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Rafe Dolan Peterson doesn’t consider himself to have a special gift, but he is certainly driven.

The Austin senior swimmer, who helped re-write the record books, has made his commitment to swim at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, where he will receive an athletic scholarship through the Phoenix Fund.

Dolan Peterson holds the AHS school record in the 100-yard backstroke and has a top-10 time in 10 separate events in AHS history. He is thrilled to have the opportunity to swim at the Division I level with the Phoenix.

“It means quite a bit to me because I’ve worked for it for quite a long time. It shows that anyone can do anything. I’m not the best swimmer out there or anything like that,” Dolan Peterson said. “I’m just average.”

Austin head coach Ryan Kelly has known Dolan Peterson as a swimmer ever since Dolan Peterson showed up in the 10 and under group at the YMCA. Kelly said he has seen Dolan Peterson’s work ethic grow throughout his time in the pool.

“He has become one of the best that the Packers swim and dive program has seen,” Kelly said. “Last year’s group was a family and he was one of the heads of that family. He is one of those athletes that we could have put almost anywhere and he was going to give us a great chance to win. We could have gotten him to state in any of the swimming events. Rafe is leaving some large shoes to fill for our team next fall. Looking forward, as long as he takes care of himself and can avoid injuries, I suspect he will do well at Green Bay.”

Dolan Peterson has had to sacrifice a lot of things to make the improvements, but he’s had plenty of motivation as he’s chased after his teammate and friend Logan Kelly, a junior.

“A lot of my time was dedicated to the pool, especially throughout the summer,” Dolan Peterson said. “A lot of times I had to choose swimming over hanging out with friends. Swimming meant the world to me. I’m going to have a lot of fun on my new team, but I’m never going to forget the time I had on my high school team.”

Dolan Peterson said he picked UWGB because he enjoyed spending time with the team on his visit and he likes the engineering program the school has to offer. He is also looking forward to seeing how he fares against some of the best swimmers in the nation.

“When I see what the extremely successful athletes have done like going to the Olympics that motivates me,” Dolan Peterson said. “It’s very unlikely for me, but knowing that it could be a possibility makes me keep going.”

The UWGB men’s swimming and diving team finished fifth in the seven-team Horizon League Championships this season.

LEAVING A LEGACY

Rafe Dolan Peterson has his name all over the AHS swimming and diving record books.

200-medley relay: Dolan Peterson teamed up with Logan Kelly, Trey Myers and Aaron Knoll for an AHS record time of 1:34.12.

200-freestyle: Dolan Peterson’s time of 1:49.65 is the ninth best time in AHS history.

50-freestyle: Dolan Peterson’s time of 22.38 is the eighth best in AHS history.

100-yard freestyle: Dolan Peterson’s time of 46.83 is the second best in AHS history.

200-individual medley: Dolan Peterson’s time of 2:01.64 is the second best in AHS history.

100-butterfly: Dolan Peterson’s time of 51.38 seconds is second in AHS history.

500-freestyle: Dolan Peterson’s time of 5:10.71 is the ninth best in AHS history.

200-freestyle relay relay: Dolan Peterson teamed up with Kelly, Knoll and Trey Myers for a time of 1:28.41, which is fourth best in AHS history.

100-backstroke: Dolan Peterson’s time of 52.61 seconds is the best in AHS history.

400-freestyle relay: Dolan Peterson teamed up with Knoll, Kelly and Myers for a time of 3:11.76, which is the best in AHS history.