It’s official: Harvard’s Dean Farris has announced his plans to take an Olympic redshirt for the 2019-2020 NCAA season. For the next 14 months, Farris will focus exclusively on long course training and competition. In addition to his new focus on long course, Farris will also utilize a new home pool at the University of Texas under the guidance of Eddie Reese. Harvard head coach Kevin Tyrrell and Associate head coach Sam Pitter will remain in close contact with Farris, making occasional trips to Austin over the course of the next year.

According to Tyrrell, Farris’ incredible performances at the 2019 NCAA Championships were the culmination of a three-year process that cemented their decision to redshirt the 2019-2020 season. Tyrrell’s full interview on Farris’ upcoming year of training with the Longhorn men can be found here.

As for Farris, the next year until Olympic Trials is about growth, training alongside, and learning from some of the fastest swimmers and best coaches in the world. Of course, making the Olympic Team is the dream, but placing either top-2 or top-6 in any one of his primary events at Trials cannot be the only metric for success. See Farris’ full interview below: