It’s been almost eight years since Kaelan Freund called the Nicola Valley home, and the talented youngster was breaking local swim records left, right and centre.
Turn the clock ahead to 2016, and the now 17-year-old is still turning heads at the pool — as he prepares to head to Penn State University in the fall on a swimming scholarship to the prestigious NCAA Division 1 school.
It’s been quite a journey for the former summer phenom, who lived in Merritt from 2001 to 2008, along with his dad Jason, mom Julie, his sister Brittany and brother Joshua.
All three Freund kids were enthusiastic members of the Otters swim club during the family’s time in the Valley, and mom and dad were very much your typical pool parents — helping out wherever and whenever the need arose.
Right from the start, Kaelan displayed tremendous talent and potential in the water. By age eight, he was setting club and regional records by the truck load. (He still holds 11 Merritt Otters’ standards.)
In both 2007 and 2008, Kaelan won four gold medals (the maximum allowed) at the Okanagan championships, and later at the provincial summer swim championships in Trail and Prince George respectively.
The Freunds moved from Merritt to Kamloops in 2008, and the children joined the Classic’s winter swim program at the Tournament Capital Centre.
Despite the jump to a more-demanding, year-round swim program, Kaelan’s success continued unabated. As a 10-year-old, he set over 20 Classics’ team records en route to winning the Swim Stars title (four gold, one silver) in his age group at the provincial short-course championships in March of 2009.
In early 2010, the Freunds were on the move again — this time to Lethbridge, Alberta. The kids wasted little time hitting the pool, joining the Lethbridge Amateur Swim Club (LASC).
The years in the Wildrose province seemed to fly by, with Kaelan continuing to rack up achievements in the water. In 2010, he attended the Alberta Summer Games, winning five individual gold medals and another four medals in relay events.
By 2011, the young Freund was making a name for himself on the national scene. He was selected to Team Canada’s youth team that competed in the North American Challenge Cup in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in August.
“The temperatures were ridiculous,” recalled Kaelan’s dad who was in attendance. “It got to 48 degrees Celsius one day. I’ll always remember the long-distance swimmers getting out of the pool and looking like lobsters.”
In 2012, Kaelan began competing and medaling at Canadian Age Group Championships. In his first year, he picked up a silver and two bronze. That would increase to two gold and two silver in 2013, and two gold, two silver and a bronze in 2014.
Named Lethbridge’s Junior Athlete of the Year in 2014, Freund was selected to represent Canada at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Kihei, on the island of Maui.
“Kaelan was actually chosen to the World Junior Olympic team that was supposed to compete in China,” said his dad. “Unfortunately, Canada had some issues with their entries, and instead he competed in Hawaii.”
By now, Freund was beginning to specialize in the 100 and 200-metre breaststroke events, and in the 200-metre individual medley (50-metres each of freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly).
Competing at his first Canadian Open Championships in 2015 (as a 16-year-old), Freund made ‘B’ finals in two of his events, finishing 13th and 16th.
That same year, Freund was one of six national recipients of the Victor Davis Memorial Award, acknowledging the young swimmer’s perseverance, discipline and commitment to his sport.
Davis, a Canadian Olympic and world-champion breaststroker was tragically killed in a hit-and-run accident in Montreal in 1989.
Also in 2015, Freund won five gold medals and one silver at the Western Canada Summer Games in Fort McMurray. He also brought his number of LASC club records up to over 30 in total.
Still just 17, Freund traveled to Toronto earlier this month to compete in his first Canadian Olympic Trials.
“Things went okay,” Kaelan conceded. “It was a really big meet, and you get nervous really easily. You only get one shot at an event unless you make a final, which is really hard to do.
“On the first day, I swam the 100 breast and was just off my best time (finishing 25th in a field of 54 swimmers). Day three, I swam the 200 breast, and that went very badly (41st). I don’t have much good to say about that event. But on the sixth day, I came back for the 200IM and got a best time (33rd) with a good swim that I can actually be proud of.”
Interestingly, winner of the men’s 200m breastroke event was 23-year-old Ashton Baumann, the son of legendary Canadian Olympian Alex Baumann, who won two gold medals and set two world records at the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
Back home in Lethbridge, Freund is preparing to graduate from Chinook Secondary School in June. He is also readying himself for a summer of swimming competition prior to heading to Penn State in early August. His current focus is on the Summer Nationals, scheduled for August 4 to 7 in Edmonton.
“I’m training six day a week — about 20 hours total when you combine swimming and dryland,” Freund said.
The future Nittany Lion has already visited Penn State on a flydown.
“I wanted to make sure I took a look before making any decisions,” he said.
Freund had plenty of choices before deciding on Penn State. At one point in the recruitment process, 23 of the top 30 swim school in the United States were in contact with him.
“Money played a part in his decision, and how much a school could afford in bringing a Canadian down there,” Kaelan’s dad said. “Ultimately, however, it came down to the phenomenal mechanical engineering program that Penn State has. It came down to academics — which is really what the four years are about.”
Freund will have some Canadian company on the Penn swim team, with three Canucks currently members of the men’s and women’s programs, and another freshman coming from the Ottawa area.
All told, eight different countries are represented on the Penn State swim program, including Ireland, Mexico, Spain, Brazil, Israel and Sri Lanka.
Head swim coach at Penn State is Tim Murphy, who is in his second year after 15 seasons at Harvard where he amassed a 122-11 record in dual meets. Murphy’s current group of Penn swimmers broke 20 school records in 2015-16.
All foreign students must attend an ISO (International Students Orientation) in their first year, and all athletes must live in on-campus dorms for their first two years.
The young Freund is understandably very excited and nervous about what lies ahead, as are his mom and dad.
“We’ll be 3,000 kilometres away,” said Jason. “You have to put a lot of faith and trust in the program.”
Both parents have nothing but fond memories of their family’s time in Merritt.
“There’ll always be a connection, and a special spot in our hearts for the community,” said Julie. “We spent six-and-a-half years there. It was the kids’ real growing-up years. And my grandma still lives there.”
