A Notre Dame Preparatory swimmer who could cross the pool at the age of two set a new personal best in both swimming medleys at the USA Winter Junior Nationals.
William Bansberg’s 400 individual medley time at the Dec. 12-14 competition in Washington put him in the top 10 nationwide in his age group. The Notre Dame junior chopped off nearly nine seconds off his personal best last weekend posting 3:55.89. His previous record was 4:04.05.
He hadn’t improved his time in a swim half as long in a while, but a recent change in Bansberg’s training routine to include weights might have helped. He went from a personal best of 1:54.94 in the 200 individual medley — not enough to be nationally ranked – to posting 1:49.93 last weekend. That put him in the top 20 nationally.
“I went into this meet thinking the 200 IM was just a throw-away event,” Bansberg said. “When I was swimming, I could see that no one else was around me, and when I hit the wall, I looked up and saw my time; that was the best swimming moment of my career so far.”
Bansberg has swam at the club level for seven years and, outside of the NDP swim team, is a member of the Scottsdale Aquatic Club.
“William swam beautifully and exceeded all his goals,” said his mom Julie Bansberg. “We are super excited because he’s worked so hard.”
Ranked in the top three of Arizona prep swimmers and a Scholastic All-American, Bansberg doesn’t look too far enough into the future to discuss Olympic dreams. He is confident he wants to compete at the collegiate level and keep the lane of discernment open.
“I will take it one step at a time” he said.
Related
- See which Saints are college-bound (including one swimmer)
- State and Meet of Champions results
