Imagine you arrive at school one day and the campus is filled with news vans and reporters, and they are all there for you.
This was a reality for Dallastown graduate and Olympian, Whitney Metzler. She graduated from Dallastown in 1996 and went to the Olympics two months later.
Metzler began swimming at 4 years old, and she swam in many clubs. She then began swimming at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, which happens to be one of the best teams on the East Coast, while in High School.
“[I] made my first National Swim Team [in 1994] and went to Paris, France. At that point, I knew I would have a really good chance of making the Olympic team.”
As a student-athlete, Metzler had the help of her teammates, like Beth Botsford, to support her because they all knew what it was like to compete at such a high level while in high school.
“My life was very different from the typical high school experience. First, starting in 11th grade when I could drive, I would not come to Dallastown until 2nd period,” Metzler explained.
Metzler would also leave two periods early for swim practice, and she trained thirteen times a week. Because of this, she did not take any electives or attend school events often.
Metzler made the US Olympic swimming team during her senior year of high school and swam the 400 IM in Atlanta the summer after graduating.
She ended up making it to finals and placed 8th.
“When I came back to Dallastown after making the Olympic Team, it was March and we still had 3 months of school left, but I didn’t know what it was like to go to high school as someone else after that,” Metzler recalled.
Many of her peers cheered her on from her hometown of York, Pennsylvania. One of them was Shannon Werner, a Dallastown graduate in 1998, who is also a gym teacher in Dallastown.
Werner remembers watching Metzler swim on TV. It was exciting to hear her hometown and someone she knew being announced.
“When you’re a student-athlete, you root and cheer on other student-athletes to be successful,” said Werner.
Metzler went on to swim at the University of Florida but had to retire after two years due to a shoulder injury.
She is now an attorney who specializes in healthcare. She enjoys running and biking in her free time.
She also devotes a lot of time to her children at the golf course because they are talented golfers.
“I try to help them as much as my parents helped me, so I don’t have a lot of time for other hobbies,” Metzler explained.
“If you want to be exceptional, you have to make an exceptional effort,” is one piece of advice Metzler gives to student-athletes who hope to make it big in their sport.
