NEW COMMIT: The Cardinals have gained their third early verbal commitment for their growing class of 2025, this time from John Bossler of Edwardsburg, Mich. He’ll join Owen Taylor and Luke Shourds in Louisville at the start of the 2021-22 season.
Bossler, who swims year-round with Irish Aquatics and owns a pair of U.S. Open standards, is coming off a stellar long course season where he placed 21st in the 800m free and 24th in the 1500m free at Junior Nationals. Last winter, he raced two events at Juniors East before going on to earn four best times at Indianapolis Sectionals where his highest finish was an 11th-place showing in the 800m free. A current junior at South Bend Saint Joseph High School, Bossler placed seventh in the 500 free and 12th in the 200 free as a sophomore at the Indiana State Championships.
He told Swimming World:
“I am so excited to announce my verbal commitment to continue my academic and athletic career at the University of Louisville!! The team and coaches are unlike any other, and I’m so excited to be joining such an amazing program. I want to thank my family, coaches, and friends for helping me with this decision. GO CARDS!!”
Photo Courtesy: John Bossler Instagram (@john.bossler)
In SCY, his best times include:
- 200 free – 1:42.06
- 500 free – 4:32.92
- 1000 free – 9:29.92
- 1650 free – 15:46.18
- 400 IM – 4:04.37
In LCM, his best times include:
- 400m free – 4:01.48
- 800m free – 8:20.28
- 1500m free – 15:55.74
- 200m back – 2:08.63
- 400m IM – 4:32.88
Bossler has made major improvements over the past two seasons, dropping nine seconds in the 200 free, 23 seconds in the 500 free, 28 in the 400 IM, 50 in the 1000, and well over a minute in the mile. He’ll add valuable depth to the Cardinals’ distance freestyle group and will have two years of overlap with current freshman Ilia Sibirtsev, who earned silver and bronze in the 800m and 1500m, respectively, at FINA World Juniors this past summer.
The Cardinals are fresh off a historic season where they were the team runners-up at the ACC Championships. Louisville finished a program-high fifth place at the NCAA Championships, surpassing their previous top finish of ninth in both 2012 and 2018. Their 212 points was also the most they’ve ever scored at NCAAs.
If you have a commitment to share, please send a photo and quote via email to hs@swimmingworld.com.