Lucas Culotta '25 Recruiting Profile

I attained one of my swim goals at age 13 by qualifying for the Tokyo Paralympic Time Trials in the 50m freestyle and now a second goal of making the Paralympic National Team at age 16! I started qualifying when I was 13 for USA Paralympic Nationals in all freestyle meet events and the 200IM. In December 2023 I qualified for all events, made A finals in 50m and 100m free, coming in 4th overall in the 100m free and 2nd in both events in my classification.  I also made B finals in the rest of my events except one.  In 2022 I started qualifying for the Para World Series of Swimming in most events, I competed in 2023 in Minnesota, and competed in April 2024 in Indianapolis making substantial time cuts in all of my events.  In my 100m free I dropped 1.32 seconds since December qualifying me for the National Team! In the fall of my junior year, I was invited by Team USA and attended their Emerging Team Camp held at the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.  It was an invaluable experience, and just two days after I returned, they asked me to compete in Canada and receive my international para classification!  After swimming at the World Series of Para Swimming in April 2024 I was named to the National Team for the US - the next step in me reaching my goal of representing The United States of America on the international stage. In addition, I have competed in several triathlons and have qualified for the USA Triathlon Paralympic Nationals.  

In the future I would like to study aeronautical or mechanical engineering, continue swimming at a competitive collegiate level, and compete in para swimming on the national and world stage. I believe I am an ideal candidate for a competitive collegiate team because I always work diligently to improve myself and every aspect of my swimming. Out of the water, I focus on academics and strive to attain a 4.0 GPA; I keep a high standard on my education.  I was inducted this year into both the National Honor Society and the National Technical Honor Society.

I am different from other recruits in character because I don't let my disabilities stop me from being an aggressive competitor; I train through my fatigue and pain on a daily basis.  At Nationals 2023 I subflexed my patella the day we left to go there. I worked through my pain and still competed at a very high level making A and B finals.  My teammates see this which also pushes them to train and compete.   Some of my times may be slower than my able-bodied peers because I have spastic paraplegia, cerebral palsy, and scoliosis making me eligible to be a para-athlete.  I am currently nationally and internationally classified with Paralympic Swimming as S8, SB7.