Personal Statement
My name is Garrett Clasen, and I am a junior at Batavia High School. I have been club swimming for the West Chicago Sharks since I was 7 years old. When I started, my goal was to have my name on the record boards at my home pool. Since then, I have had many other goals and achievements:
* USA Swimming Scholastic All-American for 2015-16 and 2016-17
* 13 time Illinois LSC state champion in both individual and relay events, both at the age group and senior levels
* 11 time USA Swimming National Age Group Award winner for top 10 national times
* 5 time Illinois state record holder in 15-16 men SCY 200yd IM and 400yd IM and 13-14 year old boys SCY 200 Breast, 200 IM and 400 IM
* USA Swimming SCY all time top 100 list for 15-16 year old men: 400 IM (74th)
* USA Swimming SCY all time top 100 list for 13-14 year old boys: 100 Breast (71st), 200 Breast (35th), 200 IM (36th) and 400 IM (25th)
* Current USA Swimming IMX score of 5,109 for SCY 2016 season in 16 year olds, ranked 11th nationally. 5,176 for the SCY 2015-2016 season in 15 year olds, ranked 6th nationally; my 14 year old IMX score was #1 in the nation at a 5,398
* Winter National cut in the 200m IM
* Winter Junior National cuts in the 100yd Breast, 200yd Breast, 200yd IM, 400yd IM and 200m Breast
* Summer Junior National cuts in the 100m Breast and 400m IM
* US Open Cut in 200yd Breaststroke
* Holder of 16 senior club West Chicago Sharks SCY team records, both individual and relay
* Holder of 11 senior club West Chicago Sharks LCM team records, both individual and relay
* Holder of 7 high school freshman records for the Batavia/West Chicago Co-op, both individual and relay
* Holder of 4 high school varsity records for the Batavia/West Chicago Co-op as a sophomore, both individual and relay
* Holder of 5 West Chicago pool records
* Placed 12th at 2016 Winter Junior Nationals in the 400yd IM with a 3:53.85 in College Station, TX ("B" final)
* Placed 14th at 2016 Winter Junior Nationals in the 200yd IM with a 1:49.62 in College Station, TX ("B" final)
* Placed 14th at 2016 Winter Junior Nationals in the 200yd Breast with a 2:02.36 in College Station, TX ("B" final)
* Placed 13th at 2015 Winter Junior Nationals in the 400yd IM with a 3:56.77 in Austin, TX ("B" final)
* Placed 17th at 2015 Winter Junior Nationals in the 200yd Breast with a 2:02.73 in Austin, TX (won the "C" final)
* Selected for USA Swimming Zone Select Camp in the Central Zone in May 2015
As a Senior at Batavia High School, my achievements in and out of the water are high as well. I have maintained a 4.29 grade point average with Honors and Advanced Placement level classes while swimming. I have concentrated on Engineering as my electives in my first two years of high school, but I will be taking some Business classes in the future as well. On my high school swim team I achieved my goal of qualifying for the Illinois high school state meet in both the 200yd IM and the 100yd Breaststroke for two consecutive years, and I was the first swimmer in over 15 years to score points for my team at state. My high school team also qualified a relay for the first time in 15 years as well. I was awarded Academic All Conference honors, and was my team's MVP my freshman year. I set the Upstate Eight Conference record in the 200yd IM, untapered, and was Sectional champion in the 200m IM. I decided to take my junior and senior years off from the high school team to concentrate on my mid-distance training for national level meets, as Illinois High School season overlaps Junior Nationals and Junior Cup seasons, and the 200yd Breast and 400yd IM events are not offered as events.
I am looking forward to training hard to reach my goal of qualifying for National level meets while maintaining high grades in school. My goal is to swim in college as part of a competitive team with solid academics and qualify for the NCAA championships as a freshman and thereafter.
