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Rylan Anselm of Barrington, Illinois, has announced his verbal commitment to further his education and swimming career at Penn State University. Anselm, a USA Swimming Scholastic All-American, has a year remaining at Barrington High School and will arrive in University Park ahead of the 2024-2025 season.
“I’m thrilled to announce my verbal commitment to continue my athletic and academic career at Penn State University. I would like to thank my family, friends, and coaches for always encouraging me and pushing me beyond what I thought was ever possible. I would like to thank Coach Carrington and Coach Murphy for this amazing opportunity! #We Are”
In addition to pool swimming, Anselm also competes for Barrington’s water polo team and does open water races. His success in open water earned him the Illinois Swimming Open Water Male Athlete of the Year award in both 2021 & 2022.
Anselm trains and competes year-round with Barrington Swim Club. In the pool, he primarily focuses on distance freestyle and currently owns a 2023 Summer Junior Nationals cut in the 1500m freestyle. He recently wrapped up his long course season at Juniors, where he posted personal best times in the 200 free (1:55.29), 400 free (4:02.91), and 800 free (8:26.53). His highest finish came in the 1500, where he stopped the clock at 16:25.04 to take 44th overall.
Anselm closed out his short course season at the Illinois Senior Championships in March. He came away with the championship title in the 200 freestyle, going a 1:39.38 to narrowly miss his best time of 1:38.97 set at the IHSA State meet just a few weeks prior. He was also the runner-up finisher in the 1650 with a 15:44.32, marking a nine second improvement from November.
Top SCY Times:
- 200 free – 1:38.97
- 500 free – 4:29.29
- 1000 free – 9:37.08
- 1650 free – 15:44.32
The Penn State men finished 8th out of 8 teams with 577 points at the 2023 Big Ten Championships. It took a 1:37.91 to advance to finals in the 200 freestyle this year, while in the 500 a 4:25.66 made it out of prelims. Every non-exhibition athlete scored in the 1650, but it took a 15:22.97 to crack the top-16.
This year, Penn State’s distance squad was led by Eduardo Cisternas and Andrew Christensen, who tied for 16th in the 1650 at Big Tens with a time of 15:22.97. Cisternas was the team’s top finisher in the 500 as well, going a 4:18.86 in finals to grab 12th. Both will be sophomores this fall, meaning they’ll overlap with Anselm for two years at Penn State.
Joining Anselm in Penn State’s class of 2028 is Marcus Papanikolaou and Jack Clancy. Papanikolaou swims sprint freestyle, while Clancy is a fellow distance swimmer with current best times of 4:28.43/15:36.43 in the 500/1650.
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