Photo by Sam Thiel The Don Palm Natatorium is home to the SMSU women’s swimming and diving program, which was reinstated last spring.

MARSHALL — For the most part, all has been relatively quiet at the Don Palm Natatorium. Despite being the host for the Marshall girls swimming team and other aquatic activities, the pool at Southwest Minnesota State University hasn’t had a collegiate experience in several decades.

On May 14, that all changed. This weekend, a new era begins.

For the first time in nearly 40 years, Southwest Minnesota State University will have a competitive swimming and diving program, as the women’s team kicks off its inaugural season after being reinstated last spring.

First-year Mustangs coach Marty Wahle said they’re excited to get the season officially underway.

“I think we’re excited; they’ve been training really hard for about six weeks and have only been swimming against each other, so I think the fact that they’re going to go and compete against other people is exciting,” Wahle said.

A familiar return

Wahle is no stranger to swimming in southern Minnesota. He spent his collegiate career at Minnesota State University, Mankato, where he was a decorated swimmer for the Mavericks. Wahle earned NCAA Division II All-American honors 16 times and was also named the Most Valuable Male Athlete in 2008-09. He was also the NSIC Swimmer of the Year in 2008 and 2009 and a two-time Scholar All-American.

Wahle said his time with the Mavericks definitely helped prepare him to take on the challenges of the tough NSIC conference and see success.

“I feel like I know what it takes to be sucessful in the NSIC and then also at the national level,” Wahle said. “I wasn’t super well recruited out of high school but then I came to Mankato and did some really cool things during four years time; became conference champ, All-American, so I kind of know the talent that we need and what it takes to be successful in this conference even though I’ve been away from it for a while.”

After his time at Mankato, Wahle got his coaching career started at Misericordia University in Pennsylvania as an assistant coach. He then went on to become the head coach at Ripon College in Wisconsin and Hendrix College in Arkansas. During his time as coach, he helped teams set 96 school records in total and place some of its highest finishes in several years.

Wahle said when he received the call about SMSU’s new program, he knew it was a great opportunity to come back to a familiar area that he’s known since he was a kid.

“I became familiar with Minnesota over the years, we used to come up here and vacation a little further North when I was a kid. I also went to MSU Mankato for my undergrad, so I was familiar with what used to be the NCC and a lot of those teams joined the NSIC when North Dakota and South Dakota left,” Wahle said. “It was just an opportunity to get back to the conference that I used to be in and to be back in Minnesota and the opportunity to coach and build a brand new Division II team.”

As all coaches and players have to endure when joining a new team, Wahle said just getting to know his new team has been the easiest part of his transition to SMSU while the biggest adjustment has been getting used to a new area and the overall challenges of starting a program from scratch.

“The easy and most fun part is working with these guys. As they were committing to the team last winter, spring and during the summer, they were all reaching out to one another, so they had a really good relationship before they even came to SMSU and that’s made my job a lot easier,” Wahle said. “The most challenging part is just getting used to a new place and how they do things. Division II compliance, brushing up on NCAA rules and just the overall challenges that come with bringing a program from the ground up. So many things that I never thought of that I’ve had to do, so it’s been a long process, but it’s been really fun and challenging.”

Even though they will have their fair share of ups and downs throughout the season, Wahle added if they can get a couple of victories under their belts this year and show improvement, it’ll be a successful first year as a program.

“I think we want to try and win at least one swim meet. For a brand new team, that’s a big deal if you can put together one or two wins in your first year, that’s a pretty big accomplishment,” Wahle said. “We also want to place people pretty high at the conference meet, so if we can get a lot of people swimming at finals for individuals and relays, that would be a pretty big deal. And we want to try and beat at least one team in the conference at the conference meet; we’re at eighth right now, so if we can get seventh in conference or maybe do a little bit better, that would be a big accomplishment for us right now.”

New kids on the

(starting) block

With a new program comes of course a brand new roster. This year’s group includes senior Kristen Johnston, junior Gaby Reis and freshmen Ellie Anselment, Natalie Bohnert, Annika Freiburger, Madi Hubert, MacKenzie Kallevig, Megan Nelson and Addi Schroeder.

