Persistence In The Pool And Life
MOORHEAD, Minn. --- Three different universities. 18 months.
That's the challenge Concordia swimming and diving student-athlete Annie Herkenhoff has faced in the past year and a half.
Her path to Concordia may have been the one less traveled, but it is one of conviction and fate.
Herkenhoff grew up a farm girl in rural Minnesota outside of Melrose. The second youngest of five children, she was not allowed to participate in swimming until eighth grade because both her brothers, Phillip and Peter, were in football during the fall and the family needed help around the farm.
After one summer spent convincing her parents, her mother budged and she was permitted to participate on the swim team.
Herkenhoff was a talented softball player, aggressive on the basketball court and nautical in the water throughout her high school career. She played on successful athletic teams and made the state swimming meet as a senior.
She desperately wanted to play basketball at the NCAA Division II level, but ultimately took a preferred walk-on offer to swim at St. Cloud State University.
Herkenhoff enjoyed her time at SCSU – but the basketball court continued to beckon.
She made the decision after two semesters in St. Cloud to transfer to Wis.-Stout in Menomonie where she played basketball for the Blue Devils while majoring in Nutrition.
It was a spur of the moment decision.
She knew she was not going to re-enroll at St. Cloud but her parents were leery of the idea of her attending a private school. August rolled around and in dire need of finding a place to go she decided to cross the border.
Herkenhoff quickly found Menomonie was not the place for her.
"It was one of those feelings where you just knew it wasn't my school," Herkenhoff said, "but I was hoping basketball would make that go away."
It didn't.
Looking for a new place to go, the choice seemed simple. It was what she wanted all along.
Concordia.
Her brother, Phillip, finished his collegiate football career at MSU-Moorhead following a stint at junior college and loved the Fargo-Moorhead area. Herkenhoff made several trips to watch his games and also loved both shores of the Red River.
Herkenhoff transferred to Concordia for the spring semester in 2014 but somebody made the transition a little easier.
Head strength and conditioning coach Brandon Toothaker was in search of an assistant and Phillip had just finished his masters program in Arizona.
He applied and got the job – big brother and little sister were together in Moorhead.
Herkenhoff played basketball for the Cobbers for a year-and-a -half. She was finally comfortable with where she was at but she became burned out from basketball. It was not her teammates, the program or her performance - it just was time to move on.
While home over this last summer she was preparing to enter the fall semester as strictly a student when she happened to run into a community member. Herkenoff received a great tip of advice, "You only get four years to compete," the gentlemen said.
Herkenhoff opted to get back in the pool for the Cobbers, and it's been invigorating.
"It's been great. I love everything about it. The locker room conversations, my team, we laugh so much – especially at the ridiculous freshman, "Herkenhoff chuckled, "they are so funny."
Her refreshed sense of mind and body is transparent in the pool, too, as Herkenhoff has been one of the Cobbers' best competitors this winter.
She opened the season by winning the 1000-yard freestyle at Northern State and had another strong showing in a dual with MSU-Moorhead. She competed in the 1650-yard freestyle for the first time in her career, posting a 19:20 and taking second which would have slotted her just outside the top 20 at last year's MIAC meet.
Not bad for having never competed in the event.
The Cobbers then traveled to the highly anticipated Jean Freeman Invitational at the University of Minnesota where Herkenhoff continued to lead the Concordia distance crew.
At the Jean Freeman Invite Herkenhoff chopped off 35 seconds in the 1650-yard freestyle and posted an 18th place finish coming in at 18:43.90. Her time was 37 seconds faster than her previous season best which she swam against MSU Moorhead on Nov. 6 and the fastest by a CC swimmer in the event since the 2011 season. Not to mention it would have given her a top 15 time at last year's MIAC Championship Meet.
Herkenhoff's journey to Moorhead delivers the message that persistence is the key to ending up where you want to be in life.
"I worked really hard to come to Concordia. I had to convince a lot of people this is where I had to go. I didn't give up on the fact that this is where I wanted to be."
Article written by Sports Information Intern Austin Hawkins