Penn swimming's Chris Swanson is back for more after a successful freshman run

When most collegiate athletes begin their sophomore seasons, they do so in the hopes of improving on their freshman year, whether that means lowering their times or making more of an impact at the varsity level.

But for sophomore swimmer Chris Swanson, outdoing freshman year will be a much taller order.

In addition to setting three school records in the 500, 1000 and 1650 meter freestyle events, Swanson also captured an individual title at the Ivy League Championships in the 1650 freestyle.

Swanson is one of only two Penn men to capture an Ivy Championship in the past 12 years. His times during the season earned him a bid to compete in the NCAA Championship races, and Swanson capitalized on his chance to shine on a national stage, wrapping up his exceptional freshman season by finishing 33rd nationally in the 1650 freestyle with a time of 15:02.11.

“It was a blast,” Swanson said. “I knew my trip to NCAAs would be purely for the experience, so I just enjoyed watching some of the fastest swimming in the world”.

Following a season-opening loss at Connecticut, Swanson and the rest of the Penn men’s swimming team are geared up to get back to racing and see if their long hours of practice in the offseason will yield faster times.

“I swam over the summer almost every day,” Swanson said. “Once school started, our team started training much harder earlier in the year as compared to last year. I think we will see great results from it.”

And yet Swanson is reluctant to share his hopes for this season.

“I don’t like telling people my goals,” he admitted. “Usually I tell my family, but that’s about it. [Coach Mike Schnur] tends to think along the same lines … I will say I want to continue to improve on my times from last year.”

Schnur — who incidentally also swam the 1000 and 1650 freestyle events for the Quakers in his day — had nothing but praise for his athlete.

“Chris is an amazing guy,” Schnur said. “He trains at an incredibly high level every day and balances that with a very demanding workload in Wharton. He is the model student-athlete and a fantastic representative of our program and Penn Athletics.”

Swanson also acknowledges that he has certainly learned quite a few lessons from his freshman season.

“I try to have fun with [swimming],” he said. “Being a distance swimmer, practices tend to contain a ton of yardage which can be both painful and boring. So I learned to look for the little things in practice and have fun with them.”

SEE ALSO

Freshman represents Penn swimming at NCAA championships

Penn swimming’s Swanson searches for championship glory

Swimmer Shelby Fortin concludes season at NCAA Championships

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