Campus Connection: Club Swimming Gears Up for Season

Despite winning the national championship just two years ago, one group that has been overlooked by the Ohio State community is the club swimming team. 

The club swimming program — with over 200 paid members a year ago — the swimming team is one of Ohio State's proudest and loudest club teams.

Members range in all skill levels, from those who have never swam competitively before to those who have placed at state meets in high school. 

"We try to keep it open for everybody. I swam in high school and my whole life really. I ended up coming to OSU for school and didn't think i was gonna swim but I got dragged here by one of my friends, a few years later here I am," said junior Grayton Giesman.

Former president and current officer Kyle Hopkins has similar feelings. "I was looking to swim in college, but the club was an unknown, not really knowing what I would get out of it, but we made a lot of changes and now we’re the biggest rec sports club at Ohio State," he said.

The club has had several notable achievements in recent years, winning the national championship just two years ago, and finishing fourth out of 94 teams last season. 

"We do four meets a semester, one of them at home, we go to Tennesee, Miami (OH), Pittsburgh, Maryland, and we get to go to Kentucky this year," Giesman said. Next weekend, 17 teams will travel to Columbus for a competition.

As for how they recruit members, Hopkins and Giesman think that the club speaks for itself. With the ability to practice as much (or as little) as one wants, it is easy to build around a flexible schedule.

"None of our practices are mandatory, so there’s no pressure. We get people who swim every day of the week, and some who swim just a few days," Hopkins said.

"There's a lot of people who come to OSU who swim in the summer, so this is a good way to try out and fit their schedule whether they’re an ex-varsity swimmer or someone who has never swum before," Giesman said.

Fundraising, however, is one thing that the club must do. 

"Rec sports gives us like $4,000 to help with meets, which is nice, but we definitely have to do more," said junior club treasurer Jack Mantkowski.

The club's most common method of fundraising is simply charging members dues. These are $110 per year, which is "the cheapest swimming you'll ever have," as Giesman put it.

When the club travels to meets, they then split hotel costs, which drives down the price quite a bit. At most meets, the club simply takes however many they can fit on the bus, but at home meets, anyone who pays their dues can participate. 

Overall, the club simply wants to be known as a fun outlet that creates something organized in the swimming pool for anyone who wants to participate.

"The biggest thing is for me I always like to say is we like to get a lot out of it. All three of us scored points at nationals for the last few years, but as leaders of the club we have people that have barely swam before so we want them to be involved. You should leave the pool happier than when you get in,” Hopkins said.

The team practices Sunday-Thursday from 7:45-9:45pm at the North Competition Pool at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.

For more information on Club Swimming at Ohio State, click here to go to their website.

If you have a club, activity, or group that would like to be profiled for Campus Connection, send an email to david@elevenwarriors.com.