Bohnert and Nelson were also named “Athletes to Watch” in the NSIC Preseason polls.

Nelson is the only diver on the roster after graduating from Dassel-Cokato, where she was a three-time state qualifier and earned a ninth place finish in 2017 and a 12 place finish last season.

“I was looking at different schools and my high school coach said ‘Well this team it’s the first year that they’re having a team, you might as well go look at it'”, Nelson said. “This is the only school I actually looked at and just everything about this school and having a spot on the team was a big plus because there are no other divers right now, so it’s nice.”

Nelson added it’s pretty special to be making some history already.

“It’s really cool,” she said. “And being the first diver I feel makes even a bigger statement.”

Nelson added she has high expectations for herself in her first season with the Mustangs.

“I’m setting the bar high, I want to make it to nationals,” Nelson said. “We’re going to have to get 11 dives on each board because that’s what you need for nationals, so hopefully I can do that and make nationals.”

As one of the two upperclassmen, Reis said she’s quickly embracing the leadership role and is ready to not only share her experiences with college swimming but also learn from her teammates as well.

“I really like the more experience position; I just turned 22 and they’re all 18 or 19, so there’s a nice gap where I can help with whatever I know,” Reis said. “I know I have to learn a lot too, but I have two years of experience at another college as a swimmer so I think that will help the entire team.”

Reis, who transfered to SMSU after two years at Iowa Lakes Community College, also wasn’t aware they were going to have a swim and dive team when she contacted the Mustangs, but was excited to join the team.

“I didn’t know there was swimming team here; I actually got into first contact with this school because it was a very good price,” Reis said. “The admissions office told me there was going to be a swim team, so I was very excited. I came here to visit and I really like how Marty received me.”

Even though this is their first season together, Nelson said she feels like she’s known all of her teammates her entire life.

“It’s been super good, we’re all really close. Being a small team, we all get along well and a lot of us are roomates together, so we’re with each other a lot,” Nelson said. “Before the season even started, most of the girls are from out of state, so we were talking months before so that we could know each other so that once we met each other, it was like we’ve known each other forever.”

Setting history

SMSU has a rich and proud tradition with its swimming teams, as the school sponsored men’s and women’s programs during the 1970s. During that time, SMSU won five straight NIC championships on the men’s side and hosted the NAIA Men’s National Championships four times.

Wahle said it’s pretty special to be able to have a swimming and diving team back on campus and knows even though they are still without a men’s program for the time being, he hopes the community will come out and support the women’s team.

“It’s a big deal; I know that a lot of people are sad that men’s swimming was eliminated, but I think they’re here to support our women’s team and I think they’re just happy that we have a team here now,” Wahle said. “I think it’s a big deal for them to see that swimming’s back and that the pool’s getting used again. There’s a lot of history in here; if these walls could talk, they would say some pretty cool things. Down the road, there’s a really good chance that other programs throughout the country will begin to add men’s swimming and so it’s not that it’s totally out of the conversation, but I guess we’ll deal with that when the time comes.”

SMSU joins seven other schools in the NSIC, with Augustana, the University of Mary, MSU Mankato, Northern State, St. Cloud State and Sioux Falls.

Reis said they’re aren’t really feeling the nerves of being the new team in the conference.

“People are expecting a lot from us but at the same time, we’re not very nervous and are excited to be the first ones to do everything for the first time,” Reis said.

Up next

The Mustangs opened their season on Friday in Mankato, with MSU defeating the Mustangs 192-74.

Today, SMSU will hold its home opener against Iowa Lakes Community College, with the meet beginning at 1 p.m.

Reis said as they head into the rest of their season, she’s looking forward to watching their team grow and make great strides.

“I think we need to continue to grow up as a team and be able to work well in relays and show people that we are good even though we have only a few people swimming,” Reis said. “I think we can do a lot of big things although we’re a small team for this season.”