No Dartmouth swimmer has gone to the NCAA Championships since 1980, but that streak ended this year, when Nejc Zupan '14 qualified in three events: the 200-yard individual medley, the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard breaststroke. The Slovenian native also finished eighth in the nation in the 200-yard breaststroke. This is almost unprecedented territory for a Dartmouth swimmer, and territory that Zupan may well reach again next year.
At the championship in Indianapolis this past weekend, Zupan was disqualified in the 200-yard individual medley but placed 42nd in the event. The top 16 finishers made the finals. In the 100-yard breaststroke, Zupan was also disqualified. His time of 53.35 seconds would have set a school record and placed him in 17th overall.
"My head wasn't in the game as much as it needed to be, since I just finished the meet I had been focusing on," Zupan said, referring to the Ivy League Championships, held March 7 to 9. "At nationals, everything was building toward the last day because that was my main event. The IM was a chance for me to get a feel for the water, and I'm not a sprinter, so the 100-yard was more as a warm-up for the 200. I did my best to focus and prepare for that event because it was the one I had the best chance in."
The junior swam a time of 1:54.40 in a tightly contested final race. His eighth-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke was just .66 seconds slower than the fifth place finisher. University of Arizona sophomore Kevin Cordes won the event with a new American record of 1:48.68.
"It was definitely a new experience and a huge responsibility given the drought," Zupan said, referring to the 33 years since a Big Green swimmer last appeared at the NCAA championships. "It's going to be a great motivation for next year."
Zupan has built quite the swimming pedigree in his time at Dartmouth. In his three seasons, he has won the Karl B. Michael Swimmer of the Year award and has been a member of the All-Ivy first team. He is the first Dartmouth swimmer to be a finalist for the all-America team in recent memory.
"I couldn't tell you when the last All-American finalist we had was," head coach Jim Wilson said. "It's been that long."
Internationally, the young Slovene is gathering wide attention. Over Thanksgiving, he competed in the European Championships, swimming the 200-yard breaststroke. He finished seventh overall, setting a Slovenian record in the process.
Zupan is still undecided on whether he will try to make the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but his coaches and teammates agree that he will be in contention for a medal if he decides to compete.
"It's so far away that it's hard to say," Zupan said. "I'm just going to take it one year at a time at this point, because I don't know what the times will be in 2016."
He has won an event every year at the Ivy League championships, though the events have changed significantly. Zupan entered the College as a distance freestyler, but a hand injury over his sophomore season forced him to adapt to breaststroke.
"What he did is so rare," Zack Doherty '13 said. "Usually, swimmers just swim one stroke and one distance. He changed strokes and distances and still is winning titles. Winning the Ivy League championship in distance and switching to breaststroke and winning again is not something that many people can do. It speaks to his exceptional talent and hard work."
Zupan grew up in the city of Kamnik in Slovenia, and decided to come to Hanover to swim based on Internet research. He did not visit schools in the United States, but was drawn to both Dartmouth and the University of Notre Dame. Zupan chose to swim for the Big Green because of the College's academic environment, he said.
"I knew I wanted to study in the U.S.," Zupan said. "I based my choice on what I could find on the web and what I had heard. I really liked the community feel of Dartmouth, as well as the unique balance it offered between academics and athletics."
Out of the pool, Zupan is an economics and math double major and a member of Psi Upsilon fraternity. He narrowly missed out on the Elite 89 award, which goes to the swimmer with the highest GPA at the NCAA Championships. He is considering a career in corporate finance.
"He's incredibly hardworking and focused on what he wants and how to get there," Wilson said. "He's also incredibly intelligent. He really has very few flaws. He'll succeed in whatever career path he chooses."
Wilson spoke of the good that he has done for the Dartmouth swimming program, which only a few years ago was ranked at the bottom of the Ivy League.
"He's definitely been one of the driving forces to make our program better," Doherty said. "He's inspired a lot of other guys to step up to the plate. The national presence he has brought our program will hopefully be a draw to future recruits. You want to be on a team that pushes you to get better and he has definitely done that. That's why he's a captain next year."
Doherty is a member of The Dartmouth staff.
