Charlie Clark Redshirting at Ohio State This Fall, Will Compete in Spring (original) (raw)
Ohio State senior Charlie Clark will take an Olympic redshirt this year, but only for the fall semester — meaning the Buckeyes’ distance star should be back in time for championship season next spring.
“I’m excited to put in a solid block of training to get ready for Trials in June,” Clark told SwimSwam. “As of now I’m planning on staying at OSU to train for the fall.”
Clark will be seeking his fourth consecutive appearance in the 1650-yard freestyle A-final at the 2024 NCAA Championships after placing 8th in 2021 (14:40.70), 8th in 2022 (14:35.58), and 7th this year (14:41.43). He’ll also be searching for his third straight Big Ten title in the 1650 free and fourth straight top-4 finish in the 500 free at the Big Ten Championships.
His 12 NCAA points this past season were Ohio State’s only individual points in the pool other than the 20.5 contributed by Canadian Olympian Ruslan Gaziev, who’s returning to Columbus for his fifth year next season along with 1-meter diving national champion Lyle Yost (46.5 points). The return of Yost, Gaziev, and Clark is huge to anchor a Buckeyes squad that is losing pieces such as Alex Quach (Olympic redshirt), James Ward (NCAA eligibility waiver denied), and Thomas Watkins (graduated).
In long course, Clark is coming off his second World Championships appearance in a row for Team USA, placing 11th in the 1500 free (14:57.16). He once again added time from his U.S. Trials time of 14:50.84, a personal best that placed 2nd behind Bobby Finke. Last year, Clark was the youngest male swimmer on the U.S. roster at 19 years old.
As a team, Ohio State placed 11th at NCAAs last year — the program’s fourth consecutive top-11 finish, marking the longest streak since 1969-75. The highlight came courtesy of Yost, who captured the Buckeyes’ first individual NCAA title in any event since 2016. However, Ohio State dropped two spots from its 2022 placement (9th) and four spots from its 2021 placement (7th).
In This Story
Bobby Finke
Charlie Clark
About Riley Overend
Riley is an associate editor interested in the stories taking place outside of the pool just as much as the drama between the lane lines. A 2019 graduate of Boston College, he arrived at SwimSwam in April of 2022 after three years as a sports reporter and sports editor at newspapers …