Three Juneau prep swimmers signed national letters of intents on Wednesday.
Bergen Davis, 17, and Casey Hamilton, 18, are off to Oklahoma Christian University and Colorado Mesa University, respectively. Both starred on Thunder Mountain High School’s swim team, which captured its first state title in program history last year.
Meanwhile, Juneau-Douglas High School senior Andyn Mulgrew-Truitt, 18, signed a national letter of intent with Lafayette College.
Lafayette College is an NCAA Division I program located in Easton, Pennsylvania. OCU and CMU are NCAA Division II programs.
Davis, who is home-schooled through the IDEA program, was drawn to the school by its swim coach, former Olympian Josh Davis (no relation). The three-time Gold medalist is a nine-time national champion in the 200-meter and 400-meter freestyle as well as the 200-meter backstroke.
“I met him, really liked him, and then started looking into this school,” Davis said. “It just seemed to be a good fit for me.”
Davis has established himself as one of the best breaststroke swimmers in the state. He won the 100-yard breaststroke at the high school state championships in November and the 200-yard breaststroke at Alaska senior championships in January.
In between those meets, Davis, Hamilton and junior Spencer Holt represented the Glacier Swim Club in the USA Swimming junior national championships.
“We’ll go five years-plus sometimes and have no one qualify for junior nationals, this year we had three kids go,” GSC coach Scott Griffith said. “It’s definitely elite when they’re going to junior nationals. That’s the best in the country.”
Unlike Davis, Hamilton is fairly new to the Alaska competitive swimming scene, having moved up to Juneau from Colorado last summer. Hamilton made good use of his short time in Juneau, sweeping the 100 and 200-yard backstroke at the Alaska senior championships. At the high school state meet, he won the 100-yard backstroke.
“If I had to put it down in a list, this would be my second favorite year of swimming,” Hamilton said. “Just because the group here is so amazing and how quickly they welcomed me into their group here, it’s really nice.”
Hamilton, who is home-schooled with the Raven program, said the academics played a large role in his decision to go to Grand Junction, Colorado school. He already knows he wants to go into the medical field.
“They have a nationally-ranked nursing program there so getting a normal four-year nursing degree would really help to go to some form of grad school at a bigger school that has better facilities,” Hamilton said.
By signing with Lafayette, Mulgrew-Truitt will also be swimming in a region of the country she has already familiarized herself with.
The eastern Pennsylvania school located two hours north of Philadelphia is not far from where Mulgrew-Truitt’s extended family live.
“I like being competitive and it wasn’t something I was really ready to give up,” Mulgrew-Truitt said. “So I’m glad I could find a school I could swim for.”
A four-year swimmer at JDHS, Mulgrew-Truitt aided the Crimson Bears to top-2 finishes at the state meet in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
As a senior, she swept both the 50 and 100-yard freestyle events at the Southeast Region Championships.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com.
Thunder Mountain High School swimmers Casey Hamilton, left, and Bergen Davis after signing national letter of intents at the Dimond Park Aquatics Center on Wednesday. Hamilton is headed to Mesa College in Grand Junction, Colorado, and Davis is off to Oklahoma Christian University in Edmond, Oklahoma. (Nolin Ainsworth | Juneau Empire)
Juneau-Douglas High School senior Andyn Mulgrew-Truitt signs her national letter of intent to swim at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, next to parents Loveann Truitt, left, and Laura Mulgrew on Wednesday at the JDHS commons. (Nolin Ainsworth | Juneau Empire)
