Van Renen Needs To End Robust

By John Frierson
Staff Writer

It’s potential, Ruard van Renen stated, that if his bicycle hadn’t been stolen someday in highschool, at a time when he’d stopped aggressive swimming to deal with the triathlon, he may not be the place he’s right now.

“I guess we’ll never know,” he stated with fun. “I definitely think it was a message telling me, like, Oh, you have to go back to swimming.”

Growing up in South Africa, van Renen stated he did “every sport you can name,” together with rugby, triathlons, biathlons, and swimming. “I’ve been a pretty athletic person my whole life.”

He’s stop swimming a few occasions through the years. Once, he did it to deal with rugby, however his mother and father inspired him to strive one thing else because of the excessive variety of accidents that his dad and grandfather sustained taking part in the game. Later, in highschool, he stop as a result of he felt like he’d plateaued, which is when he began specializing in the triathlon.

Then, his bike acquired stolen about six months after he actually acquired into triathlon. This time, he returned to swimming for good.

“So many doors opened up after that,” he stated. “I’ve traveled the world, came to the U.S. to study and swim, and I’m really happy with how things turned out.”

This week, van Renen and 7 different members of the Georgia males’s swimming and diving group are in Atlanta for the NCAA Championships. Van Renen, a senior and seven-time All-American who has certified for the NCAAs all 4 years, will compete within the 100-yard backstroke and the 100 butterfly, in addition to a pair of relays. He’s seeded third within the 100 again and twentieth within the fly.

“It’s been super fun, training and racing with the guys for one more year,” van Renen stated. “Just knowing it’s my last year, I’m really pushing myself.”

Van Renen began his collegiate profession at Southern Illinois, the place he was a second-team All-American within the 100 and 200 backstroke and gained MAC championships within the 100 and 200 again and 100 butterfly. After transferring to Georgia following his freshman 12 months, he is continued to get quicker and quicker.

“He’s gone from strength to strength and kept getting better,” Georgia head coach Neil Versfeld stated. “His progression in all of his events has been stellar.”

Van Renen is from Cape Town, and Versfeld is from Durban, about 1,000 miles away. Versfeld swam for Georgia within the late 2000s, gained the NCAA title within the 200 breaststroke in 2009, and is a former NCAA record-holder within the occasion. He stated van Renen is a good swimmer and “a fantastic human being.”

“I couldn’t be happier that I recruited him all those years back to come here. Time flies. He’s doing exceptional things in the pool and in the classroom,” Versfeld stated.

Van Renen, who earned first-team All-America honors final 12 months within the 100 backstroke, 200 again, 200 medley relay and 400 medley relay, stated one of many highlights of his profession thus far was finally 12 months’s NCAAs, when he positioned third within the 100 backstroke, posting a personal-best time of 43.85.

“I didn’t win, but then I looked over to my team, and they were celebrating like I won the race. That’s definitely been one of my greatest memories,” he stated.

He’s hoping to high that this week in Atlanta. Win or lose, he’ll hold swimming. Versfeld swam for South Africa within the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, and van Renen is chasing his dream of competing within the Los Angeles Games in 2028. This is his ultimate 12 months of eligibility, however he’ll stay in Athens to coach whereas he takes his ultimate courses earlier than graduating with a level in Mechanical Engineering.

“I told myself, I’ll shoot myself in the foot if I don’t try to make it in 2028,” he stated. “That will be the end goal for my swimming career, and then I’ll probably quit after that.”

His dream is to show his engineering research right into a profession in Formula One racing.

“Being part of some sort of racing team would be pretty cool,” he stated.

Studying Mechanical Engineering and being an elite swimmer is not simple, however Van Renen stated he is all the time been good at math and physics. And he loves a problem.

“I like the difficulty aspect of it,” he stated. “I just like challenging myself; I hate sitting still, and engineering always keeps me on my toes.”

And if he can shut out his collegiate swimming profession with a nationwide championship, that “would be the cherry on top,” van Renen stated.

Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the employees author for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men’s Tennis Hall of Fame. You can discover his work at: Frierson Files.