By Luke McGuire, Swimming World College Intern
Runner-Up
Kevin Lindgren, a senior at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, smiled wryly as he looked up at the scoreboard on the final day of Division III NCAA Championships. It was a lifetime best in the 200 backstroke, a 1:44.08, .71 faster than the previous NCAA record. That record had been set hours earlier in prelims by Kenyon senior and University of Florida transfer Harrison Curley.
But for the third year in a row, someone else got their hand on the wall before Lindgren. Curley won his second title of the meet with a new NCAA record time of 1:43.49, and Lindgren was again the NCAA runner-up. Video of that 200 backstroke race, courtesy of the Merchant Marine Academy, is available here.
“It’s bittersweet, but being a three-time runner-up is definitely cool and it’s nothing to complain about,” Lindgren said.
Lindgren was joined by sophomore teammate Stone Hewitt. Hewitt, who also competed at NCAAs last year, finished 19th in the 200 breast and 20th in the 100 breast. Together, the two were the only representatives of the Landmark Conference at NCAAs.
Lindgren concludes his collegiate career as the most decorated Landmark Conference swimmer in history. He was the Landmark Rookie of the Year as a freshman in 2012, and then Landmark Swimmer of the Year in 2013, 2014, and 2015.
He collected eleven individual conference titles, and holds conference records in the 200 IM, 100 and 200 freestyles, and 100 and 200 backstrokes. Additionally, he was part of the Merchant Marine relay teams that hold the conference records in both medleys and all three freestyle distances.
Photo Courtesy: USMMA
A Swimmer At Sea
The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy has won every men’s Landmark Conference title in history. The Academy has a unique training program given the obligations placed upon all of its students to spend four and then eight months at sea.
Lindgren compared these trips to internships, as USMMA students learn to perform a variety of roles and gain the valuable skills and experience that they need for their licenses and post-graduate careers. Understandably, however, the time spent at sea shortens the swim season and makes it difficult to train continuously throughout the fall and winter, as most schools do.
Opportunity to Unveil Potential
While the next step after graduation can be complicated for any college senior, Lindgren faces a particularly tough decision. He has been swimming since he was about six years old, when he got his feet wet with a stroke clinic at a local high school in his hometown. Like most senior swimmers, he now faces the prospect of his career being over. However, he still feels like there is more that he can achieve, that he can swim faster, and that a year of unbroken training could pay dividends.
“I don’t think I’m at my full potential,” Lindgren said. “A lot of other schools are able to train in the offseason in a way that I wasn’t, given that I was at sea.”
But as a graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Lindgren has certain obligations to the Naval Reserves. In addition to deciding whether to train for another year or to “live a normal life for once,” Lindgren has to determine whether it’s possible to delay his commitment for a year. The decision that Lindgren faces is not an easy one, and it will surely be one that he makes with the help of his family and Coach Sean Tedesco.
Regardless of what the future holds for Kevin Lindgren, both in and out of the pool, he leaves the Merchant Marine Academy as the most successful Landmark Conference swimmer in history. His record-breaking swimming will be fondly remembered and sorely missed by all.