Getting To Know: Ryan Krause

After a day on the beach with the swimmers of BYU, Ryan Krause made an easy decision to follow the team back to Utah from his hometown of San Diego.

"Last year, the BYU Swim team came to San Diego for their winter training,” Krause said. “I had been talking to the coaches on the phone for a while before they came. After meeting some of the guys on the team, I asked them if they wanted to meet at the beach later to go surfing and that’s how I first got to know them.

"I liked how fun and outgoing the guys were. They seemed like a close team and they had a great attitude about swimming.”

Having attended Palomar College in San Diego for two years out of high school, Krause transferred to BYU with collegiate experience already under his belt.

He did, however, have a few options to weigh after Palomar. He considered attending UC Davis, but the school dropped swimming the program in 2009. BYU seemed more promising that other local schools and offered him the most scholarship money.

"My mom attended BYU Hawaii and I would have liked to go to BYU out of high school, but I had the opportunity to swim in San Diego,” Krause said. “I was going to drop swimming and go to UVU, but I’m glad that I didn’t because I got my best times my first year at Palomar.”

At Palomar, Krause won state in the 100 fly both years. This accomplishment helped him work his way to the BYU swim team.

Besides swimming, Krause loves the BYU academic environment.

"Coming to BYU from a community college is such a change,” Krause said. “I feel like a quarter of the people at Palomar were serious about their schooling, but here it’s completely different.”

Krause was accepted into the industrial design program at BYU right before he started his first semester.

"I like that it requires a lot of creative thinking and I was really glad to find out that BYU had this program, because it’s definitely something I love to do,” Krause said.

That’s not the only hobby Krause has. As previously mentioned, Krause loves to surf as well as play water polo.

"If Utah had waves, I’d surf,” Krause said. “Unfortunately that’s not going to happen and I miss it, but I’m definitely happy to be where I’m at and swimming for BYU.”

Along with gaining a great relationship with the team, Krause has developed his relationships with the coaches as well.

"Being new to the team really wasn’t difficult at all because they were so welcoming,” Krause said. “I really admire coach Powers and have already learned so much from him. I look forward to continuing to swim for him.”

Krause has already contributed greatly to the team as a crucial member to the relays. At the Pacific Invite in Stockton, Calif., Krause aided the 200 medley relay as well as the 400 free relay team to their first-place wins. He also received another first-place win this past weekend against Seattle University in the 400 medley relay along with teammates Jake Taylor, Chad Sorenson and Christian Keil.

The team can definitely look forward to seeing a lot from Krause as he continues to add depth and strength to the BYU swim team.