Oliver Wyeth makes a splash at UMass Amherst

The native New Zealander currently holds two UMass records in swimming.

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Oliver Wyeth’s swimming career started with salty tears and tantrums.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst sophomore always hated swimming, but his parents, Shona McIntosh and John Wyeth, insisted on lessons due to the societal pressure to learn how to swim in their native country, New Zealand. At his first swim competition, Wyeth’s fair skin flushed the same color as the faded red lane lines dividing the pool. He refused to get in the water, tears soaked his face. After a few test-runs, Wyeth eventually got in, and with that, came a wave-pool of opportunity.

For onlookers, Wyeth’s natural talent seemed obvious. He was a much better swimmer than any child his age, and he kept progressing through every skill group until he was at a competing level.

“For whatever reason, I never quit. And the first time I did finally compete, I won. Once I got a taste of winning, and more of my friends started to do swimming, I began to enjoy it,” admitted Wyeth.

Today, the swimmer is 6’1″ and weighs in at a lean 175 pounds. He wears thick-rimmed glasses, and his strawberry-blonde hair is cut relatively short — except for the top that’s longer and swept to the side. Wyeth is now a member of the swim team at UMass, where he holds two school records and a pool record for his impressive backstroke.

Though Wyeth has a thick New Zealand accent, he said he’s not to be mistaken for Australian, or he’ll correct you, impatiently. His close “mates” on the swim team often translate for others who aren’t used to some of the Southern Hemisphere slang he uses.

Roommate and teammate Alex D’Anna teasingly pointed out that the only sweatpants Wyeth owns are a jogger style that are tighter at the ankle.

Wyeth just rolled his eyes and said, with matter-of-fact sarcasm, that he’s got “style.”

His demeanor is cool and relaxed, with a dry sense of humor and laid-back confidence. He casually rattles off a list of his swimming accomplishments, and remembers his crowning as the National Individual Champion back home in the 100-meter backstroke in 2009, 2010 and 2013, along with the 200-meter back in 2009 and 2010.

He once played underwater hockey with his god-brother as a joke, but ended up being good enough to make New Zealand’s U-19 National Team, a team that went on to win the silver medal at the world championship in Hungary in 2013. The sport is similar ice hockey, Wyeth said, aside from the fact that players use snorkels, goggles and a much-shorter stick to move the puck around the bottom of the pool and score in the opponent’s net.

“I never took underwater hockey too seriously, because it was more just for fun. The world championship was a totally different experience. I’d never competed at a stage that big in a team sport and, even though we did well, it was actually frustrating,” said Wyeth. “The team just let me down at times.”

He went back to swimming because the outcome is solely up to him.

Wyeth was unable to defend his titles in 2011 when, after finishing in the top 15 in the New Zealand Olympic Trials, he was infected with mononucleosis, just before nationals. After underwater hockey, he set his sights on training to win those titles back and to swim at a university in the United States.

In 2014, Wyeth finished in the top 10 in the world championship trials. Around the same time, he gave the head coach of UMass Swimming, Russ Yarworth, a call.

“I started looking [at US universities] way too late. I didn’t get my SAT scores or any of my Visa stuff done until February. I’m pretty sure admissions had closed already when I reached out to Russ,” Wyeth explained.

At first, the coach didn’t reply.

Yarworth said he has received many emails from foreign athletes, and that determining which ones are really interested and can actually attend is difficult. The 13-time Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year said that Wyeth was “lost in the shuffle” the first time he reached out.

“Once I responded, we seemed to develop a good electronic rapport. Then we had a great conversation via telephone,” said Yarworth.

He added that he and Wyeth get along so well because of his English background. Some expressions Wyeth used during their initial contact were very familiar and, since meeting, the two have developed both a coach-to-athlete relationship and friendship.

In addition to Wyeth’s great sense of humor, he’s a very hard worker, Yarworth said.

“Ollie enjoys being around his teammates, and he’s developing into a solid team leader.”

Wyeth said that he is doing exactly what he came here to do.

“It is an amazing opportunity for him to attend college and swim in the United States. Of course we miss him, but it is easy to communicate in today’s world,” his mother, McIntosh, said. “We felt he should pursue his dreams, and we saw it as the obvious next step in swimming.”

Wyeth has settled into American life and said he enjoys living here, though he does miss New Zealand from time to time; he said he does not see himself living permanently anywhere other than his home country.

“I miss the relaxed vibe in New Zealand. Everyone is way more chill and there’s nothing to worry about. People are a lot more uptight here,” the UMass swimmer said.

When he does return home, Wyeth will always be reminded of his time at UMass, as he has the Minuteman logo tattooed on the upper left side of his back.

The sport that started with salty tears and tantrums is now a part of him forever.

Email Alexandra Francisco at [email protected]

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