It is hard to believe that Ridgley Harrison is a
senior. It seems like almost yesterday that the
outgoing freshman with a wild head of hair walked into
the locker rooms of the swim and crew teams.
Harrison, a native of Hackettstown, New Jersey, and a
graduate of Morristown-Beard High, did in fact
“walk-on” to the Dutchmen's roster.
“Ridgley was not a recruited
swimmer,” said second-year head coach Scott
Felix. “If fact, the only swimming experience
he had prior to Union was that he was a lake swimmer in
a summer swimming program.”
Voted the Dutchmen's Most
Valuable Performer as a sophomore, Harrision, the
non-recruited swimmer with little competitive
experience, won the New York State championships in the
50 and 100 freestyle events and was a member of Union's
state-champion 800 freestyle relay team. He
qualified for nationals in the 50 and was a member of
the the Dutchman 400 and 800 relay teams that
participated in the NCAA meet.
His sophomore season again saw
him earn his team's Most Valuable Performer award after
he won state championships in the 100 and 200 freestyle
races with a fourth-place finish in the 50 free.
He scored in all three of his freestyle
events, finishing tied for 12th in the 50 (21.13), 11th in the
200 (1:41.25), and 13th in the 100 (46.38) qualifying him as an
honorable mention All-American in all three. His efforts
on the relay teams helped the 800 team finish ninth with a time
of 6:52.72, the 400 team finish 11th with a time of 3:07.44, and
the 200 team 16th with a time of 1:26.77. All three relays
earned honorable mention All-American honors as the Dutchmen
moved from 38th in the 2001 NCAA Meet (with 16 points) to 21st
in 2002 season with 45.6 points.
Harrison has been named the UCAA
Championship Meet's “Swimmer of the Meet” each of the
last two seasons. Last year he won three events in record
time (the 50 free in 21.15, the 100 free in 47.47 and the 200
free in 1:44.49) and this season he again won all
three of his freestyle races and helped the relay teams capture
a pair of titles. He was also chosen as Union's
Outstanding Male Sophomore by a vote of the College's coaching
staff.
“Ridgley is one of the hardest
workers and best leaders that I've had the pleasure of
coaching,” said Felix, who had been the interim head coach
at West Point prior to coming to Union and had been the Black
Knights' assistant since 1998 (he was also an assistant at
Army during the 1993-94 season, an assistant at Springfield from
1994 through 1996 and head coach at West Virginia Wesleyan from
1996 through 1998). “Ridgley has been the backbone of our
program this season,” Felix continued. “We count
on him time and time again and he steps up and performs.”
Currently 15th in the country in the 50
freestyle and 22nd in the 200 freestyle, Harrison has won all of
his races this year except one. He finished second in the
500 freestyle by two one-hundredths of a second in the meet
against Williams.
“At this time Ridgley is not sure
what he want to pursue after graduation,” said Felix.
“But whatever it is, he will enjoy success.”