Danielle Wenger, a senior on the UWM women's swimming team, is the subject of a feature story in the West Bend Daily News. The full story, written by Nick Dettmann, the sports editor, appears below:
COLLEGE SWIMMING: UW-MILWAUKEE’S AND HARTFORD UNION GRAD DANIELLE WENGER
Potential realized
Wenger’s time is growing short and that scares her
By NICK DETTMANN Daily News Sports Editor
MILWAUKEE — She believed that if she was in contention in the final 75 yards, she would pull it off.
She pushed herself for the next 50. She fought in the final 25. She touched the wall a Horizon League champion, beating a three-time champion in the process.
At that moment, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee senior and Hartford Union graduate Danielle Wenger, a freshman at the time, discovered she had a bright future in swimming. It was a future which ultimately gave her the life she knows today.
It helped saved her life, too.
"When I started (swimming), it was the last sport I hadn’t tried,” she said.
Wenger was honored, along with eight other UWM swimmers, during Saturday’s dual meet against Western Illinois. The UWM men’s team swept each of the 16 events for a 211-62 victory, while the UWM women’s team did the same for a 205-59 victory at the Klotsche Natatorium on the UWM campus.
Unfortunately, Wenger had to watch her final home swim meet at UWM on the pool deck in a black tank top and yellow shorts. She’s battled a back injury for most of the season, which has caused her senior season to be more frustrating than enjoyable.
“It’s been hard,” she said. “And knowing that I’m going to be done soon is hard. I’m not ready to be done. I love it too much.
“It’s hard because I want to go out with a bang.”
At the same time, it’s given her time to reflect on a historic career at UWM. She’s one of the most decorated swimmers in UWM history.
She holds 10 school and three Horizon League records, is a seven-time Horizon League champion, a U.S. Nationals qualifier, an All-American, 2010 Horizon League Swimmer of the Meet and is a two-time Horizon League Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Year.
Wow.
“Every year I’ve surprised myself,” Wenger said. “It’s been really fun. I wish I had another 10 years to do it.”
She certainly had to deal with her bumps in the road, though, before reaching this point.
Her life in the pool began when she was 13. Her mom was her first coach.
She gave swimming a shot because after trying out basketball, T-ball, gymnastics, soccer and track & field, she learned she’s uncoordinated on land.
In high school for the Orioles, Wenger wasn’t a highly decorated swimmer, at least in her mind she wasn’t.
She was a four-year letterwinner at Hartford. She was all-state as a senior in the 500-yard freestyle and was all-state honorable mention as a junior in the 200 and 500 frees. She holds the school records in both events.
But during her junior year of high school, she underwent a dramatic change in her life: her parents’ divorce.
Swimming saved her life. It was her escape from the rough days at home. However, she never felt like the world was caving in on her. If it did, she jumped into the pool and swam extra laps.
“Every day, my coach would let me swim through the frustration,” Wenger said. “The stress at home became my motivation at school and now I’ve trained myself to swim through anything.
“Swimming’s been like my therapy now. Swimming’s been good for me. Swimming was the one thing that made sense to me. It’s what kept me going. I feel like swimming kind of saved me.”
There was a time UWM passed on Wenger.
It took a random club meet in January of her senior year to change the UWM coaching staff’s mind. She broke personal bests in all of her events during the competition.
The Panthers’ coaches took another look and offered a scholarship. Wenger gladly accepted.
“I came here because the coaches told me I had a lot of potential,” she recalled. “At that time, I had no idea how far I would make it, what my goals were, I just wanted to do the best I could.”
Wenger didn’t realize her full potential until late February 2008 at the Horizon League Championships in Cleveland.
It was the biggest meet of her life up to this point. Nervous? No. Terrified? Yes.
“I remember, I walked up to my coach and I asked him, ‘What should I do, coach?’” she recalled. “He said, ‘Don’t think. Turn off your brain and just go.’”
Wenger beat Wright State’s Catalina Martinez in the 1,000 freestyle — her first Horizon League championship. Martinez was a three-time league champion in that event. Wenger didn’t lead any point of the race until the end.
“In the last 75 I was so close,” she recalled. “I knew that if I had her at 75 yards, I was going to fight hard enough and I was going to get her.”
Wenger had faster times in the final four splits to beat Martinez. Wenger won with a time of 10:17.43. Martinez’s time was 10:17.97.
That was the beginning of the rest of her life in the pool. It made her mentally stronger and confident. She’s now a three-time champion in that event. Today as a senior, she’s taking on a greater appreciation for how far she’s come and the path she took to get here.
“I love this pool and I’ve loved my career here,” Wenger said.
Her last home meet was two weeks ago and broke her own pool record in the 500 free. She considers that her going away party.
“I was happy with that,” Wenger said. “I’ll leave it with that.”
Still, watching the final home meet of the season on the pool deck wasn’t easy. But in about a month, she’s going to be doing that more often.
In the program Saturday, it asks: Plans after graduation?
Her response?
“Let’s face it, I will be coaching swimming,” she wrote.
Swimming isn’t a part of Wenger’s life. It is her life and she dons an ear-to-ear grin for what the sport did for her and for her life.
“I think I’m a different and better person for being a swimmer because I’ve learned team work and competition and how to be a good sport,” Wenger said. “It helped me grow up and learn how to manage myself.”
