MAKING WAVES - Competitive swimmer Tyler Jellum is part of the swim team at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, where he is a freshman, having graduated from Waseca in 2025. Tyler participated for six years with the swim team coached by Jeanne Sexton and sponsored by the Waseca Community Education Department.
Competitive swimmer
Waseca graduate Tyler Jellum chooses Gustavus
Waseca graduate Tyler Jellum chooses Gustavus
Thu, 12/04/2025 - 2:15am
Although he was a member of the Waseca Community Education competitive swim team for six years, 2025 Waseca High School graduate Tyler Jellum notes many of his classmates didn’t even know the team existed.
That didn’t bother him, though. He wasn’t in it for notoriety.
“Racing’s fun,” he says of the sport. “I like testing myself and finding ways to get better at what I do.”
Jellum’s success and dedication did not go unnoticed: during his senior year he was contacted by a number of colleges interested in recruiting him for their swim teams. He chose Gustavus Adolphus in St. Peter: He explains he likes the small campus, the coaches, and the pleasantly short drive to come home for visits.
And, as much as he enjoyed and appreciated his participation with community education, he has been discovering new aspects of competition now that he is part of a more cohesive team.
“In Waseca, team members were all different ages, so we didn’t necessarily know each other very well,” he explains. “Also, we each bought our own swimsuits, so at meets, I couldn’t always tell my teammates from the other swimmers.”
Now, though, thanks to color-matched swimwear, “I know which lane my team members are in, and I can cheer for them.”
Of Jeanne Sexton who has been Waseca’s coach for the past 9 years, Jellum says he is grateful for her guidance and support. “I wouldn’t be where I am without her,” he acknowledges.
With 49 team members and five coaches on the official roster of the college’s men’s swimming and diving team, the atmosphere at Gustavus is completely different.
“We practice pretty much every day,” he points out. “The coaches set aside 15 minutes of one-on-one time with each team member every week.
“I’ve gotten tons of feedback from those.”
There is also a sense of cohesiveness among team members, who attended a camp together at the start of the year and got to know each other. There are competitions most weekends; the majority are at Gustavus, but one was two hours away. One coming up in the near future will require a five-hour bus ride.
Also part of the team mentality is a certain amount of friendly rivalry.
Jellum mentions that, in his preferred competition, the 100-yard breast stroke, seven of the top 15 swimmers in the conference are on the Gustavus team. That includes the first-ranked swimmer, who has completed 100 yards in as little as 54 seconds; Jellum recently accomplished a time only 10 seconds higher, 1:04. He is currently ranked 12th in the conference.
That, too, is a regular component of practice: rankings are printed out and posted for all to see. There are competitions on most weekends, another factor which
Still, he says, he is grateful for the emphasis on personal responsibility and self-reliance he learned while competing with Waseca’s team.
He mentions having also been part of the high school cross country team, a season which led directly into the swimming season.
“Running is good for endurance,” he summarizes. “After all, you run to warm up, you take a seven-mile run, and then you run some more to cool down.
“But it doesn’t really help with upper body strength.”
Practices at Gustavus naturally include lots of swimming–Jellum mentions that by this point in the season, team members typically swims between 6,500 and 7,000 yards–as many as 140 crossings of a 50-yard swimming pool.
“We swim pretty much every day for two hours,” he says of the practices. “We lift weights three days a week, and we do yoga two days.”
Even though he is a very fit athlete, he acknowledges that the moves and stretches used in the yoga practice leave him temporarily sore. “But the next day I feel really good and ready to challenge myself,” he says.
For most college swimmers, the season will continue through the conference meet in February; a few will go on to the Division 3 championships in March.
“I like being on the swim team, and I like earning points for my team,” says Jellum. “I’m looking forward to finding out what the rest of the season brings.”