FORT MYERS, Fla. – Director of Athletics Ken Kavanagh has announced the following new additions to the departmental staff.
 
A former FGCU cross country student-athlete, Ciara Frame re-joined her alma mater in November 2020 as assistant strength and conditioning coach. Kyle Lucas was named Compliance Coordinator and Kenna Olsen joined the Sports Medicine staff as the athletic trainer for the baseball program. Both Lucas and Olsen officially began on January 11, 2021.
 
Frame works with the men's and women's cross country, women's swimming and diving, women's golf and men's and women's tennis programs. She is a National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), while also holding USAW Level-1 and USATF Level-1 certifications. Before returning to FGCU, the native of Mount Horeb, Wis., worked with the Minnesota Twins as a strength and conditioning intern through their spring training program.
 
"The strength staff at Florida Gulf Coast University is excited to welcome Ciara," said Head Strength and Conditioning Coordinator Randy Popple. "As a former student-athlete with our women's cross country program, she brings a great outlook to our department as a recent athlete and intern working under former Associate Strength and Conditioning Coordinator Eric Krause and our outstanding intern program. Ciara also completed an internship with the Minnesota Twins during their time in Fort Myers. We look forward to her working with her programs and helping them continue their success."
 
Lucas comes to FGCU after interning at Bellarmine (June 2020-Dec. 2020) and at Louisville (Aug. 2019-December 2020). With Bellarmine, Lucas worked in the Center for Academics and Student-Athlete Support Services, while at Louisville he interned with the Athletics Compliance Office. A 2019 graduate of West Virginia University, he will earn a master's degree from Louisville this May. As an undergrad at WVU, Lucas worked in the Student-Athlete Development department and also served as an Undergraduate Research Assistant in the Center for Applied Coaching and Sport Science.
 
"We are very excited to have Kyle Lucas join the Compliance Office," said Assistant AD for Compliance Keenan Johns. "Both his pedigree and enthusiasm will make an immediate impact serving our coaches."
 
Olsen joins the department after working just over three years at the University of Mary (North Dakota) where she worked with baseball, volleyball, swimming and softball in addition to overseeing the graduate assistant for men's basketball. She had previously worked as a graduate assistant at St. Cloud State from 2015-17 after earning her bachelor's degree from North Dakota. She worked with the Seattle Mariners in the summer of 2014 while also performing an internship with the Mayo Clinic Health Systems hospital in Eau Claire, Wisc. During her undergrad years at North Dakota, the native of Issaquah, Wash., was a four-year student-athlete on the softball team where she was named the program's Offensive Player of the Year in 2012. She was an all-conference selection in 2011 and 2012 while also being named an NFCA Academic All-American in 2013.
 
"We are excited to welcome Kenna to FGCU," said Nicole Neal, Assistant AD for Health Performance. "The combination of her experience as a collegiate student-athlete and her athletic training experience will bring a unique skill set to our Sports Medicine staff."
 
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E.A.G.L.E. CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal - a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, and strength and conditioning as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign - Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence. Join Our Team and pledge your gift today to help the Eagles of tomorrow!
 
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.
 
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 84 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 13 seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 38 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Seven FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport – including women's basketball (No. 24, 2019-20) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as three of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate (APR) in their sport and have had the highest percentage of teams so honored from these two groups over each of the past three years. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.46 GPA in the classroom in the spring 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 22 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall and 2020 Spring semesters each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 – being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
 
--FGCUATHLETICS.COM--