Athletic Background
My experience as an athlete has shaped everything I do from my understanding of physiology to my coaching philosophy.
Swimming – Where it all started
I started swimming on a cold, rainy June evening in 2008 at Whitford Country Club. I was barely swimming in a straight line across the pool, and yet that day I got a “fire in my belly” that has not faded to this day.
As I grew up, I keep swimming Whitford and in the YMCA system in southeast Pennsylvania. I would go on to win multiple regional, state, and national titles individually and on relay teams from 2014-2020.
I would go on to swim for the Penn State Nittany Lions from 2020-2024. College swimming was one of the great joys of my life. I would meet many of my best friends and get to live out experiences that young Ben would have only dreamed of… but I struggled… a lot. Throughout my time at PSU, I would deal with some difficult relationships, doubt from myself and others, and enough injuries to inspire a career studying them. Swimming is a brutal sport in a lot of ways, but tons of training volume over 16 years took a toll on my body which ultimately ended my career. I was able to swim at my final conference meet and hang up the goggles one last time with my head held high, but it was a bittersweet end. I am incredibly grateful for my swimming career setting me on my path, but went into retirement with unfinished business.
Career Accomplishments
- Big Ten Conference Finalist – 100 Breaststroke (2023)
- 3x NCAA Championship Qualifying Times – 100 Breaststroke (2022-2024)
- 3x Academic All-American (2022-2024)
- 4x YMCA National Champion (200/400 Medley Relays, 2018-2019)
Track Cycling – New beginnings
I got hip surgery on the day of what would have been my final shot at competing at NCAAs, watching my teammates compete without me from my bed not being able to walk… not the way I had dreamed that meet would go. My swimming career was over, I had no clue what was next, but knew I wanted to compete again.
I bought my first road bike a week after graduating from Penn State. I was cleared to do low-impact exercise by my surgeons and I thought cycling would be a fun way to get outside and get some movement. Turns out I loved it. I brought my bike when I moved to Texas and rode almost every day, but eventually got the itch to compete again. I knew that road racing probably wasn’t a good bet for me, as I had just spent an entire swimming career getting made fun of for a comical inability to complete races longer than 60 seconds. Then I learned there was a velodrome in Houston thought it could be fun to give it a try.
Believe it or not, exactly a year after the surgery that ended my swimming career, I took my intro class at Alkek Velodrome and have been hooked ever since. I quickly rose through the ranks and by the end of my first year had been consistently competing in and winning pro/elite level events and was hungry for more. I joined Edge Cycling in 2025 and now compete regularly in USA Cycling and UCI competitions around the US and soon, around the world.
Track cycling has been the second chance I was dreaming of, and I’m looking forward to seeing how far it goes… and hopefully winning a few jerseys while I’m at it ;)
Next Race
USA Cycling Elite Track Nationals - August 20-23, 2026