Nicholas Bode '12 Recruiting Profile

My name is Nick Bode.  I am a senior at West Linn High School, West Linn,  Oregon.  My Height is 6’2”; I weigh 170 pounds, have long arms, and wear size 13 shoes.  I have been a competitive swimmer for the past eight years.  I have had the opportunity to compete at Summer Junior Nationals, Pacific Northwest Senior Sectionals, Paul Bergen International Swim Meet, and the Oregon State Championships.  I am a dedicated student and have maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout high school.

As a competitive swimmer, I have experienced moments of success that have motivated me to continue to train hard and improve.  In 2008 at the age of 14, my relay team broke the 13-14 year old boys 200 Meter Freestyle relay National Age Group Record.  In 2009 at the age of 15, my relay team broke the 15-16 year old boys 200-meter freestyle relay National Age Group Record.  I have been ranked Top 16 in the nation three times in individual events, and have been an Individual State Champion five times.  My relay team has broken a total of 30 Oregon State records in four different age groups in both yards and meters.

In the fall of 2009, I was challenged by a sports hernia injury that would lead to two separate surgeries in 2010.  These two surgeries took me out of competition and training for nearly 10 months.  My path to recovery has been successful and I continue to improve.  During the summer of 2011, I competed with my relay at the Summer Junior Nationals at Stanford.  I continue to see strong improvements and have high hopes for my swimming future.

It is important to me to attend either a Division I or Division II university that is excellent in both academics and athletics.  I would like to go to a school that has nice weather with a welcoming college town atmosphere. I have lived on the West coast my entire life, but I am more than willing to explore the East coast. Different sized schools appeal to me, but ideally, I would prefer a small to Midsized University.  I am interested in majoring in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering as I have excelled in math and physics and enjoy the sciences.

Ideally I would like swim for a college team that has high-level athletes so that I can push myself to greater heights.  My goal in college swimming is to contribute to the success of the team and also mature as an individual swimmer.  I would accept and embrace the challenge of competing at the highest college level.  Being surrounded by great student athletes would inspire me to be successful in and out of the pool.