(Above, Dylan Weisenauer signs to continue his swimming career at Ashland University on Friday.)
FREMONT – Committing to continue one’s career at the collegiate level is exciting at any time.
But doing so while and still being able to focus on your senior year without distraction, that’s exactly the timing Dylan Weisenauer had in mind.
Friday afternoon, with the Fremont Ross swimming season still more than a week away, Weisenauer made sure the prospect of continuing his swim career did not detract from his final season as a Little Giant.
Weisenauer signed to continue his swimming career at Ashland University.
“I felt relieved,” Weisenauer said. “I’ve had a few friends that weren’t this far ahead at this point and I wanted to make sure I knew where I was going and what I was doing. It relieves a lot of stress for this swim season, knowing what I’m doing next year. I’m excited.”
Weisenauer finished 20th in the butterfly in the state last year and has qualified for the state meet every year of his career. As a junior, he won the Three Rivers Athletic Conference championship is the 100 backstroke and was first-team all-TRAC in the butterfly as well as second-team honors as part of the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays.
He holds the program records in the butterfly (50.85) and backstroke (52.59) and as part of the 200 medley relay (1:37.28).
“I’ve been looking at Ashland for a while now and I can see where I fit in, hopefully,” Weisenauer said. “The guys are all awesome, the coaches are awesome. It seemed like a good fit for me competition-wise too. It’s a good step-up from high school.”
Ross swim coach Phil Moran said he expects Ashland to keep Weisenauer specialized on butterfly and backstroke. Weisenauer has proven his versatility, Moran said, but one of the major differences between high school and collegiate swimming is the importance of the small details.
“He can do a lot of things, he can sprint, he can do distance. He’s proven he can do about anything – except maybe breaststroke,” Moran said. “A lot of times it’s the nit-picking stuff that I’ve told them about again and again and again, then they get to the next level and there 20 other guys right there with him and there’s pressure to do things right.”
In addition to the swim program, Weisenauer cited its close proximity to home as appealing and said he plans to study biology.
“I’m not sure what I want to do yet but there is such a wide variety do things you can do within biology that my hope is through studying it I can figure out what I want to do.”