Lafayette senior Walker Kale, co-captain of the Rams’ boys swim team that placed second in the state last winter, recently signed on to swim for Ferrum College in the fall.
Kale, who has also swam eight years for the Williamsburg Aquatic Club and 10 years for the Windsor Forest Frogs summer swim team, specializes in the 500 and 200 freestyle events.
He qualified for states in the 500 after placing fifth at the 3A East Region meet last season and will carry a personal-best time of 5 minutes, 30 seconds with him to Ferrum.
Kale, who lettered all four years at Lafayette, said a combination of factors played into his decision but he was mostly drawn to Ferrum’s coach, Tom Calomeris, with whom he is pictured above.
“He’s a well-known coach who’s coached at a lot of colleges and is just really knowledgeable about the sport,” Kale said of Calomeris, who coached at Catholic University from 1987 to 2004 and won two National Catholic School Division III championships in 1994-95 when he was named the national Coach of the Year.
Kale, who is the older brother of Lafayette junior swimmer Carter Kale, was also intrigued by the idea of helping lay the foundation for a new program.
Ferrum adopted a swimming program two years ago and is coming off its first year competing at the Division III level.
“They’re looking for me and a couple of other guys who are coming in (next season) to help build the program and get it going in the right direction,” said Kale, who plans to study horticulture and landscape design.
