With four weeks remaining in the swim season, senior David Ortyn is striving for one thing: perfection.

“I’m trying to get more conditioning, but then just focus every day on technique – every little detail,” he said. “Sometimes its hard doing that every day, and trying to be consistent about that.”

Even though the swim team has three post-season meets on its schedule – including Metro League and district events – Ortyn is focused solely on the state meet.

“I’m not going to pay any attention to metros or districts,” he said. “I might go to metros, I might not. I might get last or something. I’m just going to use that as experience.”

Ortyn, who broke school records in the 200-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly at the 2009 state meet, has already qualified for four state events.

“I’m only going to do two (individual events): the 100 fly, then the 200 IM or the 200 free,” he said. “This year it looks like I’ll be doing the 200 IM.”

Ortyn placed fifth in the 200-yard freestyle and third in the 100 butterfly last year.

“I know for 100 fly – if I have any hope of winning – I’ll have to make 50 (seconds) flat or under,” Ortyn said. “So I’m trying to get consistent 52, because it’s pretty easy for me to drop time after a taper. I’m trying to get my time down to a level where I know I can drop a lot of time and get the times I want.”

While Ortyn will certainly face tough competition, he will be essentially racing himself.

“For an IM, I’m not a great breaststroker, but I’ll know someone else is a good breaststroker,” he said. “Just because of that, I’ll go a little harder on my fly and really focus on myself. You even ignore the clock – you just focus on the race.”

This will be Ortyn’s fourth trip to state, but only his third year competing in individual events. He swam the relays as a freshman.

“Freshman year we basically had our events all filled up, but we didn’t have a 500 freestyler,” he said. “It was for the team, so I did 500 free. The qualifying time for that is really hard for someone who isn’t really a distance swimmer.”

Ortyn, who has been swimming competitively since the fifth grade, is easy to coach, said head swim coach Kaycee Taylor.

“They’ve been swimming their whole lives and when they get to the high school team, they’re very smart swimmers,” Taylor said. “They know where their weaknesses are. They know where their strengths are. That’s a really important thing for anybody, especially a swimmer where they can be aware of their shortcomings.”

By focusing on swimming, Ortyn had to put aside childhood sports such as soccer and baseball.

“As I got older I dropped baseball and I focused on swimming, and I did water polo,” he said. “I did water polo for three years, and this year I gave up water polo and focused on swimming – that was really hard.”

By devoting his senior year to swimming, Ortyn has taken on a strong leadership role as a co-captain.

“David’s a great leader on the team,” Taylor said. “He’s an excellent swimmer and he’s a hard worker. He sets the tone for a lot of the other swimmers. So that makes it an easier thing to coach to know that you’ve got a captain and a senior.”

Ortyn has received interest from Division III schools in Ohio and California with successful swim and dive programs, and is considering a major in psychology.

“In Ohio, it’s a better team,” he said. “In California, it’s not as good of a team but it’s warmer, and it’s more relaxed.”