The Awards Banquet, held today, was at times heart-wrenching, funny, sentimental, and often downright inspirational.
The focus this year, was on the quality of our team…not just based upon the remarkable performances we had, but on the broader picture of what it means to be a swimmer and diver at the University of St. Thomas. As I told the group of about 140 swimmers, divers, parents, and family, we believe that a St. Thomas swimmer or diver is a well-rounded individual, seeking to be the best athlete they can be, while also being the best student they can be. Then, add to that a sense of involvement on campus, and top it off with a generous spirit of a young man or woman who knows what it means to give back, and you have a member of the St. Thomas swimming and diving family.
Of course, we can’t neglect the 22 new School Records we set (we actually broke existing school records 38 times, as we broke and re-broke records all season long). We can’t neglect the 69 new entries on the All-time Top 15 Performances list…or the 8 MIAC Championships…or the 4 MIAC Meet Records and 3 MIAC All-Time Records. And we need to honor our four All-Americans, and the fact that Jena Root posted the 2nd-fastest 100 Back in all of D-III swimming this year. And also that Peter Mullee, in taking 2nd in the 200 Back at Nationals, swam the 2nd fastest 200 Back in the history of D-III Men’s Swimming.
Just think for a second what that means…the 2nd fastest time swum by any woman this year in the 100 Back, and the 2nd fastest 200 Back ever swum by a man in NCAA D-III competition.
Do you know how they did it? By doing exactly what everyone else on the team did. Focusing on stroke, training at race pace, and then going out and swimming with confidence and a soul that will not be denied. Both are the wonderful by-products of hard work.
Which brings me to the theme of this year’s banquet. This year’s story included all those wonderful individual records, but it was, at its core, a story of 54 swimmers and divers. For we had, this year, a broad array of talents on the team…from record breakers to swimmers who learned flip turns in the Palace Clubhouse. But everyone was on the same page in terms of training and a willingness to place their wishes secondary to the needs of The Family, and our team’s goals.
Before the banquet, I e-mailed each team member and asked about their major, minor, campus involvment, and, “What was the highlight or most memorable moment of the season?” I haven’t done a scientific analysis yet, but I’m guessing that 95% of the team wrote about the excitement of the conference meet and the Minnesota Challenge, and how everyone swam so well, or, they wrote about watching someone else swim spectacularly well. They found joy in the success of their team and teammates. You can’t coach that kind of unselfishness, it has to come from character.
To illustrate this concept in a little more detail, the story of Tyler Chase is worth telling. Tyler is a junior distance freestyler whose work, internship, and volunteer experiences cut into his training time some, and kept him from double practices. He and senior Matt Swanson were “on the bubble” for selection to the 18-person MIAC Men’s Team, and each was swimming events where their best chance of scoring would be, in all honesty, if the entry list in one of their events thinned out some. Both had earned it, so the decision really came down to senior, or junior. I chose Matt, the senior. When I went to shake Tyler’s hand and inform him of the decision, he told me, “It’s OK…I would have asked you to take Matt, anyway.” You can’t coach that…it comes from character.
A couple of weeks later, in a vote of his teammates, Tyler was named this year’s winner of the Corbett-Walton Trophy, for Most Team Spirit. The voting wasn’t even close. Like I said, the records are nice, but athletes with generous souls are every bit as important.
The other trophy winners are:
Jerry Olson Memorial (Most Valuable)
Women: Jena Root and Rebecca Ney
Men: Peter Mullee
Most Improved Woman: Kristi Dameron
Greg Fitzpatrick Memorial (Most Improved Man): Tony Linn
Clancy Trophy (Most Team Spirit, Woman): Samantha Simon
Corbett-Walton Trophy (Most Team Spirit, Man): Tyler Chase
Dave Linn Trophy (Men’s Scholar Athlete): Pat Hangge
Kristen Murray Trophy (Women’s Scholar Athlete): 5-way Tie: Monica Beggs, Anna Kramer, Sydney Kuramoto, Rebecca Ney, and Sara Wappes.
Bob Christensen Memorial (Team Captains): Sydney Kuramoto, Jena Root, Tony Linn, John Stark
