Dutch Swimmer, Living in Egypt, Signs to Swim For Utah Utes

Dorien Butter, a Dutch swimmer who lives in Egypt, has signed her National Letter of Intent to swim at the University of Utah.

The 17-year old Butter is not a total stranger to the United States either; in 2012, she swam at the Georgia Senior Championships unattached; she also raced at this year’s World Cup stop in Eindhoven.

Butter is a pretty impressive, if under-the-radar, sprinter out of the famous Dutch sprinting system. In long course, she has been 26.87 and 58.08 in the 50 and 100 freestyles, plus 26.1 and 56.4 in short course meters.

Those times convert to around 23.5 and 50.8 in yards. Combined with incoming Montanan Jenna Marsh, who previously verbally committed, the Utes’ sprint group is starting to look much better, and deeper especially, in the coming seasons. Either of those swimmers, even without much improvement, should immediately step into Utah’s free relays.

Butter’s story is pretty unique. She’s Dutch, but she’s never actually lived in the Netherlands because of her father’s work. She was born in Oman, and has lived in 6 different countries; she didn’t start swimming competitively in Egypt until the end of the 9th grade. She said that it’s been a little tough to keep a ‘constant swim schedule’ with curfews and evacuations, but that she trains with a good local team.