Indiana University Athletics
Swander Back Home Again as a Hoosier
1/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Jan. 13, 2006
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - For Indiana men's swimmer, Kevin Swander, a Greenwood, Ind., native, there's no place like home. After starting out his collegiate career at Auburn University, where he spent only one semester, all he wanted was to be back home again in Indiana.
"It was nice to get back to Indiana and be around friends and family again," Swander said. "I really got pretty lonely at Auburn. My sister was going to school there at the time, and she didn't want me to transfer, but she just wanted me to be happy and do what was best for me. So, she understood why I wanted to come to IU."
The move back to Indiana has proven to be a good one for Swander, and the Indiana swimming and diving program. His sophomore year, Swander was named Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships at the 2004 Big Ten meet, and became the first Hoosier to win the U.S. National swimming title since 1980 by winning the 100-meter breaststroke at the summer national championships.
Swander won the 200-yard breaststroke title at the Big Ten Championships his junior year, and earned four more All-America honors, giving him 10 for his career. He also owns or has been a member of 13 school records.
This year, to prepare for the season, the team took a training trip to the Bahamas, where they were completely secluded from the rest of the world.
"We had no internet, no cell phone service, no real contact outside of our team," Swander said. "But it was a real good team bonding experience and even though it was hard training, we were in the Bahamas so it was like a vacation."
This is Swander's last chance for Big Ten glory, and he thinks this year, the chance of that happening is as good as it has ever been.
"This year's team is as good as any I have been with," Swander said. "We are really clicking as a team and everything is falling into place nicely. Everybody is really working hard toward our goal."
