COLUMBIA, Ky. – Small but mighty is a good way to describe the Lindsey Wilson College swimming program’s recent historic performance at the NAIA Swimming and Diving National Championships, held March 5-8 in Elkhart, Indiana.
The Lindsey Wilson women’s swimming team finished third in the nation, the best in program history, despite competing with one of the smaller qualifying teams at the national competition.
During the four-day meet, the seven Blue Raider women who qualified for the national competition combined for six individual and relay national titles and received two national honors: a national title was earned in the 200-yard freestyle relay; graduate student Maaike Broersma of Bodegraven, Netherlands, won the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke and the 200-yard backstroke; junior Kirsten de Goede of Durban, South Africa, won the 100- and 200-yard freestyle; Broersma was named NAIA Outstanding Swimmer for the second consecutive year; and Lindsey Wilson coach Alicia Kemnitz was named NAIA Women’s Head Coach of the Year for the first time in her career.
The Lindsey Wilson men’s team also turned in an impressive performance during the four-day meet, which was held at the Beacon Health Elkhart Aquatic Center. The Blue Raider men, who finished seventh overall with seven swimmers, notched four individual All-American finishes on the final day of the meet and two All-American relay performances.
A host of Lindsey Wilson program and national records, on the men’s and women’s side, were also set at the national meet.
Women’s history
But it was the Lindsey Wilson women’s team, on International Women’s Day on March 8, that wrote a new chapter in Blue Raider swimming history. In the final event of the 44th NAIA women’s national meet, the 400-yard yard freestyle relay, the Lindsey Wilson quartet of Broersma, de Goede, sophomore Natalia Gorska of Skierniewice, Poland, and freshman Nathalie Medina of Caracas, Venezuela, finished in second place, 2:28 seconds behind the Keiser University team from Florida.
That secured the Blue Raiders a third-place overall team finish in the meet, the best in Lindsey Wilson history. Lindsey Wilson finished the national meet with 351 points; national champion Keiser scored 636.50 points, and national runner-up St. Thomas University of Florida had 429.50 points.
“We’re really happy with both sides, especially because we had one of the smaller teams there. So being able to finish third in women and seventh in men with seven men and seven women is pretty remarkable,” said Kemnitz, who has been head coach of Lindsey Wilson’s swimming program for 15 years, making her the second-longest tenured coach in the NAIA.
A full roster at the national meet is 18 swimmers. Keiser’s 17 swimmers was the most any team had qualify for the women’s national championships.
Blood, sweat and tears
“It was a little bit of a hot-and-cold meet,” said Kemnitz. “There were a lot of different emotions and a lot of extreme ups-and-downs. From moment to moment, you’re riding these really high highs, and then two minutes later you’re consoling someone who has put everything they have in their event and are upset because they have not gotten a goal time. … In a lot of ways it makes me more proud of what both teams did because we had to battle for every point we got.”
In addition to the sweat and tears, the Blue Raiders’ performance at the national meet also included a little blood. That occurred when Gorska, who was Lindsey Wilson’s leadoff swimmer in the 400-yard yard freestyle relay, developed a nosebleed during the introduction of the swimmers but officials didn’t notice it.
“She gets this really bad nosebleed,” said Kemnitz. “The swimmers don’t know what to do, the officials didn’t see it. So literally she’s dripping blood down her leg from her nose and leads off the 100 free for us. I’m just so proud of her for how she pushed through it. … It was like a Saturday night movie.”
The first title
Lindsey Wilson’s first national title came on the second day of the meet, March 6, when the Blue Raiders’ won the women’s 200-yard freestyle relay. Overall it was the swimming program’s fifth relay national title, men’s or women’s.
And Kemnitz said it was one of the sweeter relay national titles because it came over Keiser. The Blue Raiders tied the Seahawks with six national overall titles at the four-day meet.
“That was probably the highlight of my coaching career and probably one of the best moments of my entire life,” said Kemnitz. “Keiser is so good and such a strong team. They typically win every relay at nationals, so any time another time can slip in and beat them in a relay, it’s just a really big deal on deck. If anyone beats Keiser in a relay, everyone erupts. It’s no small feat to beat them in anything, especially in a relay.”
The magical moment was also not lost on Kemnitz and assistant Lindsey Wilson coaches, Tyler King and Annissa Koekemoer.
“After the event I was standing in a different spot than my assistants,” said Kemnitz. “So they started walking towards me, and I was kind of walking towards them, and we just did a big group hug.”
A big reason for the Lindsey Wilson women’s historic top-three finish was because of the program’s high level of camaraderie and esprit de corps.
“I just feel like we’re one big team that supports each other all the time. I love that,” said Broersma. “It’s incredible to finish third in the country with just seven girls competing. I’m so proud of us.”
In addition to being the most decorated Lindsey Wilson swimmer in program history, Broersma’s nine career NAIA national titles made her the seventh women’s swimmer in NAIA history to win at least three NAIA titles more than once in their career.
“It’s amazing,” she said “Obviously, it was in the back of my mind before this national championship, but I just wanted to enjoy it because it was my last college competition ever. I’m really honored I got to help the team.”
PHOTO – Members of the Lindsey Wilson College men’s and women’s swimming teams take a selfie photo at the NAIA Swimming and Diving National Championships, held March 5-8 in Elkhart, Indiana.
Men’s team, alphabetically: Ethan Butler ’27 of of Mason, Ohio; Clinton Eales ’27 of Port Elizabeth, South Africa; Fabio Martin Rojo ’25 of Valladolid, Spain; Dario Soria ’27 of Zaragoza, Spain; Dan Spinola ’28 of Salvador, Brazil; Max van Schagen ’26 of Voorhout, Netherlands; and Sergio Ybarra ’28 of San Felipe, Venezuela.
Women’s team, alphabetically: graduate student Maaike Broersma of Bodegraven, Netherlands; Natascha Evreinoff ’25 of Asuncion, Paraguay; Kirsten de Goede ’26 of Durban, South Africa; Natalia Gorska ’27 of Skierniewice, Poland; Nathalie Medina ’28 of Caracas, Venezuela; Sara Motyl ’26 of Lodz, Poland; and Emma Verkuijl ’27 of Moordrecht, Netherlands.
PHOTO – Members of the Lindsey Wilson College women’s swimming team take a selfie photo with their third-place trophy at the NAIA Swimming and Diving National Championships, held March 5-8 in Elkhart, Indiana.
Pictured, alphabetically: graduate student Maaike Broersma of Bodegraven, Netherlands; Natascha Evreinoff ’25 of Asuncion, Paraguay; Kirsten de Goede ’26 of Durban, South Africa; Natalia Gorska ’27 of Skierniewice, Poland; Nathalie Medina ’28 of Caracas, Venezuela; Sara Motyl ’26 of Lodz, Poland; and Emma Verkuijl ’27 of Moordrecht, Netherlands.
(Duane Bonifer – Lindsey Wilson College)