Minnesota Swimming and Diving
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Alumni spotlight
Alicia Hicken-Franklin (B.S., '97), Gopher swimming
Under the coaching of Alicia Hicken-Franklin, Denver University swimmers have broken more than 75 competitive records, culminating in the 2008-09 season when the Pioneers reached their first conference championships. During the same period, the team has placed in the top 10 for grade point average among Division I swim and dive teams five times.
Hicken-Franklin was quite successful in the water herself. Following in the footsteps of a cousin who competed in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Hicken-Franklin, a native of Ontario, competed in the Canadian Olympic Trials in 1992. As a Gopher, she was a four-year letter winner and a six-time Big Ten championship finalist in three events.
She attended the University in part because she had connections to then swimming and diving coach Jean Freeman, and because she was impressed that the University had its own Women’s Athletic Department.
“It was a very special thing to me to see that,” she says. “I had never had a female coach. I had never really been in that kind of environment.”
She was similarly impressed by the facilities and the atmosphere. “The people in Minnesota were so friendly and nice, it felt like home to me,” she recalls. “As soon as I got to the campus I felt comfortable.”
Hicken-Franklin majored in kinesiology to understand the physiology behind athletic performance and helped out with a number of club teams at the University. She earned a master’s degree in the physiology of exercise at Washington State. Now she looks forward to helping the Denver swimmers become nationally ranked.
“It was an easy switch to move into coaching—I felt like I had such role models myself as coaches, in my club days and especially at Minnesota,” Hicken-Franklin says. “I really felt inspired by Jean and Terry (Nieszner, then Ganley). I felt if I could have that effect on some young men and women it would be very rewarding.”
While she’s happy in Denver, and credits her employer for its funding and dedication to the swimming program, she gives a lot of credit for her success to her time at the University. She says she met a lot of good mentors and learned a lot about life—and she wouldn’t mind returning as a coach at some point.
“I just feel so lucky to have been given the opportunities I did at Minnesota,” she says. “There’s no way I would be where I am without it. It was really a great starting point for me in my life.”
Reprinted from the University of Minnesota College of Education & Human Developent "Connect" alumni magazine.
Jim Dragon Still Going Strong
March 30, 2009
Jim Dragon, class of '66, continues to swim as an elite masters swimmer. He has been swimming masters for about 20 years, and now ranks among the world's best for his age group. In 2007, he was number one in the world for the 50 fly, swimming the sprint in 29.04. Jim's story was recently written up in a couple news articles (click to view) -
East Brunswick man, 64, keeps fit as he swims toward success
Age doesn't slow down champion swimmer, 64
To see more of Jim in action, check out the pictures below.
Roger Hardy Remembers the 1967 Men's Team
Roger Hardy was from out of state, and has only been back to campus once since graduating in 1968. But he is back in masters swimming, now at Rice University in Houston and has had swimming on the brain a little more recently. He came up with this “Gopher” 1967 photo to share with us!.
Hardy swam for four years, from 64-65 to 67-68. Three of those years overlapped with the current Minnesota Men’s Swimming and Diving Head Coach Dennis Dale. Coach Dale is third from the right in the front row and Hardy is fourth from left in the middle row. Click the picture for a larger image. The 1967 Gopher, has everyone from the ’67 team names listed. So next time you are in the Library check it out.
George Wendt – ’69 is having an incredible Master’s career!
In the 60 – 64 age group (George is 60) at the recent United States Masters Swimming Long Course National Championships in Gresham, OR, in the 1500 he dropped 50 seconds off his seed time to go 19:07.93, which is new American Record by almost 45 seconds and a new World Record by almost 18 seconds! On top of that, he negative split it by 500s holding 39s for the first 500, 38s 
for the second 500 and 37s on the last 500!
In the 400 Free he went 4:49.83 for a new American Record by almost ten seconds and just 1.5 seconds off the World Record. He won the 400 IM with a time of 5:43.77, just two seconds off the American and World Record. To round it out, he was third in the100 Breast and second in the 200 breast. His next event is the Big Shoulders 5K
So what are Wendt’s secrets? He says it all comes down to training, technique and competition. He’ll swim roughly 5,000 yards five or six days each week with Chicago Masters out of
Wendt said, “Sometimes I think tha
t if I trained better, I could go faster than I did when I was younger … I am placing higher in my age group as I get older, so I am getting faster relative to my competition. I’m trying to get slower, slower and hope my competition gets … slower, faster - !!
George and his wife, Anne are lifetime members of Fast Lane Fans. They also recently celebrated a new addition to the Wendt family – Kylie Anne Wendt, who is the daughter of former Golden Gopher great Kate Wendt (’96) and former
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