Arthur Frayler Leads Florida Distance Group In Fran Crippen Tribute Swim

University of Florida Fran Crippen memorial swim 2015

Photo Courtesy: University of Florida

Friday marked the five-year anniversary of the death of Fran Crippen, the popular open water swimmer who affected the lives of many before his untimely passing in a race in 2010. Many took to social media to honor Crippen, but former teammate Arthur Frayler wanted to do more.

Frayler and Crippen are alumni of Germantown Academy and Richard Shoulberg’s intense training program. Frayler was viewed as a successor of sorts to Crippen, making that official in his senior year of high school by taking down Crippen’s school record in the 500 freestyle with a 4:17.96. Frayler is now a junior at the University of Florida, where he has been one of the school’s top distance swimmers since his arrival there.

On Friday, Frayler came up with a special “Fran Crippen Memorial Set” that would honor Crippen’s hardworking mentality while also challenging his fellow Florida distance swimmers. The goal: 105×100-yard swims on a 1:00 interval.

Frayler enlisted teammates Ben Lawless, Max Bungert, Mitch D’Arrigo, Justin Kaisrlik, Alejandro Gomez and Blake Manganiello for the set, with the rest of the Gator squad eventually cheering them on from the side of the pool.

“I decided to do that particular workout because at Germantown we always loved doing sets of 100s,” Frayler said. “I did them a lot with Fran when we trained together, along with many other sets. In my mind, I knew 100s were what I wanted to do on that Friday.”

By the 86th repeat, Frayler and Manganiello were the only ones who hadn’t stopped for a break. After number 87, Manganiello tapped out. Frayler wasn’t deterred and continued to make the interval as others rejoined the set. Everything was going so well that Frayler decided to do five more, and stopped at 110. As you can see at the end of the video below, Frayler was overjoyed at completing the set.

“Being able to honor Fran with a set like that feels great,” Frayler said. “For me though it wasn’t about making 110 of them. It was about pushing myself as much as possible the way Fran always did. It worked out to be a very good set for me, but the part I’m most proud about is how my teammates stepped up and did the challenge with me.

“I think about Fran everyday along with many other people in the swimming community. I think he would have enjoyed what happened on deck for that set.”

Florida Gators’ “Fran Crippen Memorial Set” Video

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Karin LaBerge

8 years ago

Kudos Arthur! Fran would be very pleased indeed.

Ron Corlis Teare

8 years ago

EXCELLENT!!

Theodore Wesley Glocker

8 years ago

Shawn Delifus here is a work out for your team.