During the swim season, you’ll find senior Jeffrey Vlass swimming the 100m and 200m breaststroke, as well as the 200m and 400m individual medley. Jokingly, he refers to himself as a “breaststroker,” and racing against Monmouth University over the weekend, Vlass broke his first-ever individual team record in the 200m Breaststroke with a time of 2:23.39.
However, you won’t only find Vlass only in the pool, as he is a double major in Business Analytics and Marketing, and also works for the Office of Admissions as a tour guide, where he shares his love of the school with prospective students and their families.
Vlass believes it’s a common misconception that student-athletes “only do school on the side.” His efforts out of the pool contribute to a men’s team that posts a top 10 combined GPA in the country for Division I Swimming and Diving.
“The idea that student-athletes don’t care about their academics because of their sport is completely wrong,” Vlass said. “If anything, the sport keeps you more disciplined and on top of your work.”
Besides leading prospective students around campus, as a second year captain, Vlass takes a leadership role on the team and considers himself a mentor.
“I love getting to interact with all my teammates, but especially fostering a good community between the seniors and even the incoming students,” he said. “Having teammates fresh out of highschool and having fifth-years, as a part of the captain role, we plan a lot of team building activities to create community and ensure everyone feels comfortable around each other.”
A strong team community is evident through a program they started last year, known as a big and little system, in which underclassmen are placed with an upperclassmen mentor who they do an activity with once a month. “Me and my little, Will Landon, are going to Colony Pizza tonight,” Vlass shared on the day of his interview. “This was something I felt that my freshman year we lacked on the team, just that relationship between upperclassmen and underclassmen.”
Jake Litcher, new Head Coach of Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving, puts a premium on developing his student athletes in all aspects.
“Improvement in swimming and diving is about more than just hitting faster times and higher scores; it’s about growing together, setting high standards and building a culture that values hard-work, competitiveness and passion,” he states.
“Jeff Vlass, along with his fellow captains, Nicholas Besgen and Ed Hunt, have embraced that mission. In his second year as captain, [Vlass] is a strong leader—not only through his work ethic in the pool but in the way he connects with his teammates,” he states, reinforcing Vlass’ evident capabilities as a mentor.
Litcher describes Vlass as open, approachable and always willing to step up and support others, and credits him for his role in the team’s continued success over the season.
“He is someone the others naturally gravitate toward because he leads by example, he brings energy, and he is extremely organized.”
In terms of a role model, Vlass looks up to Nic Fink, an olympic athlete who grew up 30 minutes away from him, and won silver and gold in this summer’s Paris Olympics. Vlass admires Fink’s ability to work a full time job while competing at an Olympic level.
He also looks up to his sister who swam for the Stags herself and graduated in 2019, inspiring him to follow in her footsteps as he supported her at her meets.
“From the moment I got on campus, even as a sixth grader, I knew that this was a really great place, I had the gut instinct feeling that this is where I wanted to be as well.”
After the college search and recruitment process, by the time he arrived on campus, the swim team was competing for conference championships.
“I think we have a really good shot of winning this year. We’ve brought some really great pieces to the team,” Vlass said.
New to the swim roster this year are three fifth-years, including one from their rival school Marist College, as well as seven first-years, one of whom, named Jack Behm, has already broken a record.
“I think we have the pieces to be at the top of the standings at the end of the year. It’s all about hard work and staying motivated, it’s a long season from September to February.”
When Vlass looks ahead to the rest of the season, he’s excited for the meet they’re swimming at Marist on Nov. 2. The Red Foxes are the reigning conference champions, and act as a rival for the Stags.
“It’ll be a really great opportunity for our teammates to see where they’re at and compete against the top team in our conference,” he said.
Vlass credits his coach, Litcher, who Fairfield hired over the summer, for their competitive schedule and growth in ranking.
“We’ve always swam pretty weak schedules, but this year our coach is doing a good job of challenging us. Everyone swims better when we’re swimming against good competition,” he states.
Vlass and his fellow captains have played a huge role in easing Litcher’s transition into the team, embracing his training methods and strategies for competition.
“They have been instrumental in helping me understand the team dynamics and guiding me through the team’s established routines and traditions,” Litcher said. “They have been a bridge between me and the rest of the team, making communication and alignment on goals so much easier.”
Further down the road, from Nov. 22 to Nov. 24, the team will travel to Boston University for three days to swim in their midseason meet. To prepare for meets, before he takes to the pool deck, Vlass turns to Welches and Mott’s fruit snacks, and when he lines up at his starting block, he tries to fistbump both of the competitors next to him and wish them good luck.
Swim meets are usually not well attended by students and fans, but Vlass is hoping that will change as the Stags start to find more success over the course of the season.
“We start the first race of the meet with a relay, even just coming in for the first 10 minutes of the meet, you’ll feel the excitement from the crowd and the swimmers on deck.”
During this year’s Parents and Alumni Weekend, swimming experienced a sold-out meet, which Kyle Sockwell, a content creator traveling the country hoping to boost attendance at swim meets re-posted, claiming that swim attendance is on the rise.
“We’d love for that attendance every weekend because that puts Fairfield on the national stage, as well,” Vlass said.
The Stags can take one step closer to that stage in Poughkeepsie, New York against the Red Foxes this Saturday. The meet kicks off at 1 P.M.
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