By Kim Harmon

Think of it as the RYAN EBERTS PROJECT – a four-year effort to turn a somewhat soft 13-year-old kid, with only the basic skills of competitive swimming, into one of the best sprint freestylists Newtown High School has ever known.

Just four years ago Ryan was a kid who joined the swim team only partly because he wanted to. He swam as a youngster in Vermont and then, when the family moved to Newtown about eight years ago, he swam a bit with the Newtown FAST team. But he may not have joined the high school team if his big brother, Ben, hadn’t asked him to.

From that moment on, the project had begun and four years later – as Ryan is poised upon the threshold of the CIAC Class L championship meet seeded fourth in the 200 freestyle and third in the 100 freestyle – the transformation is nearly complete.

But not finished.

No, never finished.

“I remember my sophomore year,” said Ryan, “and going to the State Opens with Todd Burns, seeing how fast those kids were going, and thinking about how those times were unattainable. I also remember being with some of my friends and comparing times and when the girls told me theirs, they destroyed mine. I knew then I never wanted to be a spectator at the Opens again.”

Ryan was always a hard worker and continuously improved from the moment he broke seven minutes in the 500-yard freestyle at Wappingers Falls in New York, but after he intensified his training by joining the elite Wilton Wahoos age group program, he made an almost staggering leap forward in ability.

“After every big meet, he turned up his level of interest more and more,” said coach Reiff, “but it was really drastic from last year to this year. I think he realized the responsibility of being a captain and really wanted to swim at the next level. He wasn’t willing to settle anymore.”

Ryan added, “Coach said a lot of the weight of the team would be on my shoulders and that I would have to work hard. I think I embraced that.”

Ryan’s transformation in the pool, and on the deck, helped lead the Nighthawks to one of their most successful seasons ever – a 12-3 record, a third-place finish in the South-West Conference meet, and several swimmers standing on the brink of a CIAC State Open appearance.

And let’s not forget the school records.

Three school records were broken in the 1999-2000 season . . . and Ryan was part of two that were broken during the SWC meet. First, he anchored the 200 medley relay team which finally surpassed a record it had sought all season with an incredible time of 1:45.98 and, in the very next event, he broke a 25-year-old record in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:51.82.

The relay record may resonate in him even more, though.

“To score really well in a relay is a great feeling,”_he said. “You never want to let the team down and you get a real sense of pride, performing on a different level.”

For Ryan, it was an incredible performance – the motivation for which came a couple weeks earlier, in a dual meet loss to Pomperaug. Ryan remembered, “It was a tough loss against Pomperaug and I lost to two kids who had had worse times than me. I was racing these two kids again and I wasn’t going to lose again.”

Coach Reiff is not surprised by the attitude. “Ryan is one of the most fierce competitors I have ever known. He hates losing and doesn’t accept anything less of himself than winning. What makes him special is his unwillingness to settle.”

Which is why Ryan looks at his 50.85 in the 100 freestyle and his 1:51.82 in the 200 freestyle and somehow sees a way to touch the pad even faster. “You can always pick apart things you do,” said Ryan. “I’m aiming for 49 (seconds in the 100).”

It wasn’t long ago that Ryan would literally jump out of the pool after a good swim and give coach Reiff a hug but with this transformation of his came that single-minded intensity that won’t allow him to accept losing a race – even in practice. Ryan always wants to be better, always feels he can be better, and be it in practice or in a meet, he is always, always wants to win. It is a credit to the uncommon desire he has brought to this sport – and the team.

“He is a kid,” said coach Reiff, “who, for four years, has given this team his heart and soul. He is a wonderful person and wonderful leader for this team. He is one of those kids who makes it all worthwhile.”

Ryan didn’t have many goals when he first joined the team four years ago, but he made some along the way and now that his high school career is almost over, he can look back with quite a bit of satisfaction.

“I can look back and say that I’ve had four great years,” said Ryan. “I was part of a relay that broke a 20-year-old record and now I have (an individual) record of my own.”

But . . . ?

“But it’s a little sad, too,” he added, “because I wished I had cherished it more.”

There will be plenty of time to do that, though, even as he heads out next fall to Division III Dickinson College in Carlysle, Pennsylvania to continue the RYAN EBERTS PROJECT and his already phenomenal transformation in the sport of swimming.