Carson High senior Nicholas Melsheimer smiles after signing his National Letter of Intent on Tuesday with Colorado Mesa University.
Photo by Carter Eckl.
Carson High senior swimmer Nick Melsheimer made his college plans official Tuesday at the Carson Aquatic Facility.
Melsheimer said swimming beyond the high school level has always been something he’s strived for.
Ultimately, it came down to the right fit for him, which was Colorado Mesa University.
“That’s always been my goal, to make it to some stage past high school,” said Melsheimer. “The 100 fly and they also want me to swim the 200 fly. Just kind of fill in where I can with their roster to hopefully climb the ranks nationally.”
As a junior, Melsheimer won regionals in the 100 fly, posting a finals time of 50.20.
He also served as the anchor on the 200-yard freestyle relay, which finished second.
In the 400-yard freestyle relay, Melsheimer had the opening leg on a unit that won the event by more than 10 seconds.
“When we won regionals as a team last year. That was probably my favorite memory,” said Melsheimer of his time at Carson High. “Hopefully, we will be able to do it again this year.”
Melsheimer will join a program in Grand Junction, Colo., that made plenty of noise at last month’s national meet.
Colorado Mesa was fifth on both the men and women’s side of the competition at the Division II national meet in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The Mavericks compete in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
Melsheimer said he’s excited to join a program that is continuing to rise in the national ranks.
“It’s and up and coming program. They needed a butterflyer and strokes that I’m best at,” said Melsheimer. “It reminds me of home and meeting the coaches, it was a perfect fit.”
The pandemic hampered Melsheimer’s chances at getting meets to be able to put together qualifying times that would draw the eyes of college coaches.
However, the soon-to-be Maverick said he’s grateful to have still had a chance to compete at the end of the 2021 calendar season.
Once on campus, Melsheimer says he wants to study kinesiology and is still pondering a potential route in physical therapy.
