by Sam Anderson
For our next preseason overview, we are breaking down Division II Saint Cloud State. Long-time coach Jeff Hegle has brought both the men’s and women’s teams to numerous championships in their conferences since the 2001-2002 season, and we spoke about how the team is reloading, and continuing a unique leadership structure that contributes to the standard of success St. Cloud State has developed.
First, Hegle mentioned some of the graduates that will especially be missed, which included athletes making an impact at the national level. These individuals included Abe Townley, 4th in the nation for Division II men in 2023 with a 19.3 50 Freestyle time, top scorer for the women’s team Olivia Travis, along with prominent sprinters Ashton Hobza and Alaina Friske, and finally Meredith Matchinsky, 5th place finisher at the national level for diving. When talking about losing them and the rest of the class of 2023, Hegle said, “It’s always difficult not only because the seniors end up performing well because they understand where they need to be and how to train well and what to expect from competitions, but the leadership they show through their academics and how much they’ve grown individually always helps.”
However, St. Cloud State has recruited well for the coming season, with 13 men and 12 women, a large class that will continue to uphold the success of the team. Most notably, Hegle mentioned Jimmy Nord who is a state champion diver, as well as a strong group of sprinters on both the men’s and women’s side. That means despite the loss of the aforementioned graduating sprinters, expect St. Cloud State to stay fast in the short events. “Even when we lose a lot of points like we did on the women’s and men’s side, they’ll definitely be able to come in and replace those points for us,” stated Hegle.
In terms of leadership, St. Cloud State has one of the more unique systems, employing a council with representatives from each class beyond the freshmen. This allows for more seamless transitions each year and a unified vision across every grade level. Hegle told me, “We have what’s called a leadership council, and so what our leadership council consists of is each gender and each grade level selects two individuals that they feel would represent themselves and their teammates well.”
This means two from each gender from the sophomores, juniors, and seniors, in addition to three more picked by the coaches whom they think will be impactful. “We have a wide range of leaders because we have a large team, and so we feel like this helps to represent everybody on the team and with making decisions,” said Hegle. This group meets regularly to converse about all sorts of happenings, which range from team events to community service, and help keep the goals of the team prominent throughout the large group of athletes. The names of these individuals selected for the coming season will be attached at the end of this report.
Finally, Hegle spoke about the teams commitment to academics and some of the other big events during their season. For academics, he said, “They understand the balance of athletics and academics, my women’s team GPA was a 3.56 last semester, and the men’s was 3.10, so they do a very good job of understanding the importance of doing well in school, but still what it takes to be competitive and to do well in the pool.”
As for training and meets, St. Cloud State also takes a training trip to Puerto Rico for a balance of extremely difficult practices but great weather and fun, and hosts a midseason meet in Rochester with a wide assortment of schools, which is treated as a championship of sorts that many teams taper, shave, and suit up for. “We usually have about 12 teams, Division One, Division Two, Division Three, and even some junior college teams that attend… so it’s just an opportunity for kids to have lots of good swims halfway through the season to see where they’re at,” stated Hegle.
St. Cloud State is always a team to look out for to see fast swims and top finishes in big meets, and a strong recruiting class combined with their unique but solid leadership system will continue to propel that team forward this season.
2023-2024 St. Cloud State Swim and Dive Leadership Council
Women
- Molly Arneson
- Kara Cowell
- Kailey Fossell
- Natalie Gneiser
- Elle Kaiser
- Gabby LeCaptain
- Ella Sieber
Men
- Mason Beck
- Cade Rosenwald
- Jacob Andreasen
- Bobby Garland
- Raf Hendriks
- Charlie Koebele
- Payton Rudeen
- TJ Van Stein