GROVE CITY — Good news and bad news for the Grove City College men's swimming team next year.

The bad news? Caleb Courage won't be returning to the Wolverines program next winter?

The good news? He'll be training for next summer's United States Olympic Trials. And, he will return for his senior year in 2008-09.

Courage qualified in the 100-meter freestyle and the 50-meter freestyle at the recent USA Swimming National Championships, which were held on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis.

The 6-foot-6, 220-pound Courage had a time of 51.53 seconds in the 100 preliminaries. The Olympic trials standard was 51.59. In the 50 preliminaries, Courage had a 23.31, then a 23.35 in the finals. The qualifying time was 23.49.

The timing worked out well for Courage, who hoped to make the cuts before the summer was over.

"I didn't want to work hard at it," said Courage, who hails from Shippensburg. "It's only the fourth long-course meet I've done, an Ultra Meet in Charlotte (N.C.) and two others at Auburn (University), then this big meet.

"I was real close to qualifying in the 50 at another meet," said Courage. "I was confident I could get it in the 50. I thought in the 100 I was lagging compared to the 50."

Grove City College coach Dave Fritz never doubted Courage's ability that he could qualify, but you never know what can happen, he said.

Still, Fritz has seen firsthand the way Courage approaches his sport.

He'll do anything to drop his times," said Fritz. "He's very efficient in the water. Frequently, swimmers move their arms faster, but Caleb's taking two strokes to everyone's three.

"His arms are long and he uses them like a lever. Granted, he has to pull his body through, but he's strong and he uses his strength well," Fritz added.

Courage, the first Wolverine to qualify for the Olympic trials, qualified in the 100 on July 31, then turned around and qualified in the 50 four days later.

The Olympic Trials will be held at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb. June 30-July 7, 2008.

To train this summer was a different experience for Courage, an 11-time all-American for the Wolverines.

"If I'm thinking about my development at the end of nationals, I'd be at my plateau," said Courage. "I've never swam in the summer or the offseason. I think I've dropped a considerable amount of time.

"It's supposed to get harder and harder the closer you get to the finals,"he added.

"To be honest, I can see him getting a good bit faster," said Fritz. "When it came time to train for the summer, we wanted to get him the best training we could get."

Courage is currently training with the Mecklenburg Aquatic Club in Charlotte, under the tutelage of Dick Marsh, and is one of several team members training for a possible spot on the U.S. Olympic team.

"Coach Marsh is the former coach at Auburn and he knows how to make sprinters go," said Fritz. "Caleb is working on tweaking his stroke more than concentrating on times. Once they get that going, his times will drop."

"The club itself is pretty big with about 300 kids," said Courage, "but it's the first time there's a postgrad elite group which I'm in. Coach Fritz knew about it and set me up with it.

"It's in a formative stage. I'm kind of lucky. It may grow so much in the next few years that they may not take people like me by then because I got on early on.

"It's been a privilege to train with them. They have awesome coaches and those who have been here are great,"Courage added.

For now, Courage will enjoy a little down time before he starts to gear up for Olympic-style training.

"The month of August, I'm off, since we're just done with nationals," said Courage. "School will start back for the younger kids. For a while, I'll do double practices four days a week and one practice on Wednesday or Saturday.

"It's still double what I'm used to, but it's spread out more."

Looking further down the road, Courage, the two-time defending national champion in the 100-yard freestyle, is also looking forward to returning for his senior year at Grove City.

In three years, he owns eight school records — 50, 100 and 200 freestyle, the 200, 400 and 800 free relays and the 200 and 400 medley relays — several pool and conference records as well as a three-time team MVP.

"Caleb is exceptionally humble and never takes the attitude that he's a great swimmer," said Fritz. "He wants to be part of the team and wants to improve,"Fritz added.

"I'm really excited about going back to Grove City," said Courage. "Not just to do well, but the Division III commitment to academics and athletics.

"I'd like to bring what I've learned to the team and help the team rise to the next level,"Courage added.