Story courtesy of Trinity Sports Information
SAN ANTONIO - Former Trinity national men’s swimming champion Stephen Culberson has qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 50-meter event.
Culberson swam the 50 meters preliminaries in a personal-best time of 23.29 seconds June 11 at the Texas Senior Circuit Long Course Meet #2 in College Station, Texas. Texas A&M University was the host site of the meet. Up next for Culberson will be the Olympic Trials, to be held June 26-July 3 at Omaha, Nebraska.
"It’s my first Olympic Trials, and I am really excited about that," admitted Culberson. "I qualified in the prelims. I didn’t have as good of a swim in the finals (finishing fourth), but the whole goal of that meet was to get that qualifying time. I might not have been focused for finals, but I was happy to get that time. I had a relaxing, not as stressful swim at night. I feel extremely blessed, and it’s good to see the hard work pay off. I am excited to be part of such a cool, competitive atmosphere, and be next to all the guys and girls who have worked so hard their whole lives, to make their dreams come true. I’ve heard it’s really an electrifying meet, and I’m excited to be part of it."
The talented Culberson became the Tigers first national swimming champion, winning the NCAA Division III 100-yard freestyle title in 2014. The following year, the All-American placed second in his signature event. During his career, Culberson qualified as either an All-American or Honorable Mention All-America in seven NCAA DIII events. Culberson was also elected the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Male Swimmer of the Year for two consecutive occasions, in 2014 and 2015.
Culberson earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Trinity in 2015, and recently was awarded a master’s in accounting. He is currently preparing for the CPA exam, and plans to work for the PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting firm in Houston, Texas.
A man who played a major role in Culberson’s swimming career is John Ryan, who has been the head swimming coach for the Tigers since 1992.
"I thought it was a tremendous accomplishment," said Coach Ryan. "He is a year and half out of his collegiate career. He decided to see if he could qualify for the Olympic Trials, which has to be done on a Long Course pool. There are rigorous time standards. He had to do a lot of this on his own. Stephen has had good guidance and a lot of moral support from his coaches and family. In the end, he had to find pools and commit time to training and strength work. He is really to be congratulated for his initiative and determination. Stephen is a real self-reliant guy. He gets to go to Omaha and compete with some of the best swimmers in the world."