Rising junior Gavin Danze is helping take Rowan men’s swimming to the next level on both the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) and national stage.
Danze has been swimming since he was only three years old. He started doing it with his brother when their father, a former swimmer himself, introduced the two to the sport.
“He put me and my brother in it, and we ended up being good at it, so that’s the sport we stuck with,” Danze said.
Danze swam in high school for the Gloucester County Institute of Technology (GCIT) Cheetahs, and his interest in coming to Rowan began when he learned one of his professors at GCIT taught cybersecurity classes here. When he met the swim team, he immediately gravitated towards their unity as a group.
“When I met the team, it was just a completely different atmosphere from every other team I met,” Danze said. “Everybody was sort of one team, the whole team’s always together, which is a great environment.”
When Danze arrived for his freshman year on the team, he immediately noticed how different collegiate practices were compared to club or high school practices.
“It’s so much more focused on swimming in college,” Danze said. “I’m a distance swimmer, so most of my practices are distance, working on a lot of freestyle, and every practice has a purpose. If you’re a club swimmer, you know there’s a lot of yardage and just swimming over and over again for no reason, where Brad [Bowser] has a point for every set.”
Brad Bowser is the head coach of the men’s swimming team, and when Danze first arrived at Rowan, he knew that he had a lot of potential on the collegiate level.
“He was coming with talent, but definitely needed to be developed a little bit more for the college level, but that never changed my vision on where he could possibly end up. Which is qualifying for the NCAA’s this year and becoming an All-American,” Bowser said.
Danze immediately found success as a key contributor during his freshman year and has now grown to become a key member of the team.
“Gavin is an instrumental part of our team,” Bowser said. “He is one of our 1-2 punches in the distance events, and without him, we don’t receive those points. Having him on the team has been a huge contributing factor in our success over the last two years.”
Danze has been tapping on the door towards his first appearance at nationals since his freshman year, with a second-place finish in the 1650 Free and a third-place finish his sophomore year at the NJAC. With two years left to break through, Bowser believes the effort he puts forth every day will propel him to new heights.
“Gavin’s best traits are that he is determined, hard-working, and has a no-quit attitude,” Bowser said. “As a person, he is respectful, a great listener, and one who takes advice well. He has really grown up these past two years since we’ve had him on the team. He came in as an 18-year-old boy and is now becoming a delightful young man to coach.”
Danze’s favorite moments in his collegiate career have come at their yearly trip to the Franklin & Marshall Invitational, when he swam the mile.
“My freshman year, I lost my cap and goggles for the last 600 of it, same thing the next year,” Danze said. “Breaking 16 minutes my freshman year was also a great accomplishment.”
Danze’s success will be a key to their upcoming meet at Salisbury University this weekend on Saturday, Nov. 1. His goals go beyond team success, as he’ll look to help the team while smashing records and leaving his mark on the program when all is said and done.
“I’d love to beat Salisbury this weekend. Excited for those meets against Salisbury, against TCNJ,” Danze said. “Individually, I had a rougher year last season than freshman year, so I’d like to break the team record in the 1000 and the mile as well.”
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