Freshman represents Penn swimming at NCAA championships

Competing at the NCAA championships is never a bad way for a season to end, especially for a rookie.

Freshman Chris Swanson was the only member of the Penn men’s swimming team to receive an invite to the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Indianapolis over the weekend.

Swanson took part in the 500 and 1650-meter freestyle races at the championships.

On Thursday, Swanson finished 44th in the 500 free. The freshman completed his race in 4:23.89, roughly two seconds shy of his own Penn record of 4:21.82.

“It was a great learning experience for him,” coach Mike Schnur said. “I think a year ago it probably didn’t even occur to Chris that he could make NCAAs, but for him to go as a freshman is an amazing learning process.”

After a day of rest on Friday, Swanson was back in the pool on Saturday in the 1650 free.

In his second and final event at this year’s championships, Swanson closed out the weekend with a time of 15:12.85, 10 seconds slower than the 15:02.11 pace that he set at the Ivy League championships in early March.

Swanson’s 1650 mark at NCAAs was good enough for 33rd in the country.

Although Swanson holds the Penn record for the 500 and 1650 free, the rookie only had three weeks of preparation between Ivies and this weekend’s NCAA championships.

“I think we may have pushed a little too hard leading up to NCAAs because we didn’t have too much time, and it showed in some of his marks,” Schnur said. “In the 1650 he swam with some really fast kids who set a pace that he has never been exposed to, and when they took off he wasn’t able to keep up with them.”

Heading into next season, Swanson is the only current member of the Penn men’s swimming team with any experience at NCAAs. Schnur, however, hopes that some of the freshman’s competitive spirit can rub off onto the rest of the squad.

“I think we have a lot of guys who are now looking towards NCAAs as a goal after seeing what Chris has done as a freshman,” Schnur said. “They want to be competing at the highest levels, and that’s what we want to see from our team.

“It’ll be fun to see moving forward how the guys on the team take up the same mindset as Chris to get to the NCAAs.”

As for Swanson himself, it’s clear that this weekend’s events in Indianapolis, as well as his record times from earlier this season, are just the beginning for the rookie.

“All we talked about after NCAAs was what he needs to do to improve and get even better next year,” Schnur said. “He got a lot of opportunities to talk to kids in Indianapolis, saw what people are doing and watched records fall in other events, which was something that was really cool for him.

“He’s still an 18-year-old kid, but as he gets bigger and stronger, he’s going to be a load to deal with in the future.”

SEE ALSO

Penn swimming’s Swanson searches for championship glory

Swimmer Shelby Fortin concludes season at NCAA Championships

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