Junior Liz Hartman earned All-American honors in 2009 as a member of Wheaton's women's 400-freestyle relay team at Nationals. Below is an interview with the Thunder standout.
Q: What is your major?
A: Elementary Education
Q: What events do you compete in?
A: 200 breaststroke, 100 breaststroke, 200 IM and 200 freestyle
Q: Why did you choose to attend and swim at Wheaton?
A: My brother was a swimmer and graduated from Wheaton College in 2007, so I heard a lot of great stories about Wheaton’s swim team. I was able to visit my brother multiple times while he was attending Wheaton. I decided to come here because of the institution’s high academic program and as well as a competitive Division III swimming program.
As a future teacher, I wanted to go through an exceptional teaching program, while I received a Christian liberal arts education. As a swimmer, I wanted to have the incredible opportunity to compete at the collegiate level, surrounded by fun teammates who are swimming because they love it, not because they are paid.
Q: What do you appreciate about competing for Coach Lederhouse?
A: Coach Lederhouse genuinely cares about you as a person - physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It is not just about best times, winning or losing. Coming from a "garbage yardage" club team, coach's style is nothing like that. Coach is extremely organized and has a purpose for everything we do. He is more interested in the quality of our swimming, instead of the quantity of yards we swim. It has been a great change of pace for me to go to such specialized practices. I have never trained as fast before!
Also, Coach is a master storyteller. A wise man’s education is to learn from other people’s mistakes. Since he has been coaching for 34 years, there are many things to learn from the swimmers before us. But even more than swimming, I appreciate Coach’s emphasis on our faith. Before each practice, there is a devotional or prayer time. Coming in as a freshman, he said that if you go through Wheaton College Swimming only to have faster times, then the program did not accomplish its goal. Being on Wheaton College’s Swim team has brought me closer to the Lord, which is the true goal.
Q: What do you enjoy most about being a student and swimmer at Wheaton?
A: I love the community at Wheaton and that has everything to do with the people here. I have loved building relationships with my classmates and professors in a small classroom setting. I had never shared a common purpose before with my classmates, teammates, and coaches to glorify God until I came here. Before meets, we have gender meetings in our locker rooms, where we sing worship songs and pray that we would bring glory to God through our swimming. Having Bible studies on the team lets us invest in relationships on a deeper level as we pray for one another. It puts everything into perspective! I am so thankful for Wheaton College!
