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An Associated Press photographer captured Whitney Metzler of Dallastown during the women’s 400 Individual Medley event at the 1996 U.S. Olympic Trials. Metzler went on to finish in eighth place at the Olympics. Metzler became an attorney in York. (See photo below.) Background posts: Lineup full of stars with York County links, Olympic gold medalist Scott Strausbaugh another achiever with Dover links and Who were the most prominent York County athletes of the 20th century?.
York County has produced many star athletes, but not that many Olympians in recent years.
There were those decades that weightlifters from York Barbell were kings of that sport. About 40 lifters, coaches or trainers with ties to York Barbell went to the Olympics, and earned 11 gold medals.
And, according to the York Daily Record/Sunday News sports department, Hans Gerhard Boetzelen won a silver in 1932 in rowing (double sculls).
And Robert Sohl won a bronze in 1948 for the 200-meter breaststroke.
And Linda Myers picked up a fifth and seventh places in 1972 and 1976, respectively.
Recently, the county has produced two medalists.
Scott Strausbaugh picked up a gold in canoeing in the 1990s.
And the most recent participant, Whitney Metzler, finished eighth in swimming in 1996.
Now, Whitney Metzler is back in Central Pa… .

Whitney Metzler in 2008.
After the Olympics, an injury cut short Metzler’s career in competitive swimming. But she gained a law degree and signed on to practice at a York firm, as this York Daily Record/Sunday News story suggests:

As she spoke, Whitney Metzler Krosse was in a new office, talking on a phone that had been hers for only two weeks.
Her two sons were at her parents’ house. Most of her possessions were packed up.
“Why is it every major life event happens around the Olympics?” Krosse said.
It’s a good question.
In 1996, at age 18, months after graduating from Dallastown Area High School, Whitney Metzler swam to an eighth-place finish in the 400 meter individual medley at the Olympics in Atlanta.
In 2000, after graduating from the University of Florida, she started law school at Pace University.
In August 2004, she got married and picked up a new last name.
Now, she’s coming home.
Two weeks ago, she started a job at the law firm Barley Snyder LLC. On Monday, while this year’s Olympic swimming trials are going on, Krosse expects to settle on a new house back in York County. She hopes to be moved in by the Fourth of July.
With two sons under the age of three, Lane and Reed, Krosse and her husband wanted to be closer to family and find a more relaxed lifestyle. She started looking for the right fit professionally a year ago and started speaking with Barley Snyder in January.
“I really didn’t think I was going to come back because I was living outside Manhattan,” Krosse said. “Culturally, I loved it. I loved the pace of everything.
“What I didn’t like was maybe, maybe getting home to put my kids to bed one day a week. And that’s standard with New York City
law firms.”
Two hour-long commutes will be replaced with a 10-minute ride home. If she has to work late, Krosse said, she’ll be able to stop home for dinner.
Her mother, Barbara Metzler, said she is excited her daughter and grandchildren are back in the area.
“We’ve been hoping they would come back to the area for a while,” Metzler said. “I think she found the quality of life in York County was superior to other areas.”
Krosse’s days as a competitive swimmer are behind her. A shoulder injury ended her career after her sophomore year at Florida. She follows the careers of Michael Phelps, Amanda Beard and a few others, but she no longer knows all the Olympic hopefuls.
Instead, she focuses on her family and her career.
At her New York firm, Greenberg Traurig LLP, she specialized in corporate securities litigation, mainly involving brokerage houses. At Barley Snyder, she will branch out, doing other kinds of business and real estate litigation.
The first time partners from Barley Snyder sat down with Krosse, they didn’t realize her full Olympic pedigree, partner Jeff Lobach said. They were impressed by her personality and litigation skills, Lobach said, and put two and two together later on.
Still, her background didn’t hurt.
“We’re not going to be asking her to do a whole lot of swimming here, but there is something about Olympic athletes and other people who have achieved great things that you know they can be extremely dedicated,” Lobach said.
Because she has never practiced in Pennsylvania, Krosse will have to sit for the bar exam at the end of July.
She’s studying about four hours a night but said she’s not nervous.
“It’s a test,” Crosse said. “I do well under pressure.”
WHITNEY METZLER KROSSE
— Age: 30
— Family: Husband, Brett Krosse, sons, Lane, 2, and Reed, 15 months
— Education: Graduated Dallastown Area High School in 1996, undergraduate degree from the University of Florida and Pace University Law School.
— Athletic career: She swam to an eighth-place finish in the 400 meter individual medley at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. During those games, she turned in the second-fastest qualifying heat. A shoulder injury forced her to give up competitive swimming two years later.

AT THE TRIALS
Who might follow in Whitney Metzler Krosse’s footsteps?
A number of area swimmers are competing at the U.S. Olympic team trials from Sunday through July 6 in Omaha, Neb.
Among those trying to earn a spot on the team that will go to Beijing are Spring Grove High School graduate Michele King; Hanover teenager Andrea Staub; Bermudian Springs and University of Pittsburgh graduate Kristin Brown; York Suburban High School rising junior Julia Kucherich and Gettysburg High School graduate Tricia Weaner.
King and Weaner attend the University of Tennessee and swim for the Volunteers.