David Olson ’90 is among the top aquatics athletes to have ever donned the blue & white of Washington and Lee University.
Olson competed in swimming and water polo, earning a total of 13 All-America citations and winning an individual National Championship. He was a three-year letterwinner in both sports and served as a team captain for each program during his senior campaign.
In water polo, Olson served as the team’s deep water goalkeeper, earning the Burt Haaland Award as the team’s outstanding player after helping lead the Generals to a 21-7 record during his senior season.
In swimming, he was a two-time recipient of the Memorial Swimming Award as the team’s most outstanding performer. Success came early on, as he earned First Team All-America honors as a first-year by placing seventh in the 200 backstroke in helping the Generals to a 19th-place finish at the 1987 NCAA Division III Championship.
Olson again qualified for Nationals as a sophomore, earning All-America laurels in seven different events in helping W&L to an 11th-place finish. Individually, he finished as the runner-up in the 100 and 200 backstroke, and was fifth in the 200 individual medley. He also swam on the 200 and 400 medley relay teams that finished eighth and sixth, respectively. He added Honorable Mention All-America laurels with a 14th-place finish with the 200 freestyle relay and a 16th-place finish with the 400 freestyle relay team.
As a junior, Olson added five more First Team All-America swims, including a National Championship in the 200 backstroke – just the second swimmer and third student-athlete from W&L to have ever won a National title. In addition to his championship finish, he added a fifth-place showing in the 200 individual medley and a seventh-place finish in the 100 backstroke. He also swam on the seventh-place 400 medley relay and the eighth-place 200 medley relay, as W&L claimed eighth as a team, the program’s highest-ever finish to that point.
Olson suffered an elbow injury prior to his senior swimming campaign, but he served as a team captain helping lead the Generals to a 23rd-place finish at the 1990 NCAA Championship.
Olson graduated holding three individual school records and three relay records. His time of 1:55.49 in the 200 Individual Medley stood for 20 years, while his time of 52.52 in the 100 backstroke held for 16 years. His 1:53.14 in the 200 backstroke stood for 14 years.
His relay records included the 200 medley relay (1:36.98), 400 medley relay (3:31.57) and the 800 freestyle relay (6:58.49).
