Swimmers enjoy early success

"Who was that guy in lane 6?" A stunned Ohio State head coach Bill Wadley asked the scorers table following sophomore Claes Andersson's second place, career-best finish in the 100-yard freestyle during Saturday's dual match against the Buckeyes. While Wadley hadn't heard of Andersson, who earlier won the 50-yard freestyle, the Hoosiers are hoping his solid performance will soon make him the talk of the Big Ten. \n"He is probably the fastest swimmer I have ever coached," head coach Kris Kirchner said. "He is a contender to win at Big Tens. At the national level, he should be at the NCAAs. He is a very good athlete, is very talented and he has done some amazing things in the last year."\nAndersson, a native of Boras, Sweden, joined the Hoosiers during their season last year following almost a lifetime dedication to swimming.\n"My dad brought me to a pool in Sweden when I was like five or six and since then I've been hanging in there," Andersson said. "At first I just wanted to learn how to swim, then I started to compete when I was 11 or 12. It was a lot of fun."\nAndersson decided to pursue a collegiate career in the U.S. because it provided a more serious opportunity. \n"It's much more serious here than if I were still swimming in Sweden," Andersson said. "It was between IU and Nebraska. I met (assistant coach) Greg (Ruminski) and I didn't meet the coach from Nebraska. I think that had a big impact, and Greg seemed to be a nice guy. The coaches here, they know what they're talking about. I'm really, really glad I came here."\nArriving in the U.S. with a limited knowledge of English, Andersson said the biggest life adjustment was finding good food, but that getting used to swimming also proved difficult.\n"It took a while to get used to being here," Andersson said. "First of all, there are yards here and I'm used to meters. It took almost one semester just to get used to everything."\nLast year at Big Tens, Andersson placed 22nd in the 50-freestyle and 28th in the 100-freestyle. While Andersson hopes for another strong showing in the Big Tens this year, he has big plans for his long-term future as well. \n"I'm here because I like swimming," Andersson said. "My goal is to swim for Sweden in the 2004 Olympics."\nJunior teammate David Schulze said that Andersson is one of the hardest workers on the squad.\n"Claes is a very serious athlete," Schulze said. "He comes in and he works as hard as anybody on our team and he's all about swimming fast. He's a really great competitor and I know we expect a lot of big things out of him this year." \nFreshman teammate Richard Bryant, a native of Somerset, England, said that Andersson helped him to make the transition from Europe to the U.S. \n"As a swimmer, he's awesome," Bryant said. "He is really dedicated and it's amazing at what a high level he can swim. As a teammate, he's great, he's a big part of the team. I was quite close to Claes in the beginning, he helped me to settle in and he's taught me a lot too." \nKirchner said Andersson could be one of the top swimmers in IU history. \n"Claes has had some experience, but he's gaining more and more experience week by week in the Big Ten," Kirchner said. "He looks forward to being one of the fastest ever."\nAs for Wadley, he'll probably remember Andersson next time the Buckeyes and Hoosiers face off. \n"Claes Andersson?" he said as he walked away from the scorers table. "He's the real deal"