Illness forces senior to shelve swimming dream for collegiate rowing
Barry Gutierrez © News
Taylor Ritzel swimming.
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By Karl Licis, Special to the News
February 1, 2006
Taylor Ritzel was on a roll.
Swimming was the love of her life, and a lifelong dream of swimming for a major college seemed to be about to come true.
"Swimming competitively and going to a really good college have always been kind of a mission for me," said Ritzel, a 17-year-old senior at Douglas County High School. "It's something I've always dreamed of doing. The two just seemed to go together."
Indeed, for most of her life, the plan was, in her words, going swimmingly.
Then, with the breath-stealing shock of a plunge into icy water, she awoke to a new reality: The dream of intercollegiate swimming was over.
She did not, however, lose the opportunity to pursue major-college sports.
Ritzel will sign a national letter of intent today to attend Yale University, but not as a swimmer.
The girl who had overcome a series of disappointments is going to an Ivy League school as a competitive rower.
Fortunately for Ritzel, she has worked as hard at academics and community service as at swimming and other sports.
Prospective Ivy League students, including athletes, must show academic achievement and potential as students, along with other personal accomplishments, to be considered for admission.
She maintains a 4.5 grade-point average, ranking fourth in a class of 522, and is the school's student-body president. She has been an honor-roll student every semester, earning academic letters in her freshman, sophomore and junior years. She's a member of the National Honor Society and its induction coordinator at the school.
Community-service efforts included food drives, book drives, blood drives, tutoring and helping organize swimming and cross country meets.
Ritzel ran cross country for the school, competed in triathlons and biathlons - and, of course, she swam.
Ritzel was a member of the Douglas County swim team four years, was chosen the Most Valuable Swimmer in her freshman, sophomore and junior years and set school records in the 500- and 200-yard freestyle events and the 400- and 200 freestyle relays. She qualified for the state meet every year, including the current season, and has placed among the top eight in the state in the 500 freestyle and 200 individual medley.
An unexpected setback
Everything seemed on track for Ritzel to realize her dream, but one day last winter, she felt an unusual fatigue. She had no energy. She felt lifeless.
Though she was taking vitamins and staying hydrated, the condition persisted. It was worrisome. Blood tests rendered the verdict: mononucleosis.
Ritzel tried to ignore the symptoms. She vowed not to be bedridden but was forced to rest and take some time off from her swimming. For a dedicated, achievement-oriented athlete, the wait was frustrating. It seemed endless, but finally, her recovery had progressed to where she could return to the pool.
"I wouldn't be put off," Ritzel said. "I had to get back in the water. I was even more determined than before."
Determination could not overcome reality, however. The fatigue persisted, a common aftereffect of the disease. Ritzel resumed training, but her times had suffered. They no longer were attractive to major-college swimming programs. She felt defeated.
"My swimming life as I knew it had ended," she said.
Maybe so, but not the dream of competing in major-college sports. How about rowing?
The suggestion came from Craig Hansen, a former girls basketball coach at Ponderosa High School who operates a college-sports recruiting service. Rowing coaches often look for tall, strong endurance athletes, he said, preferably from a swimming background. At 6-foot-2 and 160 pounds, Ritzel had the right physique. She had the swimming background, and she finally was shaking the effects of the mono. But rowing?
"I'd never really thought about it," Ritzel said. "There's not a lot of open water in Colorado and I knew very little about the sport. I'd seen a little bit of it on television but never in person."
That was about to change. With her parents, Tom and Lana Ritzel, she began visiting colleges that offered rowing.
"I fell in love with the sport," she said, recalling a visit to Yale and an opportunity to watch its women's crew team practice on the Housatonic River. "I was ready to jump into it."
Stanford was one possibility. Wisconsin and Virginia offered scholarships, but Ritzel was leaning toward the Ivy League. Princeton and Yale were very interested, but Ritzel preferred Yale.
"It had the right feel," she said. "The academics and sports all came together for me."
Mutual attraction
Yale was impressed, as well. Ritzel met the school's rigorous entrance requirements and received an early admission in December.
"She's a great person and very gifted, and there's no doubt we're glad to have her," said Will Porter, head coach of women's crew at Yale. "She has no real (rowing) experience, but we recruited her for her proven athletic ability and her physiology.
"That's not too unusual in collegiate rowing. She has the strength and conditioning. We can teach the finer points of technique. We'll find a place for her on the varsity."
Ritzel's potential also has caught the eye of U.S. Rowing and its junior national team coaches, who have indicated international competitions - even the Summer Olympics - are not unrealistic goals.
To a training regimen that includes swimming, running and working weights, Ritzel has added indoor rowing at the Village Fitness facility near Castle Pines under the direction of Sean Leenaerts, a trainer and former competitive rower.
Ritzel has not decided on a course of study at Yale, noting that international business, political science/pre-law, forensic science and film studies are among her interests.
One old coach has no doubt she'll succeed, no matter what she chooses.
"She's pretty much the whole package," said Red Miller, Ritzel's grandfather and the coach who led the Denver Broncos to the team's first Super Bowl appearance, after the 1977 season.
"She's accomplished a lot, and I'm sure she'll do well academically as well as in sports."
Ritzel will make the commitment to Yale official today.
"I feel better now, knowing what my future looks like," she said. "This is the positive ending I was looking for, but you know what's ironic? . . . After all this, my swimming times have been getting better."
Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.
