Minnesota State Champion Breaststroker, IMer Reese Dehen Chooses Ohio State

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Anoka High School senior Reese Dehen from the Northwest Minneapolis suburb of Ramsey has verbally committed to Ohio State University. Dehen trains with the Great Wolf Swim Team, and is the younger sister of Max Dehen, who swims at Evansville.

I’m extremely excited to announce my verbal commitment to continue my academic and athletic career at THE Ohio State University!!! I’d like to thank my friends, family, coaches, teachers, and teammates for the endless support. I can’t wait to be part of such an amazing team and school. GO BUCKS!!! ️ #BuckeyeNation

Reese, like her brother, is primarily a breaststroker and IMer. She is the defending Minnesota Class AA High School State Champion in both the 100 yard breaststroke (1:02.07) and 200 yard IM (2:01.16). Class AA in Minnesota represents the state’s largest high schools.

Dehen is a Summer Juniors qualifier in both the 100 yard and 200 breaststrokes, as well as a Winter Juniors qualifier in the 400 IM. She has hit the qualification standards in those events in both long course and short course.

In long course, her best time of 1:11.94 is less than a second away from the Olympic Trials qualifying standard of 1:10.99.

Best Times in Yards:

• 50 free – 23.52
• 100 free – 51.02
• 200 free – 1:51.88
• 100 back – 57.83
• 200 back – 2:05.70
• 100 breast – 1:02.07
• 200 breast – 2:13.63
• 100 fly – 57.91
• 200 IM – 2:01.16
• 400 IM – 4:28.73

In spite of the historically-successful breaststroke program at the nearby University of Minnesota, which has coached multiple female breaststrokers to NCAA titles over the last decade, Dehen has opted to head to the further-away, but still Big Ten, program at Ohio State.

The Buckeyes are the defending Big Ten Champions, a title that they won with overwhelming depth, and that depth is part of what Dehen says drew her in.

“I chose Ohio State for the amazing depth of their program along with the many academic opportunities available at the school,” Dehen said. “My future amazing teammates and coaches create an atmosphere inside and out of the pool that was unlike any other. With a team the strives for excellence, Ohio State was clearly the best fit for me and my future.”

The breaststrokes were among the team’s lower-scoring events, but that is a relative measure given their 200 point margin of victory: for example, they scored 65 points in the 100 breaststroke at Big Tens. That is half-as-many points as they scored in the 400 IM, but still was only 3 points fewer than Indiana scored to lead all teams in that event.

The IM events, on the other hand, where Dehen has also shown promise, are both a historic and recent specialty for the Buckeyes. For example, last season, they had 3 swimmers finish in the top 7 at the Big Ten Championships, and all 3 were underclassmen.

Dehen is still about a second away from Big Ten scoring times in the 100 breast and 200 IM, but her best time in the 200 breaststroke would have put her comfortably into the C-Final at the 2020 Big Ten Championships.

Dehen joins a big Ohio State class of 2021 that already includes 10 announced swimmers. The 2020-2021 outgoing senior class has 13 graduating, though, and the Buckeyes historically carry a large roster (42 last season).

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