Wolverine represents U.S. at world championships

Windermere High School and Windermere Lakers Aquatics swimmer Ryan Erisman represented the United States at the World Aquatics Junior Championships, which took place Sept. 4 through 9 in Netanya, Israel. 

“I just really like racing, and I’ve always just wanted to be better and better,” he said. “And so, I just always like going after a bigger goal and a bigger challenge and stying motivated.” 

Erisman, 16, was part of the preliminary team that swam the 4x200 meter relay in Israel. And, even though he wasn’t a part of the team that won the finals, all four members of the preliminary team also brought home gold medals. After all, they were the ones who got the U.S. into the final round.

“I am just really honored,” he said. “It was just awesome being able to race with them. That was just my favorite part — definitely being with everyone, just racing with them and learning from (one another). It’s really awesome to learn from (one another), because everyone is at the same speed and the same level. It was just an awesome learning experience, and again, I’m just super honored.” 

Erisman realized his true love and passion for the sport when he was 10 years old, when he almost made the cut for what could have been his first state meet. 

“I was playing soccer at the time, as well,” he said. “I ended up quitting soccer to stay with swim, because I just enjoyed training with swimming and enjoyed racing, so I just figured that it would be better for me to pursue swimming than soccer.” 

The ultimate goal for Erisman is to make the U.S. Olympic team. 

“I love swimming, and that makes me want to push even further,” he said. “My ultimate goal is to make the Olympic team, that’s the greatest honor an athlete can have in the U.S. And so, that’s definitely my goal — just to keep pushing to that.” 

That goal motives Erisman to spend countless hours in the pool.

“All the late nights and everything (have been worth it),” he said. “We have practice at 5 in the morning, so four mornings a week, we are up at 4:20 a.m. or 4:30 a.m. and even earlier, sometimes. It’s just all the little things like the two-hour, three-hour practices we put in, the social activities we missed to go to swim practice...just all the little things that you have to do make it worth it in the end.” 

Erisman relies on a strong support system — his sister Rylee, and his parents, Kristy and Ryan — who got to see him compete for the first time internationally in Israel. 

“He is very hard working, he’s very dedicated,” Kristy Erisman said. “It was amazing; I was definitely nervous. That was our first international trip, but it was just so exciting to see him represent Team USA, and he had so much fun. So, it’s just when you see him work so hard every day and see him achieve that goal and compete at that level, as a parent, it’s just amazing.” 

After competing in Israel, Ryan Erisman represented the U.S. at the LEN Open Water up in Barcelona, Spain, where he finish 18th out of 28 swimmers. He qualified for the USA Swimming 2023-24 National Junior Team after competing at the 7.5K Open Water National Junior Championship that took place in April in Sarasota. 

Rylee Erisman also swims for Windermere Lakers Aquatics and Windermere High School, and also will be competing alongside his brother at the Olympic Trials that will take place in June 2024.