John Kevin Koehler, Jr.

John Kevin Koehler, Jr.
Distance Freestyle/IM
6-0 • 160
Springfield, Ohio/Catholic Central

Won the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) state championship in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:26.79 in 2003…considered one of the top high school distance freestylers in the country…placed fifth in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:40.50…was a 2002 and 2003 All-America selection in both the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyles…at the 2003 Speedo Junior Championships, won the 500-yard, 1000-yard and 1650-yard freestyle events….won the 1650-yard freestyle in a time of 15:27.11, the 1000-yard freestyle in 9:06.61 and the 500-yard freestyle in 4:26.08…has a career-best time of 15:20.45 in the 1650-yard freestyle…as a sophomore, placed 11th in the 200-yard freestyle and fifth in the 500-yard freestyle at the OHSAA state meet…swam club for the Dayton Raiders, coached by Kevin Weldon…considered Michigan, Ohio State, Auburn and Arizona…known as J.K….born April 21, 1986 to Connie and John Kevin Koehler.

Coach Looze said…..
“J.K. Koehler is a swimmer that both Coach Barnes and I just fell in love with over the summer. There were several distance swimmers that we were looking at, and I did home visits with them all. I was really impressed with J.K.’s love of the sport. Then when I saw him train, I observed a workout, he was super. A lot of times when a college coach comes to practice to observe, the kids will try to put on a show. This kid was able to do that. A lot of them the pressure gets to them and they end up having a poor workout. But this kid was impressive. He can train, he is highly competitive and he comes from an awesome program and an area where we have gotten a lot of our better swimmers in the recent past. J.K. is the real deal. He is quickly becoming the fastest distance swimmer in the country. I would say if I had to rate him, he would be second distance swimmer in high school. J.K. can go the 200 free all the way up to the mile. He swims a very credible 400 IM. He hates to lose, he loathes to lose. I don’t think anyone ever taught him that, he was just born with it. He comes from a great club team, where Kevin Weldon has done a wonderful developing him. I look forward to working with Kevin, having J.K. here in the winters and having him go home to Kevin in the summer.”