Koehler Signs With Indiana 11-12-03

By KERMIT ROWE

November 12, 2003 - Springfield, OH - You might say local senior athletes are making a big splash on the recruiting scene this fall, and at least one of them will be making his splash literally.

Catholic Central distance swimmer John Kevin Koehler announced Tuesday he will sign with Indiana University, getting a 90 percent scholarship his freshman year that could easily work into a full ride for his final three seasons.

Koehler, who turned down full-ride offers from Ohio State and Clemson among others, joins a growing list of local athletes who will put their names on the dotted line of national letters of intent to Division I schools once the NCAA’s week-long early signing period begins today.

Koehler was listed by USA Swimming as the top recruit for the mile in his age group and in the top three in his other events. That opened a lot of doors for the Irish senior, who also had strong interest from Arizona, Michigan and defending NCAA champion Auburn.

“With Indiana being the great swimming college that it is, the scholarship that they’ve given me is more than any distance swimmer could ever hope for,” said Koehler on Tuesday night. “The scholarship I got was outrageous. It was really hard to turn down.”

Even when his father, among others, wanted him to go to Ohio State.

“There was a little pressure (to go to) Ohio State,” he admitted. “I was from Ohio, why not come here. I was offered a full ride, but their distance program not being as good, I really wanted someone with an established distance program. So that’s why I didn’t go to Ohio State.

“There was another place I really wanted to go,” he continued, “but their coach, who was part of the Olympic team and a real innovator in my specialty, is retiring. If he hadn’t retired, it would have made the choice pretty hard. But I think I would have still ended up going to Indiana.”

Koehler, a tireless training fanatic, will take with him to Bloomington some very high goals.

“I want to help them bring back their swimming tradition,” said Koehler. “Mark Spitz came from there, and they were the gods of swimming back in the 1980s. Hopefully we’ll be winning Big Tens (championships). I want to go to the NCAAs and win titles. And hopefully I can red-shirt my senior year to try out for the 2008 Olympic team.

“But first, there’s a lot of hard work ahead of me.”