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Poland National Team member Bartosz Loter has announced his intentions to attend and represent the Division 1 mid-major program at Drexel this fall. Loter, 19, is a native of Cieszyn, Poland and competes domestically for UKP Unia Oświęcim.
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At the recent Polish Open and Youth Championships, which served as their Olympic Trials, Loter swam a personal best of 28.71 in the 50 Breast and made the finals in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, both of which are Olympic events. In the 100, he finished 6th in 1:04.15 and repeated the placing in the 200, hitting the wall in 2:19.11. In each event, he finished behind Jan Kalusowki, who placed as high as 2oth at the Olympics and won bronze at the recent European Championships.
While Loter did not represent the Poles in Paris, he does have international experience. Last summer, he donned a Polish flag cap for the 2023 European Junior Championships, which were held in Belgrade, Serbia. He finished 23rd in both the 50 (29.19) and 200 (2:21.15) and 29th in the 100 (1:05.29).
None of those times were the best times, and it is possible that he missed his taper, as two weeks later, at Polish Juniors meets, he recorded new PBs of 28.88, 1:03.83, and 2:18.96.
In short course, he holds personal bests of 27.52, 1:00.05, and 2:10.71 from the Polish Juniors meet this past December, where he swept all three of his events.
Best Meters Times Converted
- 100 Breast SCM: 1:00.05 – 54.09
- 100 Breast LCM: 1:03.83 – 55.70
- 200 Breast SCM: 2:10.71 – 1:57.75
- 200 Breast LCM: 2:18.96 – 2:01.58
Based on the converted times, which are not without some questioning, Loter seems to be more inclined to short-course swimming, which should help ease his transition to the 25-yard pool.
Loter will be joining a Drexel Dragon team that finished 4th at the Coastal Athletic Association Championships this past winter under the leadership of Head Coach Nathan Lavery. In the breaststroke events, Drexel advanced one swimmer to each of the A and B finals, with Kacper Karnik finishing 4th in the 100 (53.89) and 3rd in the 200 (1:57.46).
Karnik, like Loter, hails from Poland, so Drexel will be looking to have the freshman take over, as Karnik was listed as a senior on last year’s roster. Loter should easily help fill that gap as his 100 breast converted time (scm) would have been 10th in prelims, and the 200 breast scm converted time of 1:57.75 would have placed him 2nd in prelims.
The Dragons’ only other breaststroke finalist was Alex Blacker, who is listed on their roster as an IMer but, as a sophomore last year, should have two years of overlap with Loter. Neither of his next best events, the 50 free and 200 IM, are in scoring range now, but perhaps with time, he could develop them and enter scoring range.
Joining the Pole in Philadelphia are fellow European Red Rullis and Wisconsin’s Oscar Best. Rullis, who hails from Latvia, swam at the 2024 World Championships in Doha, placing 53rd in the 100 free and 40th in the 200 free. Best is a sprinter with a nearly equal 100 fly (49.41) and 100 back (50.05).
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