FAIRHOPE — Fairhope High senior swimmer Olivia Hudson signed her National Letter of Intent Wednesday to attend Colorado Mesa University and compete for the NCAA Division II Mavericks in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

The multi-year All County selection excels in the backstroke and the in- dividual medley (IM) which requires a strong command of all four strokes. She holds numerous school as well as local and regional club-league records. Hudson plans to major in nursing at CMU.

“I’m looking forward to swimming for Mesa,” she said. “They have a really good nursing program and I love the swim team and I love the area. It’s beautiful. And they have a really good coach (head coach Ron Allen) up there. My mom and dad really helped me and taught me a lot and supported me. I’m excited.”

Her high school coach and mother Cathy Hudson said she was proud of the signee as an athlete, student and daughter.

“Of course I’m very proud and happy for her. I think it’s a good fit for her. It’s a good competitive environment and an excellent academic program, too. “As a coach and as her mom, I can say she really is definitely one of the hardest working swimmers I’ve had. And she works smart. Very disciplined and dedicated.”

Olivia follows her brother Ross into collegiate swimming. He signed with Florida Tech two years ago.

Their mother and their father, Rick Hudson, were NCAA swimmers at Virginia Tech. They moved to Fairhope just before Olivia was born in 1995.

“We never pushed either of our children to pursue competitive swimming," Cathy Hudson said. "But we definitely wanted them to learn all four strokes. Introduce them to the sport. Then, let them decide to take it as far as they wanted. But they always liked it and I guess with me being a coach they were around it a lot. We are just happy they both got the opportunity to keep doing something they love in college. And it really is a fun sport and there is such a sense of community involvement about it.”

Olivia Hudson also trained under coaches Terry Martin, Tim Reddy and Rich Suhs. The Pirate and Lady Pirate swim teams will compete in the 6A Alabama High School Athletic Association state swim and dive championships at Auburn University Dec. 6-7.