BROOMFIELD — Steve Schmuhl’s resume is growing.
The former Legacy high school standout swimmer was recently named to the USA Swimming National Team and now has visions on the Olympics.
“I was real excited when the roster came out and saw that I actually had made it,” said Schmuhl, who is ready to start his junior year in Bloomington, Ind., at the University of Indiana.
The team consists of the top-six swimmers in the Olympic events with times that were posted at the 2013 Phillips 66/USA Swimming Nationals and World Championship Trials, the 2013 World University Games, the 2013 World Championships, and the 2013 U.S. Open.
Schmuhl, who has grown since high school and now stands a towering 6-foot-8, qualified in two events and ranked in the top six in the 200 individual medley and the 400 individual medley. He set Indiana school records in both events at the U.S. Open, going 1:59.90 in the 200 IM and 4:16.07 in the 400 IM.
Schmuhl is one of three Hoosiers — Lindsay Vrooman and Cody Miller are the other two — to make the team, and needless to say head coach Ray Looze is ecstatic about his teams accomplishments.
“Indiana swimming is excited to have three collegiate swimmers make the USA National Swimming Team,” he said in a press release from the school. “This program accomplishment is indicative of the outstanding summer our women and men had in 2013. Across the board we saw major improvements. Lindsey, Steve and Cody have now placed themselves on track to vie for the US Olympic team in 2016.”
With the game still three years away in Rio de Janeiro, Schmuhl is very much aware that nothing is given and that his constant training will have to be turned up a notch or three.
“It is the ultimate goal and something I will be working for for the next three years,” said Schmuhl, who was an eight-time All-American at Legacy and was a four-time state champion. “I realize now that it is so close and that I just have to keep working and try and get into the top two, so that when the time comes around I can go to the Olympics.”
The aforementioned Schmuhl dossier, especially at Indiana, has been impressive. After earning a trip to the NCAA championships in his freshman year, he has his name all over the IU record books. He was the first Hoosier to ever crack the 2-minute mark in the 200 IM with the 1:59.90 at the U.S. Open in Irvine, California. He already has the five fastest times in the 400 IM and placed fifth at the event in the 2013 NCAA championships.
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