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| Andrew Resseguie (Holland, Mich.)
transferred to Calvin so he could improve his swimming. |
As a junior in high school, Andrew Resseguie made a deal.
“I made a deal with a friend: If he did cross country, I would
do swimming,” said Resseguie. “I did swimming and had a good
time, so I stuck with it. He never ran cross country, though.”
Still, it seems that Resseguie got the better end of the deal. Despite
debuting in his sport a little late — as a high school junior, Calvin
sophomore Andrew Resseguie posted a trio of top six individual finishes
at the MIAA championships this past February, placing fourth in the 50-,
100- and 200-meter freestyle events.
The results are even more impressive when you consider that the Holland
Christian High School graduate spent his freshman year at Western Michigan
University, which doesn’t field a varsity swim team.
“I transferred mostly for swimming,” said Resseguie, who
did swim as part of a club team last year. “I just wasn’t
competitive at the level I wanted to be. I never lost interest in swimming,
and I knew that if I swam for a college, I could improve a lot more. I
wanted to get better.”
The team atmosphere was a benefit that Resseguie hadn’t even considered.
“The team is great. They are bunch of awesome people. There was
a comaraderie with the guys,” he said. “Everyone on the team
was hard working and encouraged each other.”
“Andrew was a great addition to our team. He has a great work ethic
and as the season went on, he became more comfortable with the rest of
the team and was able to contribute out of the pool as well,” said
head swimming coach Dan Gelderloos.
In his first year of collegiate swimming, Resseguie was named to the
2005 All-MIAA team.
“I was surprised, because I didn’t think I had a chance.
I was happy with it because it’s rewarding to know the hard work
paid off,” said Resseguie.
Gelderloos sees unlimited possibilities in Resseguie
“Andrew’s improvement this year was one of the most impressive
single season improvements I’ve seen as a coach. He just kept on
getting better and better, and I still don’t think he has reached
his potential,” Gelderloos said. “Andrew has a very bright
future, I honestly feel that Andy can go as far as he chooses to go. One
thing that this season did was make Andy hungrier to take it on to another
level. I think he was able to see how close he is to national cuts, and
now he believes he can get there.”
For Resseguie, swimming in the national finals is definitely his next
goal.
“I want to swim faster; I want to go to nationals whether it’s
on a relay or individually,” he said.
Resseguie’s academic goals include majoring in exercise science
and maybe going on to graduate school. |
