Division III is remarkable. The student-athletes who attend and compete at DIII colleges do so without monetary compensation and often in conjunction with rigorous academic schedules and a good deal of extracurricular activities thrown in as well. Over the course of my own collegiate career, I shared pool space with athletes who developed robots, helped with political campaigns or competed in foreign countries. It is these stories and these athletes who best exemplify what it means to be a student-athlete at the Division III level.
What follows is a tribute to the athletes of Division III, showcasing seniors from across the country who have brought their own passion to swimming and academia. This series of articles strives to capture some of the many incredible, interesting or quirky things our swimming and diving seniors have done while out in the wider world.
All hail Division III.
In it to Enjoy it
Wabash Senior Carter Adams (Image courtesy of Wabash Athletics)
Wabash senior Carter Adams does a little bit of this, a little bit of that. He’s a double major at Wabash College in Economics and Political Science. The poli-sci was something he came into college knowing he wanted to do; the econ was a fun class he stumbled on and picked up as a second major because hey, why not.
With Econ as a second major, Adams spent the first half of this summer at Wabash doing a research internship for his professor. “[I was doing] research on income inequality in Latin America,” Adams said. He also gave a presentation on the research he had done over the summer.
But while Adams enjoys Econ, it’s not what he wants to do with his life – that was the second half of the summer: officer training school for the Marine Corps. “It’s two six weeks programs […] that you go throughout the summers in college, and then when you graduate you get commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps, and so that’s what I’m doing after graduation.”
This sort of training is something Adams has had a passion for since he was thirteen. “My top two schools were between the Naval Academy and Wabash. Once I got here [Wabash] I immediately filled out an application to apply for the program,” he said. When the officer selection visited Wabash, Adams had already had the application filled out and ready to go. “[The officer said] ‘Woah, let’s sit and think about this for a little bit; I want you to think about this for a week or two, and then we’ll take you’re application.’ And I was like, ‘No, I’ve already thought about it.’”
One of Adams’ primary reasons for being interested in the service is that he craves a challenge. Another is the draw of a brotherhood that is similar to the one he enjoys at Wabash itself. “I’ve always wanted to b e able to serve my country, and I’ve always wanted to do something to make my family proud,” Adams added.
Challenge is one of those words that resonates with student-athletes in particular. Adams, as a senior for the Little Giants, has tasked himself with leading by example this season. “I always try to maintain a high spirit,” Adams said. “[I try to] remind them that everything has a purpose at practice. I know it’s not the easiest thing, but in the end it will be worth it.”
Adams’ biggest hope is to see the team achieve something spectacular this year. “I think a lot of us are working really hard this year so far. […] I think we can make a big splash,” he said. “Individually, I just want to have a good ending to my seventeen year career of swimming. […] I want to end on a high note.” Whether that note is an individual or a collective, Adams says he’d rather see the team achieve what it has been working towards the past few years. “I want to see us as a team succeed.”
Many athletes have favorite memories of a career; Adams is one from his freshman year at the NCAC conference meet. He recalled Wabash’s relay disqualifying in the prelims so they would be unable to swim in the evening on the third day. “It took the wind out of our sails,” he said. “But then we came back for finals that night, and we had everybody up on the blocks before warm-ups. We were waiting for warm ups.” When warm-ups began, the whole team took over the pool, reverse circle swimming and doing belly flops and cannon balls to re-amp morale.
“We reminded ourselves why we swim,” Adams said. “We were able to have fun in that situation, even though our relay got DQ’d.” And that’s the spirit he wants to bring back to his team again this season.
Ponies and Grannies and Backpacks, Oh My!
Whittier Senor Kimberley Hallsted (Image courtesy of Whittier Athletics)
Whittier senior Kimberley Hallsted is a lover of travel, and not afraid of a little work to find out what she’s really passionate about doing.
For Hallsted, this summer was a mix of enjoyable opportunities to have fun with friends and learn where her passions will take her later in life. She shadowed at two different physical therapy clinics, including one that was a little unusual: a stable.
The use of horses in therapy is called hippotherapy and has been used with success to help strengthen muscle conditions related to diseases such as cerebral palsy and stroke. “I helped out with the little kids,” Hallsted said. “Horses in physical therapy make you build up your core, so it increases your stability, so it helps [the kids] learn how to stand up straighter and so that helps with their walking abilities and with some of them even their talking abilities. […] It makes it more fun for them.”
Part of the hippotherapy involved children riding the horses, while the special trained animals were led by one adult and the child was held by another. “We would talk with them. I was in charge of holding up stuffed animals for them to identify, or practice catching and throwing to me,” Hallsted said. “We would sometimes have them turn around backwards so they were using different muscles to make them sit up straighter. We would have them point to things [or] make signals to us.”
The month Hallsted spent working at the ranch was at the end of her summer; in the preceding time, she shadowed at two clinics, working with patients and physical therapists in an effort to get to know the job. “We would meet with the patients, ask them how they’re doing,” Hallsted said. “[We would] review some of the exercises that we had done in the past. If we felt like they could move on, then we would go on to some new exercises.”
Hallsted worked with a variety of age ranges, but she thinks she found her match in geriatrics – working with the elderly. The care with those individuals sixty and above is usually focused on preventative measures, though rehabilitation from stroke or injuries does happen too. “I really enjoy the personalities a lot of the time. I’m able to really connect with them,” Hallsted said. “A lot of the time they want to be there, which makes it more fun. […] They are doing it for their own benefit, so they appreciate it more.”
Hallsted fondly recalled one of the patients she had an opportunity to work with over her shadowing – a 97 year old woman. “She was the funniest lady I have ever had,” she said. “She had to stretch, and while we were doing exercises she would ask me to tell stories or tell her about my weekend and what I had planned.”
As much fun as her summer was, Hallsted readily admitted that the next year will be a gap year, both to give her some time to continue shadowing and to explore another love: travel. More specifically, backpacking.
This summer, Hallsted went backpacking for a few days with a friend from home. During her year of break, her plans are a little more…extensive. Like…several hundred miles more extensive.
Hallsted’s plan includes hiking a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail – a hike that stretches from Mexico up through Washington State to the Canadian border. She’s not planning on doing the whole thing – only two months worth of walking starting in Yosemite National Park. There are clearly some major precautions to be thinking about embarking on an expedition like this: bear canisters, other wildlife, water shortages.
“There isn’t water you can stop along and just get,” Hallsted explained. “You have to ration yourself. And also, food is important. It’s just a lot of weight on your back.” The trick is balancing how much you need with how much you can carry. “Every couple of weeks, there is a post where you can mail stuff to ahead of time,” Hallsted said. “You can have just one or two weeks of stuff with you and then pick it up at the post.”
Considering how difficult carrying a week of groceries up the elevator can be, that’s some extreme endurance.