Augustana (S.D). Swimmer/High Jumper Calls All-American Finishes In Two Venues 'One Of The Coolest Things I Can Do'

By David Woods for DyeStat

Photos courtesy of Peyton Bartsch

NCAA D2 RESULTS

INDIANAPOLIS – One woman, two dissimilar sports, two national championships. Just do it? Seemed impossible.

Not if held in one city on the same day. Not if you are Bryn Greenwaldt.

Greenwaldt, 20, of Foley, Minn., is a junior at Augustana University (S.D.). She pulled off something Saturday that not even multisport greats like Babe Didrikson and Bo Jackson would have attempted.

Greenwaldt became an All-American in swimming and track and field, recording personal bests in the 100-yard freestyle and high jump.

And if you think it is weird to be a swimmer and a jumper . . .  well, it is. Yet she has done both for years.

“Once the opportunity showed that this is actually possible, I need this,” Greenwaldt said. “I need to do it. This is one of the coolest things I can do.

“I will never do anything to top this.”

Perhaps only if she could write a bestselling memoir, Swim, Pray, Jump, to match Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love, about the author’s around-the-world travels.

Greenwaldt had to travel merely 5.7 miles from the Indiana University Natatorium to the Indiana State Fairgrounds for NCAA Division 2 national meets.

Every four years, the NCAA holds a winter festival featuring D2 championships in wrestling, swimming and indoor track and field simultaneously, all in the same city. So this was doable.

An abridged version of Greenwaldt’s day:

In morning swim prelims, she clocked a PB of 49.03 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle to qualify No. 2 for finals. In the afternoon, seeded 13th, she jumped a PB of 5 feet, 8.75 inches (1.75m) to finish eighth. She was transported to back the pool, where she was eighth in the 100 free in 49.95. Top eight equals All-America.

Adrenaline will carry you only so far. Even if you are Bryn Greenwaldt.

“My legs collapsed underneath me. I’m more tired than I thought I was,” she said after it was all over.

As long as three years ago, a track coach advised her that in 2025, she could compete at nationals in swimming and track. It had never occurred to her.

Not because she isn’t a good swimmer. She is.

She won the 50 freestyle Wednesday after setting a D2 record of 21.92 in prelims. She had twice finished second behind record-setters.

“I’ve just looked up to those people for so long. In the blink of an eye, that was me,” Greenwaldt said. “I was sobbing on the pool deck. I was having a full breakdown.”

She is a three-time conference swimmer of the year, and she swam the 50-meter freestyle at the 2024 Olympic Trials, also in Indianapolis. When she awoke Saturday, she looked out the window of her Crown Plaza hotel room and saw Lucas Oil Stadium, site of the trials. It was a full-circle moment in the Circle City.

Yet she had been unsure about making it to indoor track nationals. She had never done so. She had nearly forgotten the coach’s forecast.

But she had jumped 5 feet, 8 inches (1.73m) on Feb. 1. That was barely enough to qualify.

“It’s been a God-sized dream,” she said.

There was such interest in her quest that SwimSwam, which reports on swimming, had four times as much web traffic on a live recap of her day than on the Division 2 meet itself.

A detailed rundown of Greenwaldt’s day:

>> 6 a.m. She was restless and awoke before the 7:15 alarm. She scrolled through Instagram. “I feel like waking up on your own is less difficult than waking up to an alarm,” she said.

>> 7:15, Breakfast.

>> 8, Leave for pool.

>> 8:10, Arrive at pool.

>> 8:30, Dynamic warm-up on dry land.

>> 8:45, Warm up.

>> 9:45, Finish warm-up. “I was sitting there this morning, and I was like, ‘I can be tired tonight,’ “ she said. “I’m going to swim my best tonight. I just need to make a final this morning.”

>> 10:25, Swim prelim of 100 free, making final.

>> 11:30, Leave pool.

>> 11:45, Lunch.

>> 12:30, Chill.

>> 1:35, Transport by coach to next venue.

>> 2, Arrive at Fall Creek Pavilion.

>> 2:30, Warm-up, including use of a so-called massage gun.

>> 3:55, High jump begins, with Greenwaldt seventh in the order of 18.

>> 4-4:25, Clears 5-3.75 (1.62m), 5-5.75 (1.67m), 5-7.75 (1.72m) on first attempts.

>> 4:45, Clears 5-8.75 on second attempt.

>> 5:05, Misses third attempt at 5-10 (1.78m).

>> 5:20, Delays departure to see if called to drug testing.  “We sprinted out of the building,” she said. Swim finals were to start at 5:30, but the 100 freestyle followed men’s and women’s 1,650 freestyles.

>> 5:40, Arrives at pool, barely 25 minutes before her race. And it’s not as if a swimmer can just throw on a racing suit. It can take as long as 40 minutes.

“I think I’m better at putting on a tech suit than swimming. I can put it on in 30 seconds,” Greenwaldt said.

>> 6:05, Finishes warm-up of about 200 yards and a few sprints. Cap goes on.

>> 6:12, Walks onto pool deck for “A” final.

“I go, ‘This is like a fever dream. It doesn’t feel real right now,’ ” she said.

>> 6:15, Finishes eighth in 100 freestyle in 49.95 after reaching 50 yards in third at 23.76. She had worked so hard to get here, she said, she was almost indifferent to outcomes.

>> 8:03, Leads off 4x100 freestyle relay in 50.39. Augustana finishes 17th.

“It definitely hurt a lot more than dream would. It was super fun,” Greenwaldt said.

It is not something she can ever replicate.

And if you’re wondering why a high jumper swims, or a swimmer high jumps, the answer is: She loves both. She conceded they are not compatible.

She swam in elementary school because friends at her lunch table did so, and she began jumping in seventh grade because everyone went out for track and found something. She liked the event with a crossbar and landing pit.

“I cannot run. It’s actually a little embarrassing,” she said.

College coaches accommodated both sports, even if they thought it is unconventional.

Doing both is what makes her happy. The balance has been her life, she said. She cannot swim without high jump nor high jump without swimming.

In a state that worships basketball, Greenwaldt embraced a new March Madness.

“It actually worked out perfectly,” she said.

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.