France. Afterwards, we then took the train to Germany, Italy, down the south coast of France and ended in Barcelona. We wandered through so many towns and we had so much fun. We were able to see Buckingham Palace, the Eiffel Tower, the Vatican and so many other places. It was a great trip to take with my teammates and I'm glad they were able to visit my hometown.

Players Mentioned

Leah Evans

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