Heller's historic championship ride, one swimmer's journey to the top
March 25, 2013
Jamie Foland
907-474-6807
Bente Heller is the first Alaska Nanooks swimmer in program history to become a national champion. She captured the title in the 100 yard backstroke at the 2013 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championship. Amazingly, her swim in the championship final was only the second time she'd ever swum the event as a college swimmer; the first time was during the preliminary heats just hours earlier.
So how in the world did she get in a position to claim a national title in an event she'd never swum nor trained for? In February, Heller led off her team's 400 medley relay at the 2013 Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Conference Championship and turned in an NCAA B-cut with her lead-off split. That time ranked her third in nation in the 100 back and from then on, as they say, the rest is history.
This is a neat story, but what makes Bente the break-out swimmer is not just winning a national championship, but what has been accomplished in three short years since she signed on to become an Alaska swimmer.
Heller was not a highly recruited high school swimmer coming out of Hamburg, Germany. Head coach Scott Lemley was contacted in November of 2010 after no other school was interested in signing her. After a phone conversation with her, Lemley, who had one scholarship left to award, took a chance on a student-athlete who wasn't very fast but convinced him she had the work ethic to make herself better.
She was brought in essentially to swim the 100 butterfly on Alaska's 400 medley relay, but after one year, Lemley brought in a faster flyer so Heller switched her concentration to the freestyle events. She qualified for the 2012 NCAA Championship and competed in seven events, coming away with six All-America nods (1 AA, 6 HM), including a fourth-place finish in the 800 freestyle relay. She didn't make it to a “Big Final” in any of the three free sprints but was an Honorable Mention All-American in all three. So, she wasn't a major player when it came to the freestyle events, and in a way was disappointed with the outcome of her first national championship appearance.
Moving on to her junior season, she wanted nothing more than to continue to get better and would stop at nothing to do so. She was even worried about making the travel team in preseason but Lemley assured her she would be fine. The Nanooks were gearing up to have a spectacular season and brought in a recruit who's 100 backstroke was sure to be a game changer for the program. Unfortunately, that swimmer was ineligible in the Spring and Heller was asked to move to another stroke on the medley relay which she agreed to do for the conference meet.
Heller had NEVER been entered in a backstroke event at all in college until the PCSC Championship in February. What happened next was very unexpected; coach was hoping for a sub-minute time and what did she do? Heller clocked a time of 55.09 seconds leading off the relay. Voila, a fourth individual event at nationals!
Since she was not a backstroke swimmer, she had not trained for the back so now she had to put focus in an event that she would swim for the first time at a national championship. Once getting to Birmingham, she hit a road block on day one of the NCAA meet as a suit malfunction doomed her first race in arguably one of her best events, the 50 free.
It would have been easy for that to affect the rest of her week but after getting a new suit shipped overnight, she got back in the pool and finished seventh in final of the 200 free on day two. Then came day three – the big day where Heller would swim the 100 backstroke event for the first time since high school.
Swimming in Germany, the last time she competed in the 100 backstroke, her time converted to a 1:04.41 – not a very fast time for a college swimmer. In prelims, it was the first time ever swimming this event as a collegian and she broke the varsity record and clinched the top seed with a time of 54.53 seconds. Later that night, history was made as Bente won the national title in her second-ever collegiate attempt at the back with another varsity record, 54.26.
In the 45 years since college swimming first came to Alaska, never before had a man or woman won a national title. The Nanooks have had high finishes, including a 2nd and 3rd at nationals but Heller joined a list by herself on that Friday night in Birmingham by becoming the program's first national champion.
Though she was considered for the title of "Breakout Swimmer of the Year" in 2012, what she did to be considered last year pales in comparison to what she did this year.
Winning a national title is huge; its every swimmer's dream. But winning a national title in an event you never swam or trained for is nothing short of magical.