BELOIT—Harlem High School graduate Jeremy Mueller came into the Beloit College men’s swimming and diving program with the intention of rewriting the record books.
The name Mueller is now inked in next to 13 of the Buccaneers’ individual record times.
As for the five remaining times he can still break? No worries, the freshman has three more years to smash those marks as well.
“Jeremy has an incredible work ethic,” head coach Andrew Lind said. “I can't think of more than one, maybe two practices the whole year he wasn't here for. And both of those times I told him to take the day off. When he is here, he works very hard.
“He’s also a very intelligent young man. For him to come in with the swimming IQ that he has and for him to be a very coachable athlete, it's very quick and easy for him to learn new skills or try out new techniques.”
Mueller was a standout in the NIC-10 and his skills in the pool had very little issues transferring to the collegiate level.
“The standards for freshmen are pretty low,” Mueller said. “Coming into it I knew no matter what I would do, it'd still be pretty good. With that small of a team we have, it was more working on what I could do personally to do the best for myself.”
Mueller’s records include: the 50-meter free (21.04), 100 free (45.22), 200 free (1:40.17), 500 free (4:52.12), 1,000 free (10:13.50), 1,650 free (17:11.98), 50 back (23.53), 100 back (50.70), 50 breaststroke (28.11), 50 fly (23.60), 100 fly (50.89), 100 IM (54.10), 200 IM (1:59.32) and the 400 IM (4:16.97).
His stellar frosh season wrapped up at the Midwestern Conference Championships hosted at Grinnell College, where he won the 100 and 200 free while also breaking his own school record in both events. His 45.22 in the 100 free also was a new MWC Meet record while he set marks for the Bucs in the 50 free and 100 backstroke.
“I came in really excited,” Mueller said. “I did hope to get an NCAA B cut to try to go to nationals. That didn't happen, but I was really close and I have three more years to try to get at that. I didn't come in expecting to get a meet record at conference, so that was a bit higher than the standards I'd set for myself.”
Mueller was named the MWC Newcomer of the Year, the second Buc to receive an award this year. Junior Helena Harrison was the other as she was named the MWC Diver of the Year.
“Helena has an incredibly high work ethic,” Lind said. “At home meets, she'll be here 4 or 5 hours before, warming up and practicing things that she wants to do for that competition.”
“One of the biggest things that has helped is having our dive coach, Gary (Cacciapaglia), here for a full season. He came in halfway through last year and fell in love with the program and was super excited to be back here this year.”
The Chapel Hill, North Carolina native broke her own 1M and 3M diving records several times throughout the season. Harrison broke the school mark for 3M 11 dives with a score of 369.25 at the conference championships, where she won the 1M dive with a score of 378.55.
“When I’m on the diving board, clearing my head is really important,” Harrison said. “Reminding myself to not rush things because if I rush my hurdle, my chest is too far down and that leads to not the best outcome.”
Harrison admitted that there were some nerves heading into the conference meet.
“But I was also very excited,” she said. “I was able to see some of my friends that compete in diving at other schools. We all work together in the diver community to support and uplift each other through all the hard dives that we have to go through.”
Mueller and Harrison’s awards puts a spotlight on the great amount of success Lind has had on the program in his first season as head coach.
Mueller headlined a men’s team that had just four swimmers, although Lind added that he expects a bigger team next season with a few recruits coming in.
And the women’s team went 6-0 through the dual season. While it placed seventh at the MWC Championships, all three of the program’s relay records fell along with a pair of individual ones.
“The amount of improvement they’ve all shown is amazing,” Lind said. “There were very few events at conference where people weren't hitting lifetime bests or, at the very least, hitting a season best.”
Amelia Pullen, Chelsea Woletz, Abbey Scott and Maclaryn Leonard teamed up to swim a 1:44.23 in the 200 free while Leonard, Lylah Murrah, Scott and Pullen finished the 400 medley in 4:16.45. The 400 free of Leonard, Murrah, Scott and Woletz ended in 1:55.28.
“Those athletes have swam together for at least a couple of years, but the group of upperclassmen were also extremely welcoming to the freshmen,” Lind said. “To see two of our freshmen getting up on the record board — it wouldn’t have been possible without that.”
Leonard, a graduate of Hononegah High School, broke her own 100 and 200 backstroke records with times of 1:02.69 and 2:16.24 at the MWC meet.
“Mac is someone who has given it her all every day and is very coachable,” Lind said. “To have a new coach come in and give her pointers on her backstroke races and make changes on those early on — we were able to put a lot of those technical things on the table in the first couple of weeks, and she was able just to train doing those things throughout the whole season.”
Lind added that the future is very bright for the program, which graduates no seniors and is expecting the full team back next season.
“And we have new additions coming in,” Lind said. “If we can replicate the same kind of success and achievement we had this year and throw in some new faces into the mix, I'm hopeful that a lot of great things can happen.”
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