Ella Spitz '23 Recruiting Profile

My swimming career began when I was five on the Chippewa Valley Ymca Swim Team. Ever since then, my love for competing and training has flourished. I never considered that swimming would evolve into such a significant aspect throughout these past years; the sport and team energy have both supported me through many barriers during my life.

It’s tough for me to spend time away from the activity I value most. But I also know it’s important to recover and cross-train. I am a lettering varsity track athlete and lift at Crossfit a few times a week. Additionally, I teach swim lessons with my lifeguarding certification and am a member of the Student Emergency Response Team at Chippewa Falls Senior High School. At school, I support incoming freshmen through my involvement with the LINK leader program and am a member of HOSA, psychology club, chemistry club, and art club. When I’m not at swim or studying for AP classes, I practice cello. I am the cello section leader for the 11th-grade concert orchestra and am a part of a group called Wire Choir. This group travels and performs memorized choreographed pop songs while also playing string instruments.

The main reason why I’d cherish an opportunity to swim in college is for the chance to reach my full potential beyond my high school swimming career. I battled surgeries regarding my kidney causing the start of freshman season to be a month late. However, in just two months my team was conference champs, and I qualified for WIAA division one state. Sophomore year began with another surgery, but the recovery wasn’t as lengthy. I would’ve qualified again for the state, but because of COVID numbers, my school had to drop out of the meet. At the start of junior year, I had my last surgery with a recovery time that took up more than half my season. Yet again, I was able to qualify for state in the 4x100 freestyle relay with one of the fastest splits on the team. I was also selected to be team caption for this upcoming year of high school swim. Now, I’m still building back strength for distance events, which I enjoy the most, on the YCV Barracudas Club Team and am preparing for the 100 freestyle at Ymca Nationals in North Carolina.

I wouldn’t change any of my past swim seasons because the challenges I’ve endured have made me a mindful competitor and teammate full of grit and determination. For college, I am planning on school after a four-year university but am not set on a field of study quite yet. I just couldn’t imagine a world without swimming on a team beyond high school. Especially when I know some of my best years are still to come.