Carroll swimmer Christian Cseri has signed his letter of intent for college. He will continue his swimming career at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute. The news became public when his mother, Susan Cseri, posted a picture from the signing onto Twitter.
“I always knew Christian was talented & gifted enough to swim in college and that he could bring a lot to the right college program,” Carroll swim coach John Gibson said. “I think this will be a great fit for him, a really good opportunity for Christian to use his swimming talent to help him get a wonderful education in the field he is interested in.”
Cseri plans to major in Mechanical Engineering. He chose Rose-Hulman over Purdue and Valparaiso. He got to visit the campus during the summer before his senior year.
“I chose Rose-Hulman because of their academic reputation, specifically the internship opportunities and the alumni connections,” Cseri said. “When I visited the school, it just felt like a really good fit, and I could really see myself there.”
When Cseri signed his letter of intent, he was joined by his parents. However, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, he could not be joined by his teammates.
“It would have been nicer to be with coaches and teammates, but I’m still glad I could do it at my home and still have my parents with me,” Cseri said.
Rose-Hulman’s swim team is coached by Keith Crawford. He has led the Fightin’ Engineers to three conference titles (two CCIW, and one HCAC) in the last six years. The team’s success proved to be a factor in Cseri’s commitment.
“The success of Rose-Hulman was definitely persuading…in going to that school, specifically meeting the coach, he was a really nice guy and seemed really down to earth,” Cseri said. “I just felt like it was a good fit overall.”
For a period of time, Cseri was unsure whether or not he wanted to swim in college. Shortly after this year’s high school State Meet was over, he decided he did want to continue swimming at the next level.
“That Monday after high school State, I actually got a phone call from Coach Crawford, and I just decided right there to just commit and swim with them,” Cseri said.
Part of Cseri’s success at the Carroll included a trip to the 2020 State Swim Meet. He was part of three relay teams; two of which (the 200 and 400-yard freestyles) finished in the top five.
“He has really developed into, not just a really good swimmer, but more importantly, a great young man,” Gibson said. “He was a wonderful senior leader this year.”
Gibson was especially pleased to have Cseri on the relay teams.
“Christian was such a valuable member of our team, one we could always count on,” Gibson said. “That’s why we needed him to swim on all three of our relays at State this year, because we knew he would give his all.”
