Notre Dame swimmer Domjan to sign with Valparaiso

The improvement came quickly for Notre Dame senior Alec Domjan.

The payoff comes today when he signs his letter of intent to swim at Valparaiso University, which competes in the Horizon League.

"It's a really big satisfaction," he said. "I've only been swimming since I was 15 1/2, and just to know that I'm at that level in the short amount of time that I've been swimming is a lot of gratification, and I'm really proud of my accomplishments.

"I think I still have a lot of room for improvement. I plan on swimming through college and hopefully after. Maybe try to make the 2020 Olympic trials, depending where I'm at."

Domjan narrowed his college choices to Valparaiso and Saint Louis University.

"I liked the campus because it wasn't too big," he said about Valparaiso. "It was small enough where you could have fun but still have a close-knit group of people. It's about an hour from Chicago, which is a big city, but it's a nice little town. It's not too terribly different from my living situation now."

Domjan qualified for the state meet as a junior and a senior. He swam on the Bulldogs' 200 freestyle relay that finished 22nd and the 400 freestyle relay that took 25th during his junior campaign.

Domjan then took 31st in the 200 freestyle and 35th in the 100 freestyle as a senior. He also helped the 200 freestyle relay take 37th and the 400 freestyle relay grab 30th this season.

He said the Valparaiso coaches anticipate him swimming the 100 and 200 freestyles.

Domjan said he plans to spend the next few months before leaving for college preparing to compete at the Division I level.

"I'm in year-round swimming, so I'm going to continue to do that," he said. "Go to a couple national meets. I've got three really big meets coming up in July. Definitely hitting the weights more often at the gym and pretty much focusing on that since I don't have to worry about school during the summer."

And now he doesn't have to worry about where he'll continue his swimming career, either.

"It's a huge relief," he said. "Now I finally narrowed it down to Valparaiso, I feel like this weight has been lifted off me. It's been hard deciding where I'm going to go, but I'm confident Valparaiso was the right choice."