Will compete in the SEC, the best conference in the country

For River Falls senior Ellery Ottem, the National Signing Day ceremony at River Falls High School on Wednesday, Nov. 9, marked the official beginning of the next chapter of her life as she signed a letter of intent to swim for the University of South Carolina, a Division 1 program in the SEC.

Ottem attracted attention from around the country based on her dominant swimming career that began as soon as she got to high school. She instantly became one of the top swimmers in the Big Rivers Conference and regularly made trips to state from 2018-2022. She spoke about how she chose South Carolina.

“They reached out to me first but I wasn’t sure about it. Then I reached out to them in the winter because I thought it might be a fun place to go,” Ottem said on National Signing Day. “I went (on a visit) and I fell in love with it. They flew me in and we went out to a big dinner, took me to a spring football game and just showed me around. They took me into the city too.”

South Carolina spared no expense, as the university and coaching staff showed Ottem around the campus and the larger Columbia area. The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is the most competitive Division 1 swimming conference in the country. Ottem also took official visits to the University of Alabama and Auburn University swimming programs.

“It was a hard decision. I had a lot to choose from,” Ottem said. “The SEC is the best conference. It’s been a goal of mine to swim in college since I started swimming.”

Ottem officially finished her high school career on Saturday, Nov. 12, with two topfive finishes at the 2022 State Swimming and Diving Championships at Waukesha South High School. She re-broke her own school records in both the 100-yard and 200-yard Freestyle events, which proved to be a perfect summation of her high school career.

She took the swimming program by storm in her freshman season at River Falls and immediately began rewriting the entire record book. For River Falls head swimming coach Caitlin Brudzinski, watching and coaching Ottem for years was an honor and privilege.

“I’m excited to continue to watch her and to see how she does there. I know she’ll do well because she has the drive,” Brudzinski said. “She never needed to be motivated externally, she’s got that internally. It will be a lot of fun to watch as she moves on to that aspect of her competition career.”

Even after setting all of those school records during her freshman year, Ottem’s internal drive never wavered. She continued to regularly re-break records well into her senior season, which included seven records she broke this year and five other pool records that she broke during the 2022 campaign.

“She rewrote the record board her freshman year and then continued to do it,” Brudzinski said. “She broke seven school records and five pool records as well as four conference records. To my knowledge, she’s absolutely the best swimmer to come out of River Falls.”

Ottem was extremely humble on National Signing Day as she spoke about her career and what it has been like to own essentially every swimming record that she possibly could have at River Falls. She spoke about her career, even dating back to her time at the River Falls Swim Club where she first began swimming.

“It feels really good,” Ottem said. “I’ve come a long way. I swam for River Falls Swim Club when I first started and just to see all of those records from when I was younger to having the record board now, it feels good.”

After graduating from River Falls in May, Ottem will move to Columbia, South Carolina to continue her academic and athletic career as a member of the Gamecocks Women’s Swimming and Diving program.

Outgoing River Falls senior Ellery Ottem has her name in nearly every slot on the RFHS swimming record leaderboard. The board still has to be updated to reflect the records that she broke this season, which includes seven new school records. Ottem leaves quite a legacy at River Falls as she departs for South Carolina’s Division 1 program in the SEC. Photo by Reagan Hoverman