SHS swimmer Caleb Norling commits to ONU

Since he was around 13 or 14 years old, Caleb Norling has had a feeling that he was bound for something big.

Those who know Norling understand that this feeling wasn’t simply based on a hunch. Instead, it was based on his undeterred mindset of being willing to, and wanting to, work harder to achieve his greatest potential.

“I like the competition aspect of swimming,” Norling said.

As his interest to swim at the next level grew, Norling started looking at time specifications for NCAA and NAIA schools. Norling saw that there was potential to hit the times listed to swim at the collegiate level, if he really focused on it.

“Caleb is extremely motivated, positive, upbeat and goal-oriented,” head swim coach Sara Zwink said. “He is always focused on his swimming goals.”

Zwink, who has been coaching Norling since 2020, describes the swimmer as a great teammate who is constantly pushing his fellow swimmers to try their absolute best.

Being a member of the Nazarene church, Olivet Nazarene University, an NAIA school, sparked Norling’s interest as a possible place to swim at the next level.

“They were a Nazarene school with a good program and I appreciated both of those,” Norling said.

A few weeks ago, Norling and his dad went to Illinois to visit the school. They were taken on a campus tour with a group of other athletes who were also interested in attending. Norling met the head swim coach Kelly Essler and even participated in a practice to give the coaching staff a better idea of his talent.

“The team seemed like they were a tight-knit group who enjoyed being there,” Norling said.

Norling, who started swimming when he was about 6 years old, said that over the years his focus has narrowed in on the 100- and 200-meter freestyle. Although he’s a middle-distance swimmer, Norling has also dabbled in the butterfly and backstroke.

“I’ll continue to focus on the freestyle at ONU,” Norling said, “but I’ll probably expand into the butterfly and backstroke, as well.”

When asked what she thinks Norling’s standout performance has been, Zwink had a hard time choosing.

“He’s had so many great swims over the past three years that I’ve been coaching him,” Zwink said. “But my absolute favorite is from the 2021 Long Course Championships in Spokane.”

Not only did Norling drop time in every event that he swam, he qualified for Western Zones in California, Zwink said.

“His standout events at this meet were the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:06.80, 100 freestyle with a time of 56.89, and the 200 IM with a time of 2:27.74,” she added.

With ONU’s interest in Norling’s athletic and academic abilities, he received three different scholarships; an academic scholarship due to his high GPA, a Nazarene advantage scholarship for being in the Nazarene church, and a partial athletic scholarship.

Norling said that he’s interested in the clinical side of things and planning on majoring in psychology at Olivet. Of course, he’s also looking forward to swimming at the next level.

“I’m really excited to swim in college,” Norling said. “The pool is really nice, the team seems cool, and I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do in the next four years.”