Debating doing College Swimming... Never Swam Competitively

Here is the low down guys. I am a Sophomore at a pretty average division 1 university. I am a member of the cross country and indoor/outdoor track teams so i have been competitively racing for almost 6 years. I have never swam on a team before but... I want to! I feel as if I've gone mad. I want to try in college!! Next year, not this year, I need to get my base up i know that. off of 2 swims a week (500yards) i swim 500 yards free in 7:48 as of yesterday (you dont need to tell me how slow that is I already know). I am not afraid of hard work, swimming 2+ hours a day I can do that. I want to try! can anyone tell me what I need to do to see if i can get to around 5 flat in the 500 yard free? or a fast 1000 time it doesn't matter, just good enough to walk on the team. the weird thing is, i think I am a better swimmer than I am a runner. the pool just seems to click for me. can anyone help me out? I am willing to swim every day from now till next swim season to make this dream a reality! ...ps i'm a guy if that matters Go for it. But you need to train with a team. Talk to the coach at your school and ask if there is room for you to participate in parts of their workouts without getting in the way. If not, find a nearby USMS or US Swimming club to join. Then next year, you may be ale to walk-on your college team. At many universities, if you can survive the workouts, you're on the team. Regarding your goal 500, I started swimming at age 14. 8 months later, I did a 5:41 500. One year later was 5:11.

Here is the low down guys. I am a Sophomore at a pretty average division 1 university. I am a member of the cross country and indoor/outdoor track teams so i have been competitively racing for almost 6 years. I have never swam on a team before but... I want to! I feel as if I've gone mad. I want to try in college!! Next year, not this year, I need to get my base up i know that. off of 2 swims a week (500yards) i swim 500 yards free in 7:48 as of yesterday (you dont need to tell me how slow that is I already know). I am not afraid of hard work, swimming 2+ hours a day I can do that. I want to try! can anyone tell me what I need to do to see if i can get to around 5 flat in the 500 yard free? or a fast 1000 time it doesn't matter, just good enough to walk on the team. the weird thing is, i think I am a better swimmer than I am a runner. the pool just seems to click for me. can anyone help me out? I am willing to swim every day from now till next swim season to make this dream a reality! ...ps i'm a guy if that matters Go for it. But you need to train with a team. Talk to the coach at your school and ask if there is room for you to participate in parts of their workouts without getting in the way. If not, find a nearby USMS or US Swimming club to join. Then next year, you may be ale to walk-on your college team. At many universities, if you can survive the workouts, you're on the team. Regarding your goal 500, I started swimming at age 14. 8 months later, I did a 5:41 500. One year later was 5:11.