Ryan moves to new pool

Sean Ryan has taken his Olympic swimming hopes to a new level — NCAA Division I.

Closing out a third summer in which he represented the United States in international competition, the teenager from Hixson has arrived at the University of Michigan. The fall semester there begins Tuesday.

Ryan was helping his McCallie School coach, Stan Corcoran, with this year’s Blue Tornado swimmers before leaving Wednesday for Ann Arbor, Mich. That was soon after he turned 18 between two major meets in Irvine, Calif. — the U.S. national championships and the Pan Pacific championships.

Ryan finished fourth and was the second U.S. finisher in the 1500-meter freestyle in the Pan Pacifics after earning that spot with a third place in the nationals 10 days earlier. He is ranked ninth in the world at that distance and was 10th overall in the Pan Pacifics’ 10-kilometer open-water event.

At Michigan he will train regularly with one of the two men who finished ahead of him in the 1500 at the nationals: former Wolverine Peter Vanderkaay, who has three Olympic medals and six NCAA championships.

“I’m really excited about that. Peter Vanderkaay is really good,” Ryan said. “I’ve looked up to him the last few years. He trains really hard, and I’ll be going against him every day in practice.”

Ryan is 6-foot-3 but only 150 pounds, and he’s looking forward to his collegiate strength program.

“I’m not looking for any set weight. If I get faster in the pool, I’ll be happy,” he said. “I’d be happy to be 6-3 and about 180, with solid muscle, when I get done swimming at like 26 years old.”

That gives him time to try for at least the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games.

“He’s got three Olympic trial [time] cuts now: the 200 free, 400 free and 1500 free,” Corcoran said. “And he’ll probably be one of about seven swimmers fighting for two spots in the open-water trials next June.

“I think as Sean gets stronger and bigger, he’ll get better in the shorter events — the 400 and 200 free. The open-water and the mile are his best opportunities in this next Olympics, but the average age of our men’s Olympic team the last time was 22. Only two were still in college.”

Born in Augusta, Ga., Ryan came with his family to Hixson when he was 4 years old. A year or so later, he and his older brother and sister joined the Scenic City Aquatic Club. He went to St. Jude School until enrolling at McCallie as a sixth-grader.

“At 8 I was doing really well. In the [Chattanooga Area Swim League] city meet I was the high point winner,” Ryan recalled. “But I wasn’t the best in 9-10 and 11-12. At 13 I started growing and got back into it, and I’ve got better ever year.”

Ryan made his first U.S. team as a 15-year-old and was in the World Championships in Italy as a 25k open-water swimmer a year later. His recent performances will put him in either the 2011 Worlds or the World University Games, both in China.

“It’s amazing how much Sean has improved the last five years. His progress from eighth grade through his senior year is pretty unbelievable,” said Corcoran, who’s also on the SCAC coaching staff. “He’s gotten better every single year, and not just by a little bit but by a lot. Making national teams at 15, 16 and 17 years of age — I think Michael Phelps is the only other person who’s done that in the last 30 years.”

Distance freestyle has become Ryan’s strength, but he finished in the top 24 in both the 200 backstroke and the 400 individual medley at the Grand Prix meet last March in Austin, Texas.

“Obviously he’s got to stay healthy and keep working — he’ll not only have people ahead of him to catch but younger ones coming up behind him — but he could be one of the best distance swimmers in the world, I think,” Corcoran said.

If not, that’s fine, too. Ryan is an Eagle Scout and an honors student who will be majoring in engineering at Michigan. He already has considerable college credit based on his success in advanced placement classes at McCallie.

“He’s just a great person,” Corcoran said. “From all the meets he’s been in and all the national teams he’s been on, the coaches say Sean’s a delight to be around. They have nothing but good things to say about him.